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[00:00:22] Hey I’m Beatty Carmichael and welcome to the get sellers calling you real true podcast. And I’m excited today to visit with another wonderful agent actually a client of ours named Carrie George from Crimmins Colorado Carrie. Say hello and tell us where cribbing is.

[00:00:40] Hi there everyone. Crumbling is located in the northwest portion of Colorado. So oftentimes I tell people we are in between Silverthorne and that’s where the ski resorts like Breckenridge and Keystone are. so in between there and Steamboat Springs. Really beautiful valley of the Rocky Mountains.

[00:01:03] Well you are definitely in God’s beautiful green earth and I guess sometimes White Earth out there during the wintertime. So all of that I’m over here in short sleeves and it’s warm outside. Well I’m really excited to visit with you Carrie because I know you got a real strong stable business. We talked and you got some really great balance in your life and I think there’s a lot of things to share because having a stable business having balance still handling this challenges but managing them in a really great way is there’s a combination that you don’t always find. So I’m really excited about that. Thank you. And also just for a reminder of those who are on the call watching or listening. It is an Internet call so please pardon any Internet interruptions that may occur. So I guess to get started Carrie can you tell me a little bit about yourself as a realtor maybe. How long you been in business and just anything that gives people an idea of understanding who is this person we’re talking to and why should I listen to you. Right.

[00:02:18] Perfect. So I’ve been a realtor for 15 years. I got my license back in 2004. I kind of came into this business sort of by chance I never really thought that a real estate career was something that I’d want to do. But at the time I was transitioning from being the Chamber of Commerce Director here in our little town which was a very fulfilling job. But it was very hard and I got paid very little money. But I met a lot of great people and learned a lot about our area. So in hindsight it was a really nice segway to go far from in the Chamber of Commerce Director and moving into real estate because I already had connections with so many people. One of the things that I love most about real estate is the creative aspect of it the marketing the photography that the new technology that we are always seeing coming down the pike. I love that kind of ever changing aspect of our business. I work in a small community. Others for full time realtors in our town which is which is unusual. I think most people are. And bigger cities where there’s a lot more saturation.

[00:03:30] You don’t have hardly any competition there. Right.

[00:03:34] Really downs. I mean I have to pinch myself sometimes and thank God because a lot of ways there’s parts of it that are really easy. And then a lot of ways there’s lots that are very hard. I feel like sometimes a big fish in a small pond where I have sort of this one little area that I do real estate and that sometimes is hard to branch in to other parts of our county. So it comes with its bonuses and negatives being in this small community mainly mainly positive so well know what type of markets do you typically do.

[00:04:10] I know we were talking a little bit before the call but what have you found to be kind of the real staple niche or focus that drives your business.

[00:04:21] So lots of residential I’d say about half my business is second homeowners. And the other half is primary residence. I love doing residential real estate the most. I will also do vacant land and commercial but selling houses and photographing houses is way more fun than taking a picture of a piece of dirt. So I so because they’re two very different markets the primary residence and the second homeowner you know you have to kind of have different marketing approaches to deal with those two different clientele. So you know my primary residence These are people that I know that I see all the time our kids go to school together. You know just building really strong relationships with them that have to do with real estate. And then I don’t have to do with real estate. And then with the second homeowners finding other ways to reach them I’m usually through direct mail and in farming certain areas is is the way that I’m reaching out to those people.

[00:05:19] I’d like to talk on the second homeowner Mark. First because it’s kind of a unique niche. And for those that are in that niche there is always the question how do I grow it. OK. And and I know that there’s probably going to be folks listening to this saying Well oh she’s only competing with three or four other realtors so doesn’t matter what she does she’s going to. You know it’s easy to get business. Let me in. Let me ask that question first. Is it really easy to get business because there’s not that many realtors or are you still kind of find that there are things you have to consistently do if you want the business to keep coming in.

[00:05:53] Oh there definitely is. You know one of the agents here in town she was born and raised in this community. She knows everybody and everybody knows her. And so you know even though there are just a few of us you still have to have your game. You know you still have to you cannot take a back seat to this business. Everybody who is in the business knows that when you’re in sales your effort is 100 percent related to your success. So it’s very much still and my personality is that I don’t like doing a job halfway. I really care about what I put out there. I care about what my voice sounds like through my marketing and how my voice sounds in person. And so being authentic is very very important to me. And that has got to come through in the marketing as well.

[00:06:47] Well let’s talk about that because I know that was in our conversation before the call. That was the number one thing you mentioned is just that authenticity or being authentic. I’m not sure what the word is. I was trying to fill up. So talk to me about being authentic and talk to me. So after 15 years you’ve found you’ve gone through those things you You’ve experimented I’m sure with things that just didn’t work and those things that did. What is the how does the impact of being authentic impact your business and what are you doing to be authentic. So people actually will come to business with you and repeat business.

[00:07:27] So I have a perfect case study for this exact example. There’s a couple of area subdivisions that are nearby and you know I’d have a buyer who hey I really want to be in this one particular area and say OK great Look send a letter out to all of the homeowners and see if anybody’s been thinking about selling. So I’d write a nice letter. Hi Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so. I have a buyer looking in your area. Have you thought about selling your home. And I literally got zero response from these letters that I would send out. But I would still do them because I thought well you never know somebody might really be thinking about it. Just recently we have a new pastor coming to town and he found an area that was really attractive to him. And I thought you know what. I’m going to do a little bit of a different strategy this time I’m going to be really specific in my letter I’m going to use his name. I’m going to use his wife’s name. I’m going to say that he has two kids. I’m going to say he’s the new pastor at our church and I put all of that in the letter. I had him review it before I sent it out and off it went well I had 400 times more response from that letter than I did from all of my subsequent letters. Well I’m wondering how does what does that have to do with being authentic.

[00:08:44] Well I think what it has to do with being authentic is. I think if I would have put my head in to a sellers head but just received a very generic letter from me it’s possible they might have been thinking that I’m just fishing for listings and that is not part of my personality one of the things I pride myself on is integrity and honesty and so I knew I had a buyer for that specific area but those sellers didn’t. And my letter sounded exactly like everybody else’s letter Hey I have a buyer. Are you thinking about selling your house. And until I was using specific examples I was not getting the kind of traction that I wanted and so now I have totally changed my strategy with this. I’ve got another guy who’s looking in the same area. I said Brian I’m going to use your name. And he said OK go ahead tell him exactly what I’m looking for. And I feel that that being authentic being honest being straightforward being what using the most integrity that you possibly can is a way that you will kind of bridge that gap from sales person to seller and actually start to create a real connection and a real relationship with somebody you know that’s interesting because in marketing what we find is if you’re very specific you’re believable.

[00:10:06] Yeah. It seems to me that what you’re doing is you are being very specific with not I have a client but I have this particular client. Here’s what he’s looking for in so the more specificity you give the more believable in your words more authentic it is. And now they know this is a real solicitation for a real prospect who really wants to move in this area and is very legitimate. Yeah.

[00:10:33] I love it. Yeah I was really pleased. I thought Wow it took me 15 years to figure this out but now this is my new strategy.

[00:10:42] Well very good. Very good. So let’s talk about is there any other examples or any of the things that you can share on what you do. You mentioned earlier and I want to come back to this your voice. OK. When you talk about your voice What are you. For those are listening. You. What do you mean by that.

[00:11:00] So anyone who’s in real estate or is then thinking about getting into real estate you’ll if you google any of that like how to be a successful realtor you’ll start to see some of these kind of bullet points like. Well you should call a call. You should call for sale by owners you should work the expired list. And to me all of those things are they probably do work. I don’t think they work for me because they don’t feel authentic to me. I am a very not pushy person and that has actually worked to my benefit because I have clients all the time who will tell me. Thank you for not being pushy. They also put that in their reviews that they do for me after a sale. And so I think then people choose to work with me because they know I’m not going to be pushy. I really feel that buyers and sellers are decision makers. I’m there to guide them to counsel them to provide as much information as possible so that they can make the decision that is most appropriate for them and their family.

[00:12:08] I had me on mute. And that was great. I love it.

[00:12:12] So now talk to me in terms of driving business from your second home owners. What type of things are you. Do you find that really the things that work those things that don’t and and are you. So let’s go down that road a little bit can we.

[00:12:28] Because second homeowners OK so for a second homeowners I mainly do direct mail. I know a lot of agents are totally moving away from some of the old school marketing styles. I personally think that direct mail still works very well. If you use the right pieces I still really like giving an envelope and hand addressing it because I think people will then open it. So that’s if I have something really important and specific to send to somebody in a certain area. like a second homeowner I will take the time and hand address envelopes. It well your hand is your hand is sore. Don’t get me wrong but I think the open rate goes up so much when you take that extra time to to hand address on the loaves. So again I will sometimes do a market update if there is something that’s been recently sold I’ll do a quick analysis for them because again I think just sold and just listing postcards have their place but I know that sellers get a lot of those. And so instead of maybe sending a just sold postcard why not break it down and say you know here’s a less for sales and why are these sales significant. Are these the highest sales in this subdivision in you know X number of years that’s what we’re finding in our market is that it’s so strong that that’s a great pitch that you can send out to sellers to say did you know in the past twelve months we’ve had the four highest sales that your subdivision has ever seen as a as a homeowner that would be something that would be really important for me to know I’m not just hey our market’s really hot and everything’s really great but give me something specific that I can work on so I’ll do things like that and then I also try and do things that are really visually and design wise very appealing because that’s another thing that’s very important to me I’m I’m kind of like a marketing geek.

[00:14:29] I love anything to do with marketing and the way something looks is really important to me. I recognize that sometimes I have analysis paralysis where I’ll work so hard on something and I wanted to be just perfect. But then I heard a quote the other day that perfectionism is actually procrastination in disguise and I’m like Yeah oh that’s me. That’s totally me. So I’ve let go of some of that but I do really care about how how something looks because I want to be proud of what I send out. And I also want sellers to see a piece for me and say this person put a lot of thought and care into putting this together and then I equate that to the fact that I would also put a lot of thought and care into marketing their home.

[00:15:17] So out of curiosity these. So you’re talking about sending out sold or you know less for sales. Is that that’s not a postcard you’re actually doing that in an envelope.

[00:15:28] I am. So those I do in a letter where I’ll highlight you know I just did one for a condo complex actually at a little bit outside of my market but I thought what would be something that I would want to know about my area. And I did a little bit of research and saw that over the past 15 years we had the four highest sales in this complex in the last 12 months. And I thought well that’s something that’s really useful that I could write a letter about.

[00:15:53] So now are you sending these to your past clients that are out of town owners who are using these to just prospective clients prospective clients. Yeah. Okay okay. Very cool. And so when you’re sending in the letter are you are you putting photos of those sales or just kind of outlining it. I mean when I get the letter. OK it’s going to be handwritten I’m going to open it. And then what’s in the package. So I have a little paragraph at the top and then the sales are bullet points because I know that.

[00:16:25] Our attention span is about eight seconds even if you get something open. I have about eight seconds to catch their attention. So I put the sales in the middle of the letter as bullet points no photos but just listing the sales what they sold for how big they were what the sales date was because I thought if they look at that and then they also see the name of their complex. I mean it hopefully hook them and they’re going to read the whole letter because I still think at the end of the day if you own a property in any given area and somebody provides you something of value about the value of your property they’re going to be interested.

[00:17:04] So now in terms of. So is this one of the primary things you’re doing for their second homeowners just mailing out these letters are you doing postcards with it as well.

[00:17:13] At times I do a mix of postcards sometimes as well especially if I want to do something really big and I don’t want to have to dress 500 on both camps right. I’ll do a postcard for that but then sometimes I’ll just like try and pick a really visually beautiful photo something that’s maybe unique to our area so they know like oh yeah I know that mountain that’s right in my backyard. So some kind of hook something where they say this is relevant to me that this is not just something that’s gonna go in the trash.

[00:17:43] So then help me help me quantify. You can you may or may not be able to but your mailing generally speaking to about how many people each time and what type of return is that producing in terms of people calling you say Hey Carrie I want to sell or I want to buy what are you what what do you get out of it.

[00:18:03] So I there’s two areas that I farm regularly and I’d say I send out about a hundred to one hundred and fifty pieces per area I reckon nice too that there are people who get my letters on a consistent basis who put it in a folder and say when I’m ready to sell I’m calling her I had a sale last year and that’s exactly what the person told me. I’ve been getting your letters for years and I knew when the time came for me to sell you were going to be the person I called. So you know if you think of it some of this stuff you’re filling a pipeline for years down the road. But I think consistency is also very important. I would say in general on average my response rate from those is maybe like three to four calls or emails per mailing which I think is still pretty good and well worth it to me now. They’re not always ready to sell at that moment. It might be Hey I got your letter. I have some questions because you do a market analysis for me. You know I’m not ready to sell yet but I’m thinking I’m going down that road so they don’t always turn into an immediate client and an immediate contract. Sometimes it’s just the beginning of nurturing that relationship and making those connections.

[00:19:22] Yes. So that’s really good though. Three four calls for mailing because now you kind of identify who it is in the pipeline yet they get a chance to engage with you. I would assume that those people who are calling you when they do go on the market. Have you ever lost any of those to another agent.

[00:19:42] I don’t think so. Yeah. So really think about it but I don’t think I ever have.

[00:19:46] Well so that’s the most important part in my mind is if you can just get them to engage with you even if it’s early on then you pretty much have a habit. I want to switch topics real quick to your primary homeowners there in the because you’re actually you’re doing both types of marketing right. And I’m assuming that the marketing is different that you do for secondary home versus what you do for primaries correct.

[00:20:11] It is. So one of the things that we’ve been I work in a small office and I have a couple of colleagues one of the things that’s been really important to us is is supporting our community in any way that we can. So we do a lot of events sponsorships throughout the year. I’d say we prep locally we host a couple of our own and then we sponsor a couple of other events that the community does. So for instance we sponsor the summer reading program and my colleague and I will go to the library and do a craft with the kids and send them with a little gift when it’s all done. We sponsor our local community festival every year we do a parade float and hand out popsicles to everybody. We sponsor our own pumpkin giveaway in October where we fill our office with hundreds of pumpkins and the kids come to pick out a. And for free we sponsor the mutton busting at the fair so we we really try and get our name out there with community events. We mainly focus around kids because my colleague and I both have young children. So it’s something that’s very very important to us. And so we’re doing these events that have nothing to do with real estate but supporting the community that we live in and love. It’s not just to generate sales.

[00:21:33] It’s something that we truly feel is important to give back to the community and in any way that we can.

[00:21:41] And so if that because it is that about. So I’m curious because this is really cool. Are you doing besides has been involved in the community or are you doing anything special and either reaching out to people personally or marketing to them or is it simply just kind of being present.

[00:22:01] Well it’s kind of twofold. So I think there’s sort of a natural residual good feelings that people get by knowing that you know Keller Williams top of the Rockies sponsors these great events in our community. Like it makes people feel good about what we do for a living because let’s face it there are we get compared to all kinds of. not nice industries and some people are. not great realtors but most of them really are good realtors and they’re good people. So we have that aspect of it where people feel good about what we’re doing and feel good about us giving back to the community. And then in terms of like actual marketing to primary residents I do a combination of direct mail with them as well. I do handwritten cards to a J. I’m really getting disciplined about it Good job parts per day to my sphere and then a little bit even wider than my sphere doing Popeyes. That’s been a little bit hard for me because it feels a little more pushy than I’m used to but I find too if I’m bringing something of value that I don’t feel awkward about it. Let’s see what else am I doing. Well the Monday morning coffee which is fantastic and I’m absolutely loving it and my clients are loving it too.

[00:23:25] I guess I’ll tell people because a lot of folks listening to this won’t know the background of your handwritten notes or Popeyes or Monday morning coffee. So can you enlighten a little bit more on that so people know what you’re talking about.

[00:23:38] You’re listening to the get sellers calling you podcast to increase sales from past clients and sphere of influence or from a geographic farm learn about Agent dominator. We guarantee your sales in writing or give your money back to learn more. Visit our website get sellers calling you dot com. It’s like Agent dominator from the.

[00:23:56] And now back to the podcast.

[00:23:59] So Monday morning coffee is a program that Beatty does through MailChimp and there’s a little blurb at the top about real estate because that is what we do but it’s short it’s easy to read it’s nothing super technical and that this. Thirds of it really nice feel good story something inspirational something really you know touching about it just other human beings that are on the face of the planet with us. So I get feedback every single week. People say to me I love having Monday morning coffee with you or this made my day. I hear from people I haven’t heard from in years that they reach out to me and say wow I’m sitting here reading your your email and crying like because it’s such an emotional story that I’ve resisted doing like a newsletter for so long because I didn’t want to send emails about how to clean your gutters and when to change your your furnace filter because again that feels so inauthentic to me. And so sales and so typical real estate nothing against anybody who does that. I mean if it’s if it’s your cup of tea that’s fine. It wasn’t something that I wanted to do. And so Monday morning coffee was such an amazing fit for me because it had a little real estate blurb but more than anything it was just something nice to read. And in this day and age where you get so much bad news and you’re just bombarded with all kinds of garbage constantly. I love that there’s one e-mail that comes out for me per week that is just a really fantastic story.

[00:25:36] So these are just some great touches into your personal lives and you know I’ve got to ask you you did you just start doing pop bys from our conversation a few weeks back.

[00:25:47] Yeah. And I had something that was kind of in the works too. But then our conversation sort of prompted being like I really should just do this. People are scared of me and I you know I don’t know why I thought like they won’t want to see me but they do. And I created a business and and B by being authentic I am friends with many of my clients after the sale we hang out on a social level we’ll get coffee together so I think it was my own personal hang up about they won’t want to see me. They won’t want to talk to me. And that was really the complete opposite of what it really was.

[00:26:21] I love it. I love it. Well I want to ask a crazy question or an unusual question out of everything you’ve done. What are the one or two things that just absolutely did not work for you that you tried it was just a bomb. Anything you can share with folks on maybe what not to do.

[00:26:40] Well I would say that when you get those calls from people who are going to promise you a bunch of Facebook ads by pushing your listings out there and creating the ad for you personally I have found those to be a complete dud and be very very expensive. So. And again going back to being authentic I think if you want to do a Facebook marketing and you want to be reaching people that way I think it’s so much more important for you to just create really valuable content versus paying somebody to build ads for you. So you know offer a you know you would host a free clinic at your office to talk about the market or to teach people about different loan types and invite a lender to come in and teach that class with you offer something of value. People see listings they can go anywhere. Real Talk on Zillow Trulia they can find listings anywhere if they’re on Facebook and you they want to provide value and make clients client connections there. I would say offer something of value offer some kind of content. So that debt that tanked for me I spent a lot of money on those and I got nothing from them.

[00:28:00] Local I. That makes sense. Well let me shift gears I want to talk about work family balance. Now you have a family is that correct. Yep. So tell me a little bit about your family. Just so we kind of have a perspective.

[00:28:13] Sure. My husband Bill and I have been married for almost 15 years and we have two daughters. Elizabeth is eight and a half. And Ashley just turned five.

[00:28:24] I love it. So you’ve got a busy household for sure.

[00:28:28] We have a second grader and a preschooler so we’re not like entrenched in those school sports yet. Like I know parents of high schoolers are but we’re still pretty busy and the work and family life balance has always been a struggle for me. My husband is also a Realtor. He sells bigger properties so we’re both in sales which is which is difficult. You know in a lot of times you know one spouse will be a realtor and the other one will have a real job where you get paid every two weeks and we don’t have that in our in our home. So that sort of fear of missing out and feeling sort of very attached to your phone and feeling a little paranoid about not answering your phone call is a real thing for both of us both struggle with it. And I think setting really good boundaries for yourself and for your family life is very important. But it’s it’s hard. It takes work. It takes discipline. It takes.

[00:29:32] You trying to be in the present in that moment and it’s that’s really hard for us to do in this day and age for always thinking about something that’s already happened or something that’s going to happen instead of just being here right now. And so it’s almost like a habit you have to form.

[00:29:50] Talk to me about those boundaries. What have you what have you and your husband put in place and I’m sure it’s tempting to kind of break the boundary periodically and how do you hold to it. Tell me what it is a little bit more.

[00:30:03] Well we’re not always perfect of course but we do try and have a certain time of day where you know the business phone calls stop and you know replying to emails stops. I am really particular about my Sunday mornings. We go to church and I do not show property or meet with clients from ten to twelve on Sundays. Now after church is over I’m happy to catch people because I know a lot of my clients. That’s the only time they’re available so I do trying to accommodate them in the afternoons but I think you have to decide you have to decide what’s important to you have to decide where your priorities lie. And when I look at my two young daughters and I know they still really like me and they still really want to hang out with me that might not always be the case when they get to be teenagers they might rather be with their friends and so and all of this that I do and real estate is still going to be here. So I need to as a mom and as a wife make sure that I make my family my priority. But like I told you earlier it’s like we’re training for a marathon. It does not happen overnight and you have to just really work at being disciplined and and creating really good habits for the health of your family and yourself.

[00:31:16] I agree. It really takes a discipline and what I’ve learned for me is it takes scheduling it out you know knowing specifically I’m going to take this time off from where you cut off the clock at this point and literally almost putting in your calendar. And so the answer is No. During these times. Does that make sense. Yes exactly. So you mentioned church talk to me about. Talk to me about your spiritual life.

[00:31:42] So my spiritual life has been kind of a crazy road. I grew up in Denver and my grandma my great great grandfather is actually the founding one of the founding members of the largest synagogue in Denver. I was actually raised Jewish but then I moved to the mountains and there’s really no synagogues in the mountains. And so my spiritual life kind of like really just was very dormant for a really long time. And then I had some personal struggles and some business struggles that had come into my life and I was just kind of out of options like I don’t know what to do here. One personal struggle in particular there was really no right answer to what I was going through. It was just extremely painful and extremely difficult. And I found myself just kind of on my knees like all right God if you’re out there I really need your help right now like this. I don’t know what else to do. And that was when my spiritual life like almost like a seed that goes dormant started to just blow up is not the right word but completely flourish and and grow. What started to happen at that point to say it again maybe what started to happen at that point.

[00:33:04] What what were the things that just started to flourish. Can you give me some ideas on that.

[00:33:09] So. I have like in my life dealt with a lot of anxiety and so and living in fear and this particular situation created a lot of anxiety and fear for me. And when I finally got to my lowest of lows and and asked God please you help me not only did he answer my prayer for what I really was praying for. but the amount of peace and calmness that he brought to my life was I can’t even really compare it to anything. It was like almost like a light switch went off like oh I know what to do now I have peace I have calmness and I knew that he was in control and he was in charge. And then from there I just started to find the Lord and find my relationship with him. And you know the judeo christian religions very much cross over each other. But what I think is so amazing about being a Christian is having a relationship like a real relationship with the Lord. And like anywhere that you might be you can sit down and talk to him and tell him what’s on your mind. And it doesn’t have to be formal and structured. You can just say whatever is is going through that go at any kind of struggles you might be going through any kind of painful moments you might be going through guidance advice like what should I do about this.

[00:34:38] And and that part of it has been so amazing because growing up Jewish. A lot of it was very hands off very much like just ceremony and and praying but not not having relationship. And that’s just such a different ballgame.

[00:34:57] If that makes sense for me it makes a lot of sense. You know some people is oh holy God. Yeah. For others it’s dead. God. Right. Exactly. And having that relationship where you can just bring anything to him even the little things and the big things. So how has your relationship with the Lord impacted if you look at your business OK and how you live your life. What are the things that is impacted that if you did not have that relationship with the Lord you would probably do things differently. Does that make sense. Trying to ask.

[00:35:35] I think so yeah. Well I think first of all like I’ve always felt like I was a person of integrity but knowing the Lord and knowing truly knowing the difference between wrong and right and knowing his way has guided me in so many different ways.

[00:35:57] Like I’ll use an example of sometimes you know what the right answer is it’s not really what you want to do but you know it’s the right answer. And when you have him by your side making that hard decision is so much easier because you just you you feel differently about your interactions with people.

[00:36:19] It’s not just so much about how much money he can make going to make. And can I go on this vacation or that vacation. I would say that through my relationship with the Lord my giving has expanded tremendously that I realize now how important that is to not just give money but to give time as well. There are situations that I pray with my clients. Yesterday I was at a listing appointment and I asked. I said Can we pray. And they said absolutely. And so we just prayed for God to light their path because they’re not really sure if they want to sell or not. Would he guide them. And if their home does sell that the new people that live here that they would have peace and harmony and safety in this new home. So it’s just it’s like it’s opened up a new sort of chapter of my business. I found connection with a lot of people because of our our spiritual values align with each other. Sometimes it will come up very randomly. I met a gal yesterday morning and she asked where my kids went to school and and I said they went to the local school and she said Oh yeah I know there’s a couple of kids that go to the Christian school and so then that started us talking about oh where do you go to church so I go here you know. And so then then then you know like that you have that special connection and that you maybe see things somewhat the same personally.

[00:37:43] So although the idea that you’re praying at the listening appointment when we put a contract on our house and our realtor was a Christian you know first thing we did is we prayed over the contract. Yeah really cool. So in terms of your interaction with your clients from a Christian standpoint just like praying at that listing appointment are there anything else. Anything else for your relationship with the Lord kind of model. Is your behavior or how you reach out to people in those interactions.

[00:38:16] I would say one thing that’s been really cool about working with other Christians is their disappointment level when something doesn’t work out. Is is is actually really graceful and beautiful. They understand that you know that maybe wasn’t the right house for them because God’s got something better. And I I try and be sensitive to other people’s viewpoints and spiritual backgrounds and so I will have that conversation and maybe a more secular way with with clients that are not Christian AND I’LL I’LL SAY YOU KNOW EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON AND AND YOU KNOW MAYBE THAT’S that house isn’t for you because there is a better one coming. But I know when I work with Christians that they recognize that right off the bat that we don’t even really have to have that conversation there. They’re acutely aware of the fact that that there’s something better in fact I spoke to a lady yesterday. She has her house for sale in Estes Park and she said that our house has been on the market for three weeks and we haven’t had an offer and that’s so unusual. And she said but then my husband and I realized well God doesn’t want us to sell our house yet because they don’t have anywhere to go. They can’t find a rental here and crumbling. So she said it makes perfect sense now that he’s waiting for us to find a rental before he makes us homeless.

[00:39:35] Totally a little bit of in your own personal life because there is that level of peace that was with your client the sense of being able to look at things and say it’s OK because the Lord is guiding it. Do you share anything in terms of your business or how you manage life as a realtor where there’s just that overwhelming sense of peace.

[00:39:57] Yeah. And because most of my life I live with a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety. Again it’s kind of like a heart that you have to break a bad habit. But knowing every day in any given moment that I’m not alone and that he’s always there it’s it’s hard to describe. It’s like what kind of blows my mind as I see people all the time that are searching they’re searching for some thing that one thing that’s going to bring them X Y and Z happiness fame fortune love whatever it might be.

[00:40:38] And the one thing that’s actually going to be the cure for what ails them is right there. And it’s free. It’s for the taking. It’s it’s there for anybody who wants it but I also recognize that I had to go on my own journey to get where I am right now and that in God’s perfect timing all of that came about in the way that it did and that if it would have happened artificially or if I would have been pushed into something that I wasn’t ready for it wouldn’t have been him and it wouldn’t have been what it is now. So I know his timing is perfect and I try and encourage and and blessed people as I can but I also recognize that that he has the ultimate plan and that he will bless people in the appropriate way.

[00:41:28] Hey I’d like to ask you I don’t know if there’s an answer to this either because you may not have something to share or you may not want to share but is there been is there something specific you can share that you know that if you did not have the relationship with the Lord and this event happened in your life you would have responded just totally different. Is there anything like that that you can share and then what was the outcome of it ultimately. Does that make sense. I’m looking for kind of a testimony so to speak of how has the Lord and really good man in a time frame that someone else would have panicked. Yeah.

[00:42:06] Well I do have one specific example and it was actually kind of in the midst of my of my spiritual journey. I mean we’ll always be in our spiritual journey but it was at the beginning of mine. I had a situation come up at work in my own professional career that was very maybe very anxious. It was it was very difficult to kind of wrap my head around. It was scary. It was something that I couldn’t really talk to anybody about it because of its confidential nature. And again and I found myself kind of on my knees like God I need your help I. I don’t know what else to do. And I was just I couldn’t eat. I was so nervous. I was just I was miserable really. And I remember that night I I I drank some calming tea it was like you’re in the grocery store or they have all those that are for different ailments. And I found one calming tea so I drank this tea and I prayed and I got on my knees and I said God please help me through this situation. And when I woke up the next morning my first thought was. Wow t really works because I feel so calm right now and then I realized I was like oh no it wasn’t the tea it was it was God and Holy Spirit descending on me and bringing me peace and I wouldn’t necessarily say that immediately my problem was solved. It did eventually resolve itself but what was brought to me was just an overwhelming sense of peace and in the sense that it’s going to be OK. Like I don’t have to beat myself up about this problem. I can take it to him leave it at his feet and walk away.

[00:43:49] They say because the Bible says the perfect love cast out fear. Yeah. And when we are in those situations where we can be afraid then you know God’s love can push it out and we’re no longer afraid in the outcome. If we’re trusting the Lord is always always good. And you may not be easy but it’s always good.

[00:44:14] Exactly and that’s what it was for me. I just took a deep breath and I said thank you God this is gonna be OK. And that was actually then that Sunday was the first time I ever stepped into a church. I had been a Jewish girl my entire life. And I thought Oh this is gonna be really weird. And it wasn’t weird at all. It was exactly where I needed to be. It was beautiful. It was welcoming. And I’ve been going ever since and it was probably six years ago.

[00:44:42] Well so you’re just a six year old Christian.

[00:44:46] I am. That’s what I tell my pastor all the time I’m like you’ve got to treat me like a kindergarten I should be at Sunday school with all the little kids.

[00:44:52] I love it. I love it. Well in wrapping up is there anything else you’d like to share either from your relationship with the Lord and how that’s been in your life or anything in terms of your business that would help somebody.

[00:45:07] Yeah I would say that my my pastor asked me to open prayer at our next service.

[00:45:15] And at first I was super anxious about it. I don’t like to speak in public. And he said I understand Carrie. But consider this you’re speaking in front of family and you’re speaking to God. And when you put it that way I thought I can do this. I would say to anyone out there who is maybe struggling who is doubting themselves who is who you may be in a hard hard place with your business or your personal life.

[00:45:45] That then at the end of the day you have the fortitude inside of you and with God’s grace and his strength and his love. If you keep putting one foot in front of the other that’s all we’re asking you to do is just don’t give up. Keep moving forward. Challenge yourself sometimes step outside of your comfort zone of where you think that you need to be or want to be. Sometimes that’s where our greatest growth is happening and then also to just one thing that’s helped me so much and in my business and in my personal life to try and live everyday with gratitude to look around and see how we have been so blessed. I mean not just to to be able to live in this country and be one of the richest people on earth.

[00:46:38] I think they said if you own two cars you’re in the top eight percent of the richest people on the planet. Not just that but when you look outside and you see God’s beauty the mountains the valleys the forests the ocean the deserts the plains that he put all of that here for us. I mean the fact that you can go to your sink and turn on the water and clean water comes out. I mean I kind of geek out about this a little bit because it’s one of the things I’m super passionate about that we have so much bounty and so many blessings. And if you can hold on to those things the things that we ought to be grateful for instead of all the problems in your life it will turn I think turned things around for you almost like the snap of a finger because that is what perspective and gratitude can do.

[00:47:28] You know I had to share a story so it’s not my story third party but you know in the Bible it says that whatever is good what is your pure repute whatever is honorable you know all these things dwell on that. And there was a couple I was listening to teach many years back they’d gone through a almost certain point of divorce. He was always gone. He was always brash he was always go go go. She wanted him home and wanted more loving and compassion. And it got to be a real rift to the point that she was literally she had if I remember the story correct. She had the divorce papers in hand and the Lord put on his on her spirit just a little check in her spirit that this is not the rule to go. And she went back to the scriptures where it says to just like you you know focus on those things that you’re that you can have gratitude for. Focus on those things that are good. She’s actually made a list of everything that she loved about Bob and Bob and Cindy Harrison many years back. What she loved about Bob that she fell in love with.

[00:48:39] What was interesting. Is those were the same things that she was now frustrated with. Right. But she started to focus on that. And every time she would get upset she would thank the Lord for these great traits and qualities of Bob. And she said it was just a matter of I mean so fast. She fell back in love and their marriage has been really super strong. So this whole attitude of attitude of gratitude and thanking the Lord and just being appreciative of all that he’s done is really powerful. So I appreciate that. It really is. All right. Well I think we’re pretty much at the end of this call. So Carrie thank you so much for sharing. And for those who are watching or listening if you do like this let me courage you to subscribe to our podcast. Be sure to like it on iTunes and on YouTube and in place also like our guest sellers calling you Facebook page if you want to learn more about us and how to grow your business. Just visit our website get sellers calling you dot com. So Carrie thanks again. And it’s a real pleasure to visit with you.

[00:49:50] Thank you. You too. All right. You’ll be blessed.

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[00:50:35] Thanks for listening to the get sellers calling you podcast. Have a great day.

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