Outside The Corporate Box
Outside the Corporate Box is for leaders, builders, and thinkers who knew they were never meant to stay inside someone else’s blueprint.
Hosted by JMan and Jeffrey, this show explores what happens when ambitious professionals step beyond traditional titles, rigid systems, and inherited definitions of success to build a life and business that actually reflects who they are.
These are conversations about reinvention, courage, identity, entrepreneurship, leadership, and the messy, beautiful work of becoming fully yourself.
From executives who walked away from the boardroom…
to creators who turned expertise into influence…
to entrepreneurs who chose freedom over comfort…
This is where modern thought leadership gets honest.
Because sometimes the most powerful move isn’t climbing the ladder.
It’s realizing the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.
Outside The Corporate Box
Laid Off at 50, #1 Agent at 51: Donna Baker on Reinventing After the Floor Falls Out
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Donna Baker spent 30 years climbing the corporate ladder as an executive assistant — all the way to one of the highest-paid roles in Los Angeles. She was brilliant, organized, and on the verge of becoming a paper millionaire through stock options at an internet incubator.
Then the Nasdaq crashed in 2000, and within seven months she had no job and no stock.
At 50 years old, she got into real estate with zero clients, zero guaranteed income, and zero experience in sales. In seven months, she was the #1 agent in her office. She has held that title every year for 25 years.
In this episode of Outside the Corporate Box, Donna sits down with JMan and Jeffrey to talk about what it actually feels like when the floor falls out, why her corporate background was her biggest competitive advantage, and what she wishes someone had told her at 49.
What We Cover:
1: How Donna turned 30 years of corporate experience into a real estate competitive advantage
2: The emotional reality of being laid off when you were at the top of your game
3: Why she built a website and started direct mail marketing before she had a single client
4: The floor time strategy that turned cold foot traffic into loyal buyers
5: How she pivoted her brand from 'historic home specialist' to 'mobile homes to mansions'
6: Why she believes entrepreneurship is in the blood — and the pushback she gets for saying it
7: The litmus test she'd give anyone thinking about leaving the corporate world
8: What it means to be 75, covered in tattoos, with purple hair, and still dominating her market
Chapters:
[00:00] Cold open — Donna's story in 60 seconds
[01:00] Welcome + full guest introduction
[02:00] Growing up wanting to be a secretary — career beginnings in the 1960s-70s
[05:00] The Staten Island insurance broker who changed everything — her first true mentor
[09:00] From Bell + Howell to direct mail marketing — how each job stacked her skills
[13:00] Climbing to the internet incubator — and why she said yes to the dot-com world
[15:00] The Nasdaq crash, the lost stock options, and the silence that followed
[17:00] A car ride through Bakersfield — the moment real estate entered the picture
[20:00] Getting licensed, getting hired before the license arrived, and closing in month three
[25:00] Her first commission reinvested into a green termite flyer — and how it worked
[29:00] Number one agent in seven months — the floor time and CRM strategy behind it
[37:00] 51 transactions in a year, building a team, and knowing when to hire help
[40:00] Is entrepreneurship nature or nurture? JMan pushes back
[48:00] Lightning round — myths, secret sauce, and what she'd tell herself at 49
[51:00] 75 years old, purple hair, tattoos, and still closing — why her brand works
[55:00] AI, technology, and why refusing to learn it is the real career killer
[57:00] Where to find Donna + closing thoughts
Guest Bio:
Donna Baker is a top-producing REALTOR and co-founder of the Ammon + Baker team at JohnHart Real Estate in Monrovia, California. She has ranked number one in every office she has worked in for 25 consecutive years.
Before real estate, Donna spent three decades as an executive assistant to presidents and CEOs across Southern California's most technical industries — including Bell + Howell and an engineering software firm with nearly 900 employees. She was among the highest-paid EAs in Los Angeles until the Nasdaq crash ended her career overnight.
She earned her real estate license at 50 with no sales experience and closed her first two transactions within a month. A self-taught technologist, she built her own website before listing her first property.
A Monrovia resident for the past forty years, Donna served as Historic Preservation Commissioner, earned the Chamber Citizen of the Year Award, and traveled to Thailand to build homes through the Carter Work Project. She specializes in residential properties across the San Gabriel Valley, with a passion for historic and vintage homes.
At 75, Donna Baker is still the one to beat.
Connect with Donna Baker:
Website: ammonandbaker.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnabaker
Instagram: @realtordonna
Facebook: facebook.com/4SaleByDonna
FOUNDING SPONSORS:
1: Wise Agent | https://wiseagent.com/jsquared - The all-in-one CRM that helps real estate agents manage contacts, automate follow-up, and grow their business.
2: Subi | https://www.oksubi.com/ - Your AI transaction genie. From contract to close, your work is my command.
3: The CE Shop | https://j2.theceshop.com/ Use the discount code jsquared for an additional 35% off
SUBSCRIBE to Outside the Corporate Box for new episodes every Monday.
Outside the Corporate Box is part of J Squared Podcast Productions — a premium media network built for professionals who want more than entertainment.Read the full episode breakdown: https://jmanai.com/laid-off-at-50-1-agent-at-51-donna-baker-on-reinventing-after-the-floor-falls-out/
Some people have a choice and they leave the corporate box because they want to. But it ending was the best thing that could have happened.
SPEAKER_01Well, that was. So I left that company, the engineering software company. I got recruited by this internet incubator. They were creating new internet companies right and left. And all the people that worked there were buying stock, they would buy the stock and they would become millionaires. On paper, I was worth about seven million dollars. Maybe we filed to go public. We were in the IPO stage, and then the NASDAQ crashed in 2000. And so I went from having this fantastic job with all these stock options took a second on my house so I could do that. And then the NASDAQ crashed.
SPEAKER_03Well, seven months, number one in the office every single year. I want her to understand what did you do differently?
SPEAKER_01I knew nothing about sales or real estate. And so what I did at the very beginning, I went into the office every single day, even though I had no clients and no business at all.
SPEAKER_03She spent 30 years as one of the highest paid executive assistants in Southern California. She's worked with CEOs. She knew more about running a business than most people with an MBA. And then she got laid off. And here's the part they don't tell you in the reinvention playbooks. She was absolutely terrified. Today, Donna Baker sits down with us to talk about what happens when the choice is made for you and what to do in the next 12 months that determines the rest of your career. This is outside the corporate box. And before we get into today's show, a quick thank you to our partners who make this possible WiseAgent, Suby, and the CE Shop. These are the companies that believe in us and what we're building here. And we're grateful to have them in our corner. All right, let's get into it.
SPEAKER_00The playbook is changing. The question is: are you changing with it? This is outside the corporate box. Real conversations with real leaders who broke the mold and built something better with your hosts, Jay Mann, and Jeffrey Scott Stanton.
SPEAKER_03Donna, welcome to the show. We've been looking forward to this one. Quick on the bio, Donna Baker spent the first half of her working life as an administrative professional, working her way from type as clerk all the way to one of the highest paid executive assistants in the LA area. She's worked alongside CEOs at Pacific Telephone, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and yes, even an internet incubator. Then at 50, she walked into real estate with zero clients and zero guaranteed income. And in seven months flat, she was the number one agent in her office. Today she runs the Ammon and Baker team at John Hart Real Estate and just celebrated 25 years in the business. Donna, that intro doesn't do it justice, but let's fix that right now.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, J-Man. That was uh pretty good. You did good.
SPEAKER_03Did we miss anything?
SPEAKER_01No, I don't think so. Well, I'm sure that if you did, we'll talk about it.
SPEAKER_04So before we get into big change, what tell me what it's like spending 30 years in that corporate box, Lily, assistant to a CEO, working with a CEO.
SPEAKER_01Well, um when I was a kid, I wanted to be a secretary. That's all I ever wanted to be. And I I used to like pretend I was typing on a keyboard, and you know, and in those days it was like really hard to type because you had to touch the keys.
SPEAKER_03Click, click, click, click, actual typewriter. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And um, so I really concentrated my high school subject matter on um clerical things like typing. I took shorthand, I take 90 words a minute in shorthand, um, general business practices. So I really concentrated on um revolving my learning experience, which I hated high school, so um I was learning things that I was interested in. And um, when I got out of high school, I immediately went to work. Uh I actually graduated at 17 years old because my birthday's in November, and I immediately moved out of the house because I was sharing a room with two sisters, and I wanted to be a career girl. So um, you know, that was in the 70s, late 60s, early 70s, and you know, working girls were um not not that kind of working girl. The nine to five um corporate world just really interested me. I just felt like I really wanted to be involved in that whole um lifestyle, you know, to help somebody run a business.
SPEAKER_04And it was different, you're talking 60s and 70s, so it was different for women in that corporate box, in that business environment then than it is than it is now. And I see you moved through a lot of different industries, and those series of boogie board manufacturer, internet incubator from one to another. Tell tell us what what was it like then being an executive assistant? Um, because I think what we think of as an executive assistant for a lot of people, especially people listen to us or real estate agents, and they can think of an executive assistant as someone who just handles their schedule and books appointments. So, what was that like then? Like give us what that is and having the access to the CEOs that you did.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I actually had to work my way up that ladder to the CEO position. But um, so at the boogie board company, that was my very first job, and I knew the owner, and he gave me a job. And I did, you know, reception and accounting, and then I moved into um a shipping clerk position at another uh manufacturer, and then I moved to LA County, and then I worked for Bell and Howell for a while in the business data products division, and so I worked for um executives that weren't actually high-level executives, but they were teaching me how to be perfect, you know. That's what I like to put in quotes. Um all of the bosses that I had really saw the potential in me, and so they trusted me and gave me a lot more responsibility than most of the other assistants that were working in the places I was at. Um, and then I ended up being very fortunate after the Bell and Howell um position, I got laid off, and I went to a small um insurance broker, and it was a small seven-person person office, and he needed an assistant, and he was um from New York City, he uh Staten Island actually. And I knew you'd like that, guys. And he was um a huge mentor to me, and he taught me how he ran his business, and he expected me to run it right alongside of him. So he was part of the Young Professionals, um, I'm sorry, the Young Presidents Organization, YPO, I don't know if you've heard of it. Um, and that's um presidents and CEOs of small and large companies that are under 40. And I think he was like 37 when I started working for him. I was actually older than him. Um, and so um he encouraged me to get involved in a professional organization. And at the time, um, there was a comp uh uh organization called Professional Secretaries International. And so um later on they changed their name to Administrative Professionals. Um in uh what was it called? The um Organization for Inter uh International Administrative Professionals, something like that. Um, and so um being part of that organization really is also what taught me how to become a leader. So I became a president of the chapter, and I um I just learned how to um get people to do what I asked them to do without giving me too much pushback. Um it doesn't sound like that is too big of a deal, but it really did teach me and got me ready to run my own business because I learned how to handle every aspect of being a leader of people. And our chapter was pretty big, it was like 60 members. And we had events and we had visiting speakers and we had panel discussions, and so I organized all of that. So between that organization and the bosses that I had who saw my potential and mentored me, um, I think that's why I was able to segue into real estate so easily. It was the the corporate background gave me the um abilities that I needed to run a business and also gave me the confidence that I needed when I found myself jobless. You know, it was like I'm not gonna worry about it because just spend a moment for a second.
SPEAKER_04And again, and then I'll go back just because the time between then and now is in like the 70s, it really wasn't common for a boss to sit down with their executive assistant and say, I want you to run my company like I run my company. So there had to be something special there that he saw in you saying, This is a person that could do that. And again, it's just because it it's the way it was then, it wasn't the right way of doing things like now, but it it's it to me that's very impressive. That especially then that somebody sat down and and and they're able to bring that to the business aspect into real estate once you left the corporate box.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, I think that um my my desire to learn has always been my advantage. Um, and then I make it very clear that I am open to learning new things. I've always been uh I've always embraced technology. I've always worked for companies that were on the cutting edge. So when I worked at Bell and Howell, we created business data products machines, right? So it was the uh check remittance systems that the banks used. So and then I moved over to the the corporate background that I was in was um gradually getting more and more technical, right? So when I worked for the insurance broker, he did direct mail mass marketing. And so I learned about the importance of marketing. So that to me was the beginning of my um abilities to be able to take what I learned from my jobs and save it for later when I needed it for my business, right?
SPEAKER_03Here's what I want to know. At that level, doing that work, was there a version of you that you just thought like, like this is it, I'm in my lane? Because it seemed like you excelled at to the top of your ranks, if you will, with what you were doing at that time.
SPEAKER_01What happened was that um I I I don't know why I did this, but I was always every time I had a review, right? Because they used to do the reviews and everything. And I always got exceptional and everything, except for my um, I had a tendency to judge people that didn't live up to my expectations. Oh, surprise. And so um sometimes I upset people because I expected more from them than they were able to give. And so that I always got a little bit of good, but needs improvement there. But for the most part, I always got really exceptional reviews. But what I did was I sort of um got proactive and I would write a review of myself. So I would do a self-review and I would say, here's the things that I've accomplished since the last time you reviewed me. Here are my um goals for the next time you review me, and I want a 10% raise. And I would tell, I will tell you that most people were getting 3% raises, and I got 7% raises. So every time I did that, I think every boss I had when I did that was so impressed that I took the ball and ran with it and and sort of did their job for them. I wrote my own review so they were able to take what I wrote and make it into the review. So I always got really big raises. And when I left that guy that had the insurance brokerage and I moved over to an internet engineering software company, another technical technology company, um, I was I took a cut in pay. The guy laid me off because he promoted me to um vice president and I wanted a uh a raise and he wouldn't give it to me. He said I had I was gonna have profit sharing instead of raises. And I said, no, no, you need to pay me what the VPs are making, not what a secretary makes, right? Because you just promoted me. And so I started looking for another job, and he found out I interviewed at a place that a guy knew him, and he called him and told him. So he fired me. So I was jobless again. So um I started a job working for this engineering software company with a cut in pay because I had a lot less responsibility, but I worked for the um the son of the CEO. And so because I was doing such a good job, the CEO heard about who I was and how I performed. So I was held in pretty high regard throughout the company. It was a pretty big company. I'd say there was uh 900 employees maybe. Um, but I was able to work my way up that ladder, and when the company got they merged with another company and my boss got let go, I got recruited by the executive vice president in charge of sales. So I learned marketing in my previous job, I learned sales, and I learned um how to um really technology, right? I learned all the technology. And every company I worked for after the insurance broker was on the cutting edge. So the engineering software company, obviously. I had a computer at my desk and we had email before anybody else had email. Um, it was intranet, but it was still email, right? We we were like, wow, we have we can send a message to somebody at Costa Mesa, you know. Um, so I was able to really um move up that ladder because of my abilities and my confidence. And I'm I'm pretty intelligent, and I think that they saw that and they saw my um that I was able to do a job that most assistants weren't responsible for. So they gave me more and more responsibility, and I really was more of an executive level than an assistant.
SPEAKER_03Your story is one that we're very familiar with as far as excelling in your career, being at the top of of everything that you do, but then the floor fell out. Fell out, right? You you you said in your intake, like some people have a choice and they leave the corporate box because they want to. Yep. It ending was the best thing that could have happened, is what you said.
SPEAKER_01Well, it was. So I left that company, the engineering software company. I got recruited by this internet incubator.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That I knew a headhunter personally, and he called me and he goes, I found you a job. And I said, I'm not looking for a job. And he goes, No, no, no, you got to go here. And this this place were sounds like a headhunter. Yeah, this place was at uh in the news all the time. So it was they were um creating new internet companies, right and left. And all the people that worked there were, you know, buying stock, you know, they would buy the stock and they would become millionaires, right? So he was telling me, You're gonna become a millionaire, you're gonna have all these stock options, they're gonna be famous. And it was like he really talked me into taking this job. And they paid $70,000 to hire me to this recruiter. So I, you know, I went to work for the COO, who was married to the CEO, and we worked side by side. Um, and the woman who worked for the CEO and I had a desk together. We had one desk that made both that sat both of us. And within 12 months, I went from having this wonderful $70,000 job, and that was in '99. So in 99, that was a lot of money, right? For an assistant to be making.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and I had 7,000 seven hundred seven thousand stock options that they doubled it and it was 70,000. Or not doubled it, they increased it by 10. And I and on paper, I was worth about $7 million. Um we they filed to go public. We were in the IPO stage where they were doing the dog and pony show and they couldn't talk about the company outside the dog and pony shows. And then the Nasdaq crashed in 2000. And so I went from having this fantastic job with all these stock options, exercise the stock options because we were going to go public, took a second on my house so I could do that. And then the Nasdaq crashed, and I saw the forest with the trees, and I thought, I was the oldest person that worked there. They were all tech techies, you know, with t-shirts and sandals. And here, I come from this corporate background and I'm wearing pantyhos and dresses, you know. And um, within 12 months, I had no job and no stock options. And so my husband and I talked about it, and he said, you know what? This was November when right after the crash. I think the crash happened in July. So in May, I exercised my options. In July, the the stock market crashed, and in November I got laid off. So I said, I'm gonna take the rest of the year off and then I'll start looking for another assistant job. But at 50 years old, I was old school, right? I took shorthand, I knew how to type 90 words a minute, but these young executives didn't know how to utilize my skills, right? They were self-sufficient. They did their own writing, they did their own stuff on the computer, they did their own spreadsheets. So I was like floundering at that location because I wasn't put they weren't putting me to good use, right? I mean, it was I have the ability here. You need to trust that I can do whatever you throw my way. But they just couldn't do it.
SPEAKER_04They were just, you know, so focused on the Well, I think that's one of the things about being inside that covered box is you you have to focus on what everybody else wants you to focus on and what they think you're good at and what they think you should do, instead of just saying, hey, let me run it, run with it because I'm good at all these other all these other things. So what did you do? So you took you were taking a year off.
SPEAKER_01What I didn't take a year off. I took I took a few months off. Um, and in um I think it was December, um, my husband and I took a vacation up to Yosemite and we took a friend with us who was a realtor. And um she that's how it starts. Yeah, so she was sitting in the backseat. We were driving through Bakersfield, and she said, How much do you did you make as an assistant? And I said, Um, I was up to like $70,000 a year. And she said, you know, you could make a whole lot more money than that if you sold houses. And I said, What? I'm not a salesperson, I can't sell a house. And uh, I said, I know nothing about real estate. And she said, Donna, you could probably you'll you'll do you do really well in real estate. Um, I was on the Historic Preservation Commission here in Monrovia, and old houses are my thing. And I grew up in a farmhouse in upstate New York when I was a little, and I just have this this passion for old houses, and so um she said, This was all her, not me. She said, You should get into real estate and make old houses your niche because you can put your money where your mouth is, and you can talk about we have what they call the Mills Act contract here where you can landmark your house and enjoy tax savings. So I could talk about that with a lot of knowledge and experience. So I talked to my husband when we got home. I said, This isn't a nine to five Monday through Friday paycheck every other week kind of job. I do you think I should do it? And he said, you know, I think you'd be really, really good at it. He said, You're a people person, you're confident, you're intelligent. I think you'd do really well. But he said, just promise me one thing. Please don't bring them all home for dinner. So I promised him I wouldn't do that because he knows, I mean, I go anywhere and I make a friend, right? So um I did it. I I took the leap and I took a class that was um given at the local association of realtors, and it was an eight-week class. But since I had no job, I was able to cut it into four. I took a day class and a night class. And luckily, I had taken a real estate course in junior college, which I don't know why I had done that, but I had done it, which qualified me for the certificate for the test. So I took the course, I took a crash course, a weekend crash course, which basically told me what the answers were on the real estate exam. And I passed. And I was the first one done and a three-hour exam, I was done in 45 minutes, and I thought, this I can't be, this can't be, um, I can't be done, right? It's not, it's not possible that I finished that fast. I went back through the test again, and I was still the first one done. And I walked out. I said, I'm not changing my answers, and I left and I passed. So while I was in that process, the local broker here, who was basically the only game in town, asked me to come in and talk to him and he hired me, even though I didn't even have my license yet. He had business cards made for me. So it was like he just saw the potential, and he I was pretty well known here in town because of my volunteer activities. I'm pretty involved in things. I was, you know, involved with the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club, and I was the president of the Monrovia Day Association. So I I was involved. So people knew my name, which is why I was able to move into real estate so successfully right away, because I didn't have to establish myself. And that's a unique thing that happens to some people. It doesn't happen very often.
SPEAKER_03I want to back up just a just a second before, just before real estate. You've you s you shared with us in the intake form, like you never really shared how devastated you were in losing that position. Was part of that like why you took some time off to kind of just like what what what was that actually at? Like what what was that like?
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, I was on cloud nine, right? I mean, they recruited me, I had all these this potential money coming, and I was gonna send my niece and nephew to college. I mean, I had all these plans, and then the balloon broke. It burst, and I was I was like uh speechless, really. Now what do I do? I was um smart enough to be able to negotiate a bigger package than what they offered me when they laid me off because I said you recruited me, you took me away from a job that I really liked, and you talked me into taking this job, and now you're giving me no job. So I said I I negotiated a longer severance package, I never negotiated um more pay when I left, and I got unemployment. So I had enough money to survive while I was off. And it took a while. I mean, I slept in every day for the first few days, I was so depressed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean yeah, describe the feelings because we we know more than average, the average person would what that what that feels like.
SPEAKER_01I was like, you actually have the nerve to let me go. You know, that was that was how I felt, you know. I'm a valuable addition to your team, and you don't see it.
SPEAKER_03You're gonna do this to me. How dare you! It's almost like a yeah, betrayal, grief. Like there's so many feelings that you go through.
SPEAKER_01And and most of the jobs I had, I chose to leave, right? I didn't, I didn't, except for the one where I interviewed and he found out and fired me. But um he wouldn't have done he wouldn't have fired me had I not done that. But I I was so comfortable in every position that I held moving up that ladder that when it was like a slap in the face. But you know, it is what it is, and it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me, but I didn't know it at the time. And my old boss there at the Internet Incubator Company, I I every once in a while I reach out to him and I say, Did I ever thank you for laying me off? Because it was the best thing that ever happened. But you know, you don't know that at the time. You just you feel worthless, you feel rejected. Rejected, exactly. And I just couldn't, I I don't like getting rejected. I I just don't like it. Which is why I'm good at real estate, because I don't take no for an answer, right?
SPEAKER_04So So jump back into real estate, you they pretty much offer you a position before you even have your license. You get your license, you start with the company. Uh and you had said that the one advantage you had was that a lot of people knew you and you knew a lot of people. So that's an advantage that a lot of people, you know, when you're inside that corporate box and you're thinking about doing it yourself, uh not many people have that advantage that, oh, I know a lot of people in I know a lot of people that will do business with me in my new in my new industry. So was there was there a time that you said to yourself, you know, I'll give real estate a certain amount of time to work, or did you just jump right in and it worked for you?
SPEAKER_01Well, I uh my my husband and I had that discussion and he said, Why don't you give it six months and see how you do? And if you like it, you know, just stick with it. And if you don't like it, go back to being an assistant. Um, it wasn't an option to not work, right? Though that was not an option at that point. My husband was a scientist at the City of Hope doing cancer research. Um, that does not pay well, by the way. So here's this guy with this degree making less money than I do with a high school diploma, right? I mean, I went to junior college and I got an AA, but it took me 10 years going at night, right? So my education was always not what made me succeed. It was just a side thing. Um, but so it wasn't an option for me not to work. I couldn't just say, okay, I'm 50, I'm gonna retire. Um, so when I did the real estate thing and I I started right away, I started in April. Um, two of the women at the internet incubator company where I worked um wanted to buy a house. And they knew me and they knew I was intelligent enough to figure out how to do real estate, and so they both hired me and I found them both houses within the first month. So I uh by um July I had my first commission check. And so I realized that I had to take that money and um leverage it, and so I and remember this is 2001. So the MLS was just going on to a modem on online, right? It wasn't it wasn't uh the old books. You had to dial into the modem and log into the MLS, you had the blue screen, and you know, all the listings were there, and so um I came from this technology background. None of the other realtors had any technology experience, especially if they'd not come from corporate. And so I took the world by storm there. They were like, where the hell did this woman come from? So I worked on websites, right? I knew how to do web pages, so I knew how to do HTML and I knew how to create websites. So I created my own website before I even sold a house. So um, you know, it was it was just pretty amazing how I watched myself put level over level over level and make it a success. And so those, so I took that money that I made on that first commission and I created a flyer. And, you know, nothing fancy at the time. It was just a word document. I knew how to do word, and I it was two-sided, and I trifolded it, I took it over staples, I copied it on green paper, money, you know, I wanted it to be green. Um, and it was about why you should have a termite inspection done on your old house. That's all it was. And so I sent it to, I asked my title guy, give me the list of all the people that have old houses. So I sent it to everybody in Monrovia who had an old house. And it cost me maybe 400 bucks to send that out.
SPEAKER_04And how long are you in the business when you did this? Two months. A couple days.
SPEAKER_01Well, April, May, June, three months.
SPEAKER_04Because you already had closed that one closing from those two. Okay, so you're three months into business.
SPEAKER_01Three months into the business, I took that commission and I did that mailing. And then the second time, the next one closed a month later, I took that check and I did another mailing. And so I just started mailing to people. And I also had 300 people on my database as well, which you know, most agents come into this business, they have family and friends, that's it. Um, but I had all the people that I had worked with, I had people in the old house preservation group, I had people that worked for the city. So I had a lot of connections that I had on this uh on my contact, you know, my CRM. And it was just an Excel spreadsheet, but that's how I know, that's what I know how to use. So that's what I used. And I categorized everybody and I where they came from, and and so I just started mailing.
SPEAKER_04Actually, let's talk about that for a second, because that's a lot of things. Like you're moving, and and it's not everybody who listens to this, isn't necessarily going in real estate, they may be going a different direction, may start in their own company, but like just the is it because of that corporate background that you realize, hey, I need to organize this stuff, I need to have this list together.
SPEAKER_02Treat it like a business.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that's how I knew that, yeah. My bosses taught me that you have to have, you have to organize. You have to be, uh you have to have a plan, right? And I I never really had a business plan per se. I never sat down and said, here's my budget, here's what I'm gonna spend, blah la la. I didn't really do that um at the beginning. I do it now, but I didn't do it then. Um, I just knew the importance of marketing myself and branding myself. And that's what I did, and nobody had done that before me here. And so I was able to segue that into a successful career. And by so I was I started in April. At the end of the year, I was number uh 11 in my office. And then starting in 2002, I became the number one agent in the office, and I have been the number one agent in my office ever since. Now, I have not always been the number one agent at my company because the last company I worked for previous to this one was a huge company, and I always worked for different stats, different yeah, different stats.
SPEAKER_04I always think about it. Listen, being number one in your office, being number one in your office, you know, you said it was a year into it, was number one in the number one in your office.
SPEAKER_01Within the the next year. Well, it was seven months, right? So yeah. Within seven months, I became the number one agent in the office. So um I I I'm very competitive too. And I think that's part of, I mean, I know you're gonna ask me about what's entrepreneurial, but I think being a competitor is you have to have that, you have to have that drive and you have to have that desire to be number one, right? And that's the way I am. I always want to win. I want to be that person. I want to be the person that people think of when they think of real estate. And so I made it a point to do that, to brand myself. The problem was that I branded myself as an old house person, and people thought that's all I did.
SPEAKER_04Did yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I had to switch gears, and that's another important part of being an entrepreneur. You have to pivot every once in a while, right? You have to say, oh, okay, that was a successful thing I did, but it may not go into the future as well as right now, right? So I pivoted and I started saying, I sell everything from mobile homes to mansions, right? I didn't really want to sell mobile homes, but I had. I was just a mobile home, right? So I could say that. So I just said I sell everything, mobile homes to mansions, so that people understood that I'm not too busy for your real estate needs, and also I do more than just old houses. And that worked too.
SPEAKER_03Quick shout out to one of our founding partners, Wise Agent. If you're in real estate and you're still juggling five different tools to manage your business, do yourself a favor. WiseAgent is the all-in-one CRM that helps you manage your contacts, automate your follow-up, and actually grow your business without the tech headache. Built-in texting, email marketing, landing pages, task management, and real support from people who understand this industry. Check them out at wiseagent.com. Link in the show notes and tell them J Square has sent you. Well, seven months, number one in the office every single year. I I want to understand or let the audience understand like, what did you do differently? You know, you have all these other agents, the other agents that have been in the business for a long time, and like you came in like, I don't care nothing about nobody, let's go, and just kept like I think that's so different than other, let's just say new business people, but also new agents that come in, they're like, hi everybody, like what well, what's what's what's the secret sauce?
SPEAKER_01Jay Man, I um I knew nothing about sales or real estate. And so what I did at the very beginning, and I think this is really an important piece of advice for new agents, especially, is that go to uh if you have a location, right? So I know there are a lot of uh companies now that are all online.
SPEAKER_02Virtual.
SPEAKER_01I I could not do that. I I'm a person I have to go into a location.
SPEAKER_02You like to come into the office, see people.
SPEAKER_01I get I get hyped up by being around other people and in an office environment and having people drop in to say hi and hey, I want to sell a house, or you know, that that kind of I have that's how I thrive. So I need a I need a brick and mortar location. So um I um what was I getting at?
SPEAKER_03The difference. What made you different?
SPEAKER_01Oh, the difference. So what I did was I went into the office every single day, even though I had no clients and no business what what at all, and I just sat around and I and we had floor time, right? Remember the floor time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, opportunity time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I volunteered for all the floor time I could get. So I was there a lot, and and I was able to actually convert a lot of that floor time into real buyers. Um, and that's how I extended beyond the first two clients that I had was floor time, which another is another thing that new agents don't have the benefit of of having. There is no floor time anymore, as far as I know.
SPEAKER_04You know, and and I see this from everything that I'm hearing from you is is you took opportunities when you saw opportunities.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04You know, it it wasn't like, hey, even that, you know, that opportunity of real estate, you were like kind of forced out of your old opportunity and decided this one. But like even though you said, hey, I took my first paycheck and I spent $400 to do fliers and stuff. Right. You know, because now spending $400 isn't a huge amount of money. But in 2020, uh $2000, what is it, 2001 at this point? $2001. 2001. That was a lot. That was a lot. Four or five hundred dollars, that's that's a good chunk of money to spend on it.
SPEAKER_01So I think the house I sold was like three hundred thousand dollars. So I got like a six thousand dollar check, right? I mean, it wasn't a huge commission check, but it was huge to me. That's six thousand dollars all at once.
SPEAKER_03Good return.
SPEAKER_01I sat there in that office and I listened. And I absorbed like a sponge, right? So I there was a top agent in our office who was um everybody knew who she was. Her signs were everywhere in town. And when the woman who recruited me said I should sell real estate, I said, I'm gonna give her a run for her money. And she laughed at me. She laughed at me. I'm sorry, don't laugh at me when I make that comment because that's gonna make me try even harder, right? So um that woman left the company not long after I came to go work in another location, and she did me a favor because what happened was after she left, I was the person in that office, and I got all the business. So um, but I listened to how she talked to people and how I would not talk to people. Uh, there were, I mean, she was kind of a a witch, putting it lightly. And so sometimes she would insult people or yell at people, and I was like, that is not the way I want to do my business. I want to treat people with respect. My dad taught me as a kid, you respect everybody from the janitor to the CEO because you just never know. You might need that janitor to help unlock a door, you know. So be kind to everybody because it'll come back at you, right? So I learned that. So I also listened to the other agents and how they did their business. And they're, you know, there were top producers, they weren't like kicking ass, but they were good. Um, you know, they were what do you call it? They were consistent, right? They would sell five, six, ten houses a year, and that's okay. That that that's enough to make a living. But I wanted to be better. So um at the time I worked for Century 21, and I ended up in the top 100 in the country because I was so determined.
SPEAKER_04Did you have one of the gold jackets?
SPEAKER_01I did not have a gold jacket. Those were gold.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I was gonna say, you know, she did. I was about to I do I just took a picture of you with the ghost.
SPEAKER_04You got a lot of gold trophies, though. So it's funny because we normally ask people like, hey, like what skill sets did you have from your previous that you brought over? But as I'm sitting here listening to you, is you sat there and you listened to an old CEO who went through and you said you listened to how he spoke and who he how he handled his business. And really, from what I'm hearing is you went into real estate doing the same thing. I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna absorb everything I can and I'm gonna learn what I need to learn and pick and choose. I'm gonna take this from this person, I'm gonna use this from this person, and I'm never gonna speak like that. And and I think uh you know, I think it's smart sitting in the office and doing things like that. Um, we used to have an old CEO that used to say, sit down and just listen to the people on either side of you and just listen to their conversations because you'll learn more from those conversations than you're gonna learn any place else. And that way you're learning with their customers instead of trying to figure it out with your own. And I was talking about it.
SPEAKER_01I will tell you the broker that I worked for saw the potential in me, as I said before. And so every uh twice a week, he would spend an hour with me, and he would teach me real estate because it's a different language, it's it, you know, it's not something that you just know. Um, and so he really guided me through that, and I have to thank him for that, even though we don't speak anymore. Um, but uh he did guide me into success. And I have him to thank the the woman who recruited me and him both really contributed to my success. And um I left for a smaller boutique company, so I didn't have to pay franchise fees. They recruited the hell out of me and they opened a new office in Monrovia and I went over. And I was able to negotiate because I was the top producer there. So I had a private office and I had an assistant, and you know, so um I did have to hire an assistant. So in 2000, so I left there in 2005. In 2005, I did 51 transactions by myself. Um, and so I had to hire somebody, yeah. I had to hire somebody to help me with the paperwork, and at that time nothing was computerized, it was all files and paper, and you know, and so um the two of us really did 51 sales that year. That was my best year ever. Not money-wise, but transaction-wise.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's and once you do that amount of transaction, you need somebody to help you. Um, you had said in your your intake, and this I found really I found really interesting that you believe entrepreneurial ship and entrepreneurship is something you're born with.
SPEAKER_01I think it was in my blood. Um, my dad was a salesman. Um, he sold hard molded rubber products. He actually invented the ladder shoe. So those rubber things that go on the bottom of your ladder so it doesn't slide. My dad invented those. Oh. So um, so that he was very thank you to your father for keeping us safe. There you go.
SPEAKER_03It saved my life a few times, I know for sure.
SPEAKER_01Unfortunately, we lost him much too young. But um, I'm very fortunate that both my parents were highly intelligent, and I uh we all inherited that intelligence factor, I I'm proud to say. Um, but he instilled in me um that competitiveness and the confidence. And he always told me you can be anything or do anything that you want. Even from the time I was 14 years old, he told me that. And so um I believed it. He he believed in me so much that he made me believe it, right? So I do have my dad to thank for a lot of that success as well. Um, but I I just I think that if you don't have that desire and that drive and that competition um in your blood and in your brain, um, you'll you'll float along fine. And you know, you'll have friends and family hire you to sell a house. But I mean, I walked into a house yesterday, a listing appointment yesterday, and um I was the listing agent when they bought the house 21 years ago. Yeah. And they called me, not their agent, you know. So I it it feels like my name and my branding and my marketing. I I was on the shopping carts at the grocery store for 10 years. I haven't been there in 15 years, but people still think I'm there. So, you know, getting into their head is is where you have to go. And I think a lot of people don't understand that concept on, you know, I'm just gonna sit here and wait for the phone to ring, or you know, I'm gonna go work for a broker who tells me when to take lunch, and you know, uh it's that's not help, right?
SPEAKER_04They still want to be employees in the corporate box. That's that's what they want. And they I don't realize and that's how you think I think and 99% of the companies' real estate don't work that way. You it's not corporate. They tell you what to do with that.
SPEAKER_01Unless you want to work for like a company that pays a salary, right? I think um there are companies, real estate companies out there that pay salaries, but I see J-Man's J-Man's jumping at the bed for here for a second.
SPEAKER_03Jeffrey doesn't you know, like I just want to push back a little bit because like if that's true, then like what's the point? What's the point of like a podcast or books or coaches or training? If like if I'm not an entrepreneur, then I should go back into the corporate box. Like, are are we just sorting people at this point? Like, can you be taught entrepreneurship? Like, I get it, I get what you're saying. Like, you're a competitor, it's in your blood. I I I have a mom who's an entrepreneur as well. That's kind of what was instilled in me. But if what if I have two parents and the grandparents and everybody else around me that's worked corporate jobs? Do you feel like I can't be an entrepreneur, or does it take a while to evolve into one?
SPEAKER_01No, I I don't think that's the case, but I think you have to have that mindset, right? You have to say, I'm gonna be an entrepreneur, I'm gonna be a success, and so I need to fit figure out how to do that. I will tell you, I have tried coaching on several occasions. And unfortunately, I'm not coachable. I'm just not. I'm too hard-headed, right? I already know that. Can I coach you for a second?
SPEAKER_04Let me coach you for a second. So maybe I choose not to be coached. Because everybody, everybody, everybody's coachable. Some people just choose not to be coachable, and that's fine. Some people, listen, you say you're not coachable, but I'm gonna challenge you on this one. Didn't your past CEO that you sat with, didn't they coach you on how to run a business? Yes. So you are, it's just it's a lot of times this thing, and and I listen, we all know the and Donna, we've had conversations about this in our past lives that we all know the gurus in the industry. Some of those are just not made for a lot of people. They just need someone that's actually yeah, and so me, me and you had us on sidelines years ago, we've had that conversation about hey, that's not for me. And I totally, totally get it. It it's but I think everybody's coachable if they choose to be coachable. You may not want to call it coaching, it might be a mentorship, it might be having a mentor, having a the support system around you.
SPEAKER_03Ability to learn, yeah, right. Ability to learn.
SPEAKER_01But those those rah, rah rallies, and you know, you you go and you listen, and you know, they f push stuff at you, and they, you know, do this and do that and do this and do that, and you're all co you're all hyped up when you leave and you're all like, oh man, I'm gonna really put that. And then you get back and you go, how do I do that? And what do I do with that? And that's kind of stupid. I'm already doing it this way, you know. So it's like I I always just push back too much, right? So sure, show me all you got, but at the end of the day, I'm just gonna do it the way I was doing it because it's successful.
SPEAKER_03So, what would be the test for somebody who's listening now and they're like, I really hate this corporate job. I hate it, I can't take it. I've been wanting to leave. What's the test?
SPEAKER_01The litmus test they should run like the test is first of all, make sure you have a lot of money and savings, or you have a spouse who makes a lot of money so that you're able to survive at least a year.
SPEAKER_03What if I don't?
SPEAKER_01Like I said, I was the exception to the rule. So I was a success right away and I made money right away within the first four months. I was making money regularly. Um, that's not normal. And most new agents get into this business and they think they're gonna hit the ground running and get rich right away. That doesn't happen. And so it'd have to be real.
SPEAKER_03Donna made it look easy. I could do it too.
SPEAKER_01And you you know, my old broker used to use me as an example, and I said, Tom, you have to quit doing that because you're head setting their expectations much too high. Um, and you know, you need to be like Donna. Well, it not everybody's like Donna, you know.
SPEAKER_04You not everybody Not everybody has 25 or 30 years in a corporate environment learning how to run a business by observing people who ran great businesses and being involved involved in that. I mean, that that to me, that's that's a huge edge. And I think always the biggest thing of when it is to step outside the corporate box is and I agree with you, some people are gonna do it with have money in the bank, other people do it just hey, I I don't like my job anymore, I gotta jump out. But I think you had a specific skill set that you were able to bring over with you, and I think a lot of people based upon the jobs they had before also have a lot of those, a lot of those skill sets. You know, you've been in the business for 25 years at this point this year. It's a long celebration. That's a long time, a long time in this business, and be successful in this business.
SPEAKER_03Is it a long time?
SPEAKER_04It's a long time.
SPEAKER_01It's a long time. Um, I will tell you that um I love what I do. I love it. I love being my own boss. I love not having to get dressed up if I don't feel like it. I like get sleeping in. I'm not a morning person. I let all my clients know, don't call me before 10 because I'm not answering my phone. Um, I love being my own boss, and I see why people want to do that. I I totally get it. Um, but not everybody's cut out for it. And if you try it and you're not doing anything in a year, then that's that should be your your guide, right? If in a year I haven't made enough money to um thrive or to you know pay my bills, then it's not for you. Um there are great people. I see people come in all the time, and I can tell that person's gonna be successful. I can tell that person is never gonna make a sale in their life. They have no desire, they have no drive, they have no no, I they just don't have those are the people.
SPEAKER_04Hey, I got the business because I like looking at houses. Yeah, go to open houses on the weekends like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, and I honestly I used to go to open houses all the time because I really loved houses, but I never thought I'd be selling them, you know.
SPEAKER_04Well, it was different because you so and if the beginning, you had a passion for the old house for the older houses.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Right. So that's not just like, oh, I like houses. There was something that you involved in, something that you were active that you were active in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Um, I I just feel like all of my bosses contributed to my success in some way or form. Um, whether it was they fired me for, you know, looking for another job or they taught me how to run their businesses without them. I mean, the guy that had the insurance broker, he would take me in the car with them when he would go to the airport, and he would dictate to me because he knew I took shorthand. And so he would dictate letters to me in the sh in the in the limo. And then I and he had was the first person I knew with a cell phone back in the 90s, right? I left there in the 80s. It was in the 80s.
SPEAKER_04Bag at that point.
SPEAKER_01Big old thing that went in his car console, you know. And it was like, um, and then he would say, Okay, I want you to um type these these letters up and then at the bottom put my name and then put dictated but not read, so that he didn't have to take responsibility for the mistakes that I made, right? Oh, that wasn't what I told her.
SPEAKER_03She just It's kind of like voice to text right now.
SPEAKER_01It was a protective clause, right? Um, but he was a perfectionist, and I had two, three bosses that were perfectionists. And not everybody can be perfect, you know. There's no such thing as perfect, but you can give it a hell of a try. And so they taught me that. I love that. Yeah. I and I and I do that in everything I do. I try to be as close to perfect as I can be without being perfect, because it's impossible to be perfect.
SPEAKER_04You know, someone someone once told me you're perfectly you. And that's why they were saying people like that. Well, I love that. You're perfectly you, and I'm like, because you can never argue against that. You're right. I am perfectly me at this moment in time.
SPEAKER_01I have had people ask me, what do I attribute my success to? And I always tell them like what?
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_04That was gonna be the next question.
SPEAKER_01Oh, was it? Okay, well, sorry, I stole your thunder. Um, I I truly think that my corporate background is the first answer I always give is that I learned so much from my bosses as an assistant. Um, and I, you know, I was responsible for running small offices, um, parts of big offices. Um, I ordered equipment and I did capital, you know, capital equipment purchases, and I um I coordinated events. I did a a conference the in Long Beach for all the aerospace engineers in the area, in the country and around the world. They came to this conference that I was responsible for coordinating. And I I did such a good job at it, they sent me to Munich to do the automotive conference with all the so the the engineering software was mostly aerospace and automotive. So I learned, I mean, I just I just was a sponge. Whenever I was around, I just picked it up and learned it. Um, but I forgot what I was getting at though.
SPEAKER_03We have some lightning round questions if you're ready. Are you ready? Okay. Just don't think fast, fun, and furious, if you will. Biggest myth about being a top-producing realtor.
SPEAKER_01Uh it's easy. That's a very big myth. It is not easy. We make it look easy, right?
SPEAKER_03I like that. Okay. One thing, one thing your executive assistant days taught you that no one else in real estate knows.
SPEAKER_01Um, how to be organized and how to negotiate and how to um talk to every level of people. Even people that may not be on the same page as you politically or religiously or gender-wise. You have to have an open mind and be able to work with people and tell yourself it's only 30 days and then they're gone, right? I mean, sometimes you have difficult people that you have to deal with, right? I try to make it not difficult for people and I try to get along with everybody. And when people ask me what it was that um made me succeed, besides the corporate background, personality is definitely part of it. Um, if you don't have an outgoing personality, you probably aren't gonna do what I did.
SPEAKER_04So for just want to point out, so for everybody listening to this who are not seeing the video, Donna, what color is your hair? Today it's purple and blue and pink and white. So for those of you, like you look at Donna and you know she has a personality. Like it's just you just pick up on that. That's I just want everybody who people listen to this on the audio, just want to make sure that it's you know she has personality. I've seen your hair a whole bunch of different colors by choice, of course.
SPEAKER_01It changes all the time.
SPEAKER_03And that was when I first met you. I was like, she's my person. I like her.
SPEAKER_01Well, I will tell you it is my signature. Um, people just know that I'm the realtor with the purple hair. It's mostly it's purple all the time, but um yesterday I had it done and I had her add some other new colors. It it fades away, and then I do it again. You know, it's it is kind of fun, and it uh it actually communicates to people that I am fun and I do have a personality, and um so when and I have tattoos as well. So um you don't see those, but uh but I have them.
SPEAKER_03And uh she's showing us her tattoos for those that can't see.
SPEAKER_01And I'm 75 years old in November, so you know it's like the edgy kind of um hair and tattoos and the way I dress and the way I talk to people is part of the reason why people embrace me. Because um they figure if she's confident enough to pull off that purple hair, then I want her as my agent, right?
SPEAKER_03Okay, I like that. Yeah. Now, corporate corporate job or commission only, which one's actually harder?
SPEAKER_01Commission only is much harder, um, but it's more fun.
SPEAKER_03I love it. What what do you wish what do you wish someone told you at 49?
SPEAKER_01Probably that life goes on even when you're thrown a little um what do you uh a sword that yeah, yeah. When you're throwing a curveball, when you're throwing a curveball, you have to roll with the punches. You know, you just can't take it to heart. You can't you can't um blame yourself and you can't say I'm a I'm a failure. So we gotta fail every once in a while. We gotta fall down, but we gotta get back up, right? So I always was able to pull myself back up, and I think that's really an important thing you need to know in real estate that you're gonna have people punch you down, and you're gonna have clients that are not fun to deal with, and you just have to roll with the punches and just say um it's temporary and get back up and go at it again, right? I mean, it's it's it's uh personalities don't always jive, and yet they want you as their agent because they know you're good. So you just roll with the punches.
SPEAKER_03Okay, and then your husband, supportive, nervous, or absolutely terrified?
SPEAKER_01At the beginning, terrified for sure, because commissions are few and far between, especially if you're just getting started. And so those first two commission checks were yeah, hey, hey, ooh, ooh, I got two commission checks. Well, when's the next one coming? So um, I mean, we were lucky that I could go on his insurance for healthcare and that kind of stuff because I had my own insurance when I worked for the corporate background, right? Um, so I was able to move over to onto his insurance, and so we were very fortunate that he had a good, stable job. But he was terrified, as was I, that it wasn't gonna work. And I didn't really want to go back to being an assistant at that point. You know, once I got the taste of being an entrepreneur and owning my own business, and that's another mistake that new agents make. They don't understand that that's their business, that they own that business. And it's not their broker's business. The broker benefits from your business, not the other way around. You know, I mean, you definitely benefit from having a broker guide you and and you know, let you hang your license there. But this is your business, and you have to look at it that way. You can't just say, oh, well, you know, somebody's gonna tell me how to do that. No, you have to figure it out. And I'm a big AI person as well, even though I'm 75 years old. You know, from the technology experience that I've had over the years. I mean, you remember, J-Man, I was part of the um beta testing on a lot of stuff, right? At our previous broker. Um, I've always embraced technology, and I think if you don't, you're a fool. Um, and I saw a lot of agents when I got into the business and had my own website and did all that technology at the beginning when it was not common, actually absolutely refuse to learn it and to embrace it. And it was I had an assistant at one point who wouldn't do we we got computerized, and she refused to learn how to scan the documents in because of the barcodes and things. And so I had to let her go because I needed somebody who was gonna run with me, not behind me, right? So you have to embrace technology. AI is definitely here to stay. Um, it's it's a little dangerous for sure, but there are ways to use it that'll benefit your business in every day, every single day.
SPEAKER_03All right, now I know Jeffrey has one more question.
SPEAKER_04We try to end try, because it doesn't always work. We try to end every episode of outside the corporate box the same way. So you stay in front of your you're standing in front of the mirror day one, fresh laid off, scared, like you admitted before, maybe not admitted then. Real estate license now gonna be. What do you say to yourself? What's that one bit of advice that you give yourself back then?
SPEAKER_01Listen to what your dad told you. You can be anything and do anything, and you're gonna be successful. And that is what I told myself when I got my license. You're gonna be do, you're you're gonna do well, Donna. You just have to have that, you have to convince yourself, right? You have to just keep telling yourself that. Because if you don't and you give up, then you give up. And that's not a good sign. Never give up. Pivot, never give up, and you can do it.
SPEAKER_03So, Donna, where can people find you?
SPEAKER_01Um, I am um I am a team member with my partner Gina Ammon. Our website is ammonandbaker.com, a m-m-o-n-a-n-d baker.com. Um, and we are top producers here in Monrovia. We serve the entire San Gabriel Valley. We go from Burbank to Ontario, and um we uh we are really good at what we do, so give us a call. Um and my email is Donna at ammonandbaker.com. If anybody wants to ask any questions, I'm happy to answer them. That's another thing that I really want people to understand is that real estate isn't rocket science. Okay. And so when agents, when top producing agents don't want to share, that's such a stupid mindset to me. It's like I learned from somebody else and I'm happy to help share what I know with you. And there are a lot of old older agents and and top producing agents who want to keep everything a secret, right? And it's like there are no secrets. It's it's cookie cutter, right? I mean, if it works for me, you try it. May not work for you, but at least give it a try. So I I I'm always of the mindset that I I'm willing to share and mentor people, and I've mentored a few agents over the years, and um, it's really rewarding for me to do that.
SPEAKER_04You know, Donna, I just want to say it was a privilege. I mean, I've known you for years and hearing your background story. I knew little bits and pieces of it, but hearing the background and your background story, I really appreciate you sharing with us. And and now I act now I understand one of the reasons why you're so successful in this business and why you've been so successful for this period of time. So thank you very much. I really appreciate the time you spent with us.
SPEAKER_01I appreciate you inviting me. Thanks so much. I'm glad I saw your post.
SPEAKER_03And thank you, everyone, who's watching and listening. If this one hit you the way it hit us, share it, send it to somebody who just got knocked off their ladder because they didn't have the rubber. Oh, very good, Jay. Very good. Yeah. Uh, and doesn't know yet that it might be the best thing that ever happened to them. Subscribe if you haven't already. And every Monday, we've got another great one that you don't want to miss. But before we let you go, we want to say thank you to our founding partners, WiseAgent, Suby, and the CE Shop. They make this show possible and they're building tools that actually help people in this industry. Check them out. All the links are in the show notes. And thank you, Donna, again, for spending time with us. And thank you to everyone for listening. That's not something we take lately. Now go make it happen.
SPEAKER_01Have a good weekend. Thank you, Donna.
SPEAKER_03Bye, guys.
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