Holly Lovell 00:00:00  That’s really how I measure my growth, my success, my team’s growth. Their success is: are people willing to want to work with us a second or third time, or are they willing to share our name with somebody else? That is everything. You can buy leads all day long and get the business. But that organic, nurturing referral coming from somebody that experienced what you’re willing to do for them, it’s invaluable.

Katy Ripp 00:00:29  Hey there, fellow rebels, welcome to #ActuallyICan, the podcast where we say a hearty hell yes to designing life on our own terms. I’m Katy Ripp, a lifestyle coach, business mentor, and serial entrepreneur here to guide you through the wild ride, defying what society expects of us and embracing our authenticity. On this show, we dive deep into taboo topics like death, money, spirituality, entrepreneurship, unapologetic self-care, and personal development, all while swearing and laughing along the way. Expect down and dirty conversations, plenty of humor and a whole lot of exploration, leaving you feeling empowered to be your truest self.

Katy Ripp 00:01:08  Whether you’re craving a good laugh, seeking unconventional self-care tips, or simply looking for some camaraderie. You’ve come to the right place. We only get this one short life, so buckle up and let’s design yours on our own terms. Ready to dive in? Let’s go. The. Whole idea behind this particular podcast is that we talk very conversationally about people that do things differently than society. I think you do real estate very differently than the society thinks people do real estate. I think you lead from heart and relationships differently than most people perceive real estate. Real estate doesn’t have to be icky. It doesn’t have to be gross. and salesy and commission and, you know, all of that stuff. Okay. Well, for any listeners out there, I have my friend Holly, who happens also to be my real estate agent and my friend and mentor, a whole bunch of other things in my life. So Holly and I met. What have we decided like five years ago?

Holly Lovell 00:02:19  Yeah, I think it was 2018, 2019.

Holly Lovell 00:02:21  Yeah. Our kids were doing a good time. And in the world. Yes.

Katy Ripp 00:02:25  Right. Like before shit hit the fan with the pandemic. But you know, like many of us midlife gals, we meet through our kids activities, sports, whatever. And Holly and I connected both personally and professionally. And I’ve used Holly for I mean, it sounds rude to say I’ve used you, but.

Holly Lovell 00:02:49  All right, I’m here to be used. That’s okay.

Katy Ripp 00:02:52  That’s actually legitimately how it That is, I use Holly as my real estate agent for a number of transactions now. I was a real estate agent. If you guys don’t know that already. In my early entrepreneurial career, I sold some real estate up in Bayfield, Wisconsin. I was very green and very terrified and lived in a world of a very masculine way of real estate. Even though I worked for a female broker, it was really based on like fear and commissions, and there wasn’t a whole lot to talk about, like building relationships or how you networked or networking was kind of a dirty word at the time to.

Katy Ripp 00:03:37  So I kind of grew up in that real estate where I thought it was just like showing pretty houses, and it really did not align with my own values at the time, even though I had no idea what my values were. But it just like didn’t feel good. So over the years I’ve had a number of real estate transactions, which I’ve either done on my own or, you know, they’ve come through Craigslist and we figured out the paperwork on her own and that kind of thing. But I felt like after I met you, Holly, it was like, oh, I’ve kind of got this real estate agent in my corner that I could totally utilize. And this was on the purchasing side when we bought our lake property. And my husband and I have always been in this world of we can just sell it ourselves, so why would we pay commission? And I think that that’s like, I mean, you can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that that’s a pretty common it’s.

Holly Lovell 00:04:32  A general thought process for most people.

Holly Lovell 00:04:35  Right.

Katy Ripp 00:04:36  Like what are they doing for us? Right. Like why am I going to pay them $25,000 for them to put a sign in the yard and blah, blah, blah? You know, whatever the rest of the, you know, excuses are or whatever. And I mean, I have good friends. I have family that feel this way. I have, even though I was an agent, my husband felt this way for a long time. And you totally changed our minds, right? Like you went to bat for us on so many levels, changed our mind into a way that I would never consider not having an agent again like you. I mean you in general. But yeah.

Holly Lovell 00:05:13  Thanks for clarifying that. Like when you.

Katy Ripp 00:05:15  Retire, I would also have your team help me or whatever it is, but you change my mind because you are so heart lead and such a leader and so relationship based in an industry that I feel like has gotten a really bad rap. So welcome Holly Lovell.

Holly Lovell 00:05:32  Thank you. Happy to be here. Super excited.

Katy Ripp 00:05:36  I’m going to let you get into the nitty gritty of who you work for, like what the brokerage is, but also the team that you have. You’re also in three different states now.

Holly Lovell 00:05:47  We’re in two states, but we’re waiting approval for the third. Yes.

Katy Ripp 00:05:52  So Iowa, Wisconsin and soon to be Illinois, which people say to me like, I don’t know how you do it all. I could do what I do, but I actually don’t know how you do it because you, like, drive back and forth to Dubuque, like all the time. So anyway, I’d like for you to start if you can just give us a little rundown of who you are. Tell us a little bit about your real estate journey, how it started, how it’s going, that kind of thing. We’ll get into some nitty gritty details, but take her away.

Holly Lovell 00:06:23  Sure. Well, I have been in the real estate industry my whole life, so my mom is a realtor as well in Iowa.

Holly Lovell 00:06:33  I got started during college and banking and kind of worked my way up to management in the banking world and had my first child and kind of felt like that was kind of a man’s world at the time. You know, it’s one of those things. And I then ended up getting into sales for Avon Corporate and did development of Avon representatives. So I did recruiting and developing and training. So I’ve always kind of had that training background, mentoring, coaching and sales on top of it. So I think that’s the only way I’ve ever known to do sales is by kind of developing and nurturing relationships. So all of those jobs kind of led me into real estate, and I was given an opportunity or asked to kind of, hey, you should get into real estate. I’m like, no, I don’t want to do what I want to be my own person. I can’t do this. And finally, some dear friends of mine just said, you’re nuts. You need to get into it. I mean, I do hear that a lot, but I, you know, be in good.

Katy Ripp 00:07:36  Company, right? Like, yeah.

Holly Lovell 00:07:37  Yeah, this is why I choose my friends very carefully. But so that’s, you know, in 2011 which the economy housing was not awesome. You had to really, really work. I quit my job that I was making pretty good money. Good bonus.

Katy Ripp 00:07:54  Were you at Avon then?

Holly Lovell 00:07:55  I was, yes, and.

Katy Ripp 00:07:56  Can I ask you was if this is going to sound like the dumbest question ever? I think maybe in 2024 it sounds like a dumb question, but maybe not in 2011. Was that run by women?

Holly Lovell 00:08:07  Yes.

Katy Ripp 00:08:08  Like all women. Or were there like there.

Holly Lovell 00:08:11  Were a few male.

Katy Ripp 00:08:12  A man or whatever.

Holly Lovell 00:08:13  The CEO was a woman and we went through a few changes. But, I mean, I knew nothing about that job. I took that job because I felt kind of defeated in again my previous job and knew I could do more. I knew I could sell and grow, and I was like, you know, out to prove something.

Holly Lovell 00:08:31  And I came across this position that I could work for my home office. I’d get a car, I’d have bonus opportunity. I mean, I remember running down the steps and telling my husband, like, oh yeah, this and you get free product and I don’t even I’ve never even used Avon. But that sounds fun. Like, this is amazing. We get a car, you know, because we had a one year old at the time.

Katy Ripp 00:08:54  Were you at the time?

Holly Lovell 00:08:55  Well, Caroline was one and she just turned 20, so. Okay.

Katy Ripp 00:08:58  So 19 years.

Holly Lovell 00:08:59  Ago. Yeah. Yeah. And it was a really hard interviewing process and it was crazy. So but again, I just thought it was everybody else’s perception on Avon. It was like, oh, you’re getting like a Mary Kay car and you’re going to run around and sell lipstick. Well, this was I had over 500 representatives in my district. I had a 12 county district, and I drove all over. So see, I’ve gotten real comfortable in my life doing this all over and not only recruiting representatives, but making sure they knew how to sell.

Holly Lovell 00:09:31  And these ladies would come to me, and it cost them $25 to become a representative. And it was literally there would be times where people were handing me coins to sign up for this.

Katy Ripp 00:09:43  Oh my God, I have the goosebumps all the way down my body right now. Yeah.

Holly Lovell 00:09:49  So. And I would be in the most. I don’t even know how to describe it, but you have to meet people where they are, right? So it was sitting with someone at Hardee’s because they were too embarrassed for me to come into their home, and I really started to learn. People need the opportunity, and they need people around them to become more right and have the right people kind of in their corner rooting for them. So I really took that, and that was hard because I had, again, 500 representatives, 12 counties. I was all over the place, little one at home.

Katy Ripp 00:10:20  Something inherently in you, Holly, do you think like that leadership part, meeting people where they are, you know, being in their corner? Was that something that you already like, instinctively or intuitively had already had in your repertoire, or was it something that was taught by Avon or a combination, I think, like.

Holly Lovell 00:10:40  Going back to the banking world of it. You know, I became a retail manager and business development, and I was just talking to my team about this. I said I was one of these managers who would if I saw potential in someone, I would want them to get promoted. And so I had turnover, but it was because I was constantly like, they’re not going to want to make $12 an hour forever, or they have a family. And so if I can help them to grow in their career, then I’m going to do it. So it started, I think, in banking, I don’t remember in high school, I think I always, you know, I did fundraising and all sorts of things that I just I don’t know what it is, but, you know, I just think every single person has potential to do more if they want it. Right. And then they just need to be around the right people that encourage them and show them how to. So the Avon thing really taught me a lot about just people in general and their needs and not judging a book by its cover and people sacrificing.

Holly Lovell 00:11:40  But also, I was working so many hours and it was, you know, fortune 500 company, I would far exceed my sales goals. And it would say, and now what? Like it was.

Katy Ripp 00:11:53  You always have.

Holly Lovell 00:11:53  To do better. And while I loved that pressure, it got to interfere with the kids. You know, I now had my second child and they didn’t really care. If, you know, you’re on a highway for four hours in an ice storm, and there were semis and I was pregnant with my second child, and I got home and said, this is I can’t do this. I need to be my own boss. I need to figure this out. I’m kind of done having somebody else tell me how my life should go. So that pushed me into real estate. And again, that was 2011. I had very little money in my account when I decided to do this, but I thought, okay, I can do it again. Sales driven. And so it was one of those things that I just kind of connected myself with the people that I wanted to learn the most from, and then kind of add my way of doing things in with it.

Katy Ripp 00:12:46  I mean, that was a different time on two different levels, right? Like we’ve also grown and mature. We’re around the same age, right? Like we’ve also grown and matured as women. Our kids are older, right? Like it’s a different season of life. And I think that we’ve gained a lot of wisdom from all of that. But also it was before the MeToo movement. It was before the, you know, it was right after the mortgage crash, but before things get really crazy with the real estate coming back around. I mean, I just think to myself, like when I was in the real estate market, it was around 2007 eight, which is like literally when it crashed. And we never had these like multiple offers, crazy letters that went with it or give, you know, like, I would love to get into that. That’s a whole nother. Yeah, it’s just a whole different ball game. Like the logistics of actually real estate and how it’s gone up and down and you’ve had to learn all of these new strategies.

Holly Lovell 00:13:46  Yes. All these new.

Katy Ripp 00:13:47  Strategies of winning. I don’t know, like I don’t know how to else to explain it and then also teach your team, tell me, I don’t like to say like masculine feminine way of doing things. I think that’s easy for people to understand. Right? Like when you’re talking about a heart lead business versus something that’s very sales driven and something that feels really icky versus something that feels really aligned. Tell me now that you’re in where you are now leading a team, how much of that early stages didn’t feel good or did it always think.

Holly Lovell 00:14:22  About this like I think it’s it just popped in my head when I was in banking. And again, I learned a ton from it and worked with amazing people. But I literally after I had some changes happen when I was on maternity leave. I bought a book. Nice girls don’t get the corner office and it was like.

Katy Ripp 00:14:38  That also gives me the goosebumps.

Holly Lovell 00:14:39  Don’t put candy on your desk. Don’t you know you have to sit a certain way? You have to, you know, just make sure you show up in a different way that has more of a masculine energy or you’re not going.

Holly Lovell 00:14:50  And again, this is in 2004 or 5 six. Right. So it’s crazy that this is a book that I’m buying because I feel like people aren’t going to see my value that I bring. And so even in real estate, the top couple people, you know, my mom was a top producer forever. So I had a very good role model in the real estate industry as far as you could see, a woman doing amazing things in the real estate world. But in our office, it was a couple of guys who were the top producing agents. And again, it really just for me, I didn’t really even focus on that. What I needed to focus on was how I was going to bring money home to put food on the table for the kids, so I didn’t think about my approach. I think it was just an innate ability. When I would sit down and meet with someone and one of my very first listening opportunities, I remember being super excited because it was an older couple. It was a condo, and I was just happy that they wanted me to list their $150,000 condo.

Holly Lovell 00:15:52  I mean, I was thrilled and ecstatic that someone would trust me with their investment, right? And they were going on to the next stage in their life. And I remember saying to my husband, like, you need to come over and help me, like clean toilets. And, you know, because they were elderly and it was, we need to do whatever we can to make sure that they keep as much money in their pocket as possible. And I didn’t have any money to be able to hire somebody to do that. So we were over there and Matt was always like, I don’t want to touch their stuff. I’m super nervous about touching their stuff. I’m like, well, someone’s got to. We just need to like, jump in.

Katy Ripp 00:16:26  Touching their stuff, doing it.

Holly Lovell 00:16:28  So it was like that kind of. And then seeing people and connecting with people in a way of like real emotion. Right? Like for them, this was such a big transition and they ended up not moving.

Holly Lovell 00:16:41  It was just too much for them. But we had an under contract and then kind of fear set in. But again, it was just so personal for me that it made me look at real estate in a very, very different way. It wasn’t transactional. And, you know, I tell my team you got to be transactional. But also, I remember being told in the past by a male stepping emotional. And I get it. I get the, you know, there are times for emotional behavior, I guess, or, you know, to be driven by emotion and you want to make sure that you’re emotional enough to understand where someone’s coming from. But also it’s when you don’t show people that you understand that there are feelings that their time, that their money, that their placement, all those things are so important to them and to you. This is where the disconnect is. And so I think that again, you take everything that you’ve ever heard in your career and you kind of mush it together and go, okay, well, this is how we’re going to do it.

Holly Lovell 00:17:45  You can be emotional, but as long as it doesn’t interfere with you being able to negotiate for them or to get them to where they need to be. But, you know, make that be at the heart of everything.

Katy Ripp 00:17:55  It’s fine that you say that. Like Matt had to come and clean toilets or whatever, because I made Dale come and empty out an entire cabin because they didn’t want it furnished. And I thought that they did. And, you know, whatever. We had to empty out this entire cabin. And Dale’s very different headspace, especially that we were young before kids. And he’s like, why the fuck are we doing this, right? He was like, you’re not getting paid to do this. Why are we doing this? And sitting in this seat right now. I remember that being such a I was in like such a negative, people pleasing place that I was like, I don’t want to disrupt anything like this. I should have gone way above it, which it was like a $1,500 commission.

Katy Ripp 00:18:39  And I got stuck in the snow that day. We had to call a tow truck. I mean, I came and I ended up coming home with zero money, and Dale is like, what the fuck are we doing here? And I remember thinking to myself, I felt like I needed to do that to earn that kind of commission, which at the time, $1,500 was a lot of money to us. Right? Like, absolutely. We had just gotten married. It was also almost 20 years ago. So $1,500 was a big check. It was a lot of money at one time for me. I used to work in the schools, so I didn’t think I was worth the $1,500 unless I did something so outrageous that I deserved. It isn’t something you see in other agents and or in other female agents and or did you see it in yourself at any point that it was like it bordered on like too much work?

Holly Lovell 00:19:30  Yes. Well, I’ll just speak for myself. But I do think, you know the people pleaser in me.

Holly Lovell 00:19:36  And I think many women write. I think that’s always something that we’re trying to hone in on or to sharpen or do less of right people pleasing. I think for me, I’m sure that there’s other agents that look at me and say, My God, her cost per hour to be in business because she’s running over and staging or cleaning or whatever we need to do, mowing lawns, whatever we need to do where there’s other agents that don’t do that and they’ll get the same amount of commission. I’m sure that there’s people that think I’m absolutely crazy with that. But for me, my business, I have never, ever paid Zillow. I’ve never paid for a lead. All of my business comes from clients and referrals. And I thought that, you know, one, it came from a place when I got into real estate, I didn’t have money to pay for leads. I remember someone telling me to get a billboard. I’m like, I can’t even spend $500 to go to a course, so I don’t have billboard money.

Holly Lovell 00:20:37  And by the way, anyone cares if my face is up on a bowl and.

Katy Ripp 00:20:41  Billboard money is insane. It’s like 800 or $1000 a month. Like what is clearly it’s crazy idea.

Holly Lovell 00:20:48  You’re going to get your business class or your face up there. I’m like, well, I don’t drive by and look at people and say, okay, well, they’re good looking. I’m going to, you know, use them for, I mean, all right. I’m right. I think, like for the most part, we’re not choosing our partners and trusting people from their picture on a billboard. So to me, I needed to just create my worth. And again, I’ve just grown up where my worth comes from, people being satisfied with my performance or feel the connection there. And so that was legitimately how I’ve built the business is just by the connections of people trusting me and knowing I would go above and beyond to make sure that they’re happy in the end. Not perfect, but just like they can see the effort is there that other people that make.

Holly Lovell 00:21:33  And again, I’m not saying that way of doing real estate is bad. You know, they’re probably a little less tired than I am. Like probably have to color their hair a lot less than I do. But I think for me, I don’t know how to do business other than having that personal connection and making sure that people find whether it is someone giving me a $1,500 check or whatever, $200,000 check, it’s their money, it’s their hard earned money. And I want to make sure that they felt like there was value there.

Katy Ripp 00:22:03  Yeah, I think that like the people pleasing part of that is there’s a fine line. There’s a fine line between people pleasing for a personal, like, I have to have everybody like me, and I can’t deal with the conflict if I don’t do this versus I’m going above and beyond and providing a service, right? That is nurturing a relationship. There is a very, very fine but distinct line between that and a couple of the things you said before was there’s sort of like two sides to real estate, almost like there’s two paths to take.

Katy Ripp 00:22:44  One is I’m kind of doing this as a hobby and it looks like super easy money, and I’m going to teach full time and then do real estate on the side, because I can get some extra dollars in my pocket. And all it is, is open houses and showings and filling out some paperwork. Right, right. There’s that school of thought. And then there’s yours, who it sounds like came from I’m making this a career. This is actually my career. This is how I’m feeding my kids. This is how I am. I’m going to run this like a business, the business that it is. But there’s more of the first school of thought. So I think that’s how real estate can sort of get a bad rap or like real estate agents can get a bad rap because there’s people out there selling right versus building relationships. Right. And I think now you can tell who’s who, but there was a time that it was kind of hard to know who was who in that. And the older I get in, the more wise I get, and the more in the business schools of thought I get and learn more.

Katy Ripp 00:23:54  Is all of the good businesses float to the top? The people that are not putting in the effort, the people or businesses that are just don’t have, not necessarily have what it takes, but aren’t willing to be patient, aren’t willing to go above and beyond, aren’t willing to empty out contents of cabins or clean toilets, or work long hours or whatever that like the grind, right? Like the grind and the beginning. They just they don’t make it. And I’m guessing you’ve seen a lot of agents just kind of fall away because they just don’t put the effort in. You also lead a team, so I’m sure it’s hard to teach somebody like, this is the thing that sets me apart. This is the thing that I’ve done for years that has set me apart, that has made me successful. You do it, you try it, and they’re like, I don’t think that’s actually going to work. I don’t think a handwritten note might work.

Holly Lovell 00:24:51  I just had that conversation yesterday. Oh yeah, I.

Katy Ripp 00:24:54  Mean, I there were like, there are things set you apart. Also, referrals aren’t linear, right? It’s not like you send a handwritten card and you get a listing from them two weeks later. It could be 15 years later, somebody remembers that you sent a card.

Holly Lovell 00:25:13  Absolutely.

Katy Ripp 00:25:14  Or whatever it is. Right? Like, I just got your email for family photos, and I was like, what the. That to me is like, first of all, I’m very honored to be on your family photos. Oh, well.

Holly Lovell 00:25:24  Of course.

Katy Ripp 00:25:25  But also you don’t have to do that for us. You don’t have to do it because we’re already customers for life. But also, that is a huge testament to the energy and what you put into developing your relationships. And so then I can feel proud that I can give you your name because like, you can’t believe that she just paid for our family photos or what, you know, whatever it is. Sure.

Holly Lovell 00:25:52  Well, I think it’s, you know, for us, and it’s funny because we just did the Evite yesterday and the whole team is like, what number are we up to? Who’s all coming? Everyone is genuinely so excited to see if the people that they’ve worked with and developed relationships with like us enough to show up again and in a more personal, friendly way that we can thank.

Holly Lovell 00:26:12  Them. That’s just genuine, right? And it’s fun. We love, love, love, love events. And again, every agent’s going to do things differently. Every agent in our office does things differently. We always have this conversation of do we do postcards? And we do this. And by the way, like I’m learning, there’s a combination of it, but I would much, much, much rather put my resources into one on one coffees or dinners or client events because again, then you can just feel you can just feel the energy and people are more up to working with somebody like yourself. Katy says, hey, you should use Holly. And there’s already that connection and trust. So we love, love, love events.

Katy Ripp 00:26:54  It’s and I think that there’s something it’s I read this somewhere. I don’t know where I read it or heard it or whatever, but like customers, clients, you know, the consumer loves to be delighted. And I thought delighted was like such an because. Not necessarily surprised.

Katy Ripp 00:27:11  Right. But delighted. And how many times do we in our lives, especially as adults, do we get the opportunity to a delight somebody else but also feel delighted? It’s just like we don’t get it very often. And so to me, if you can provide that to somebody, I very often like when I work the coffee shop, I very often give somebody a cup of coffee, right. Like I buy their coffee. I mean, we have a rewards program and, you know, like if you buy $50 worth of stuff, you get $5 off or whatever. But there is something about me taking the time and energy and saying, I’m buying your cup of coffee today. That delights people. It doesn’t have to be super expensive. Very often the less expensive that it is, the more delightful it is, and more heartfelt, the more delightful and sometimes the more heartfelt is just the cheaper route.

Holly Lovell 00:28:08  Well, we just yesterday I was in the Iowa office and Katy, who is we don’t know what we the office manager.

Holly Lovell 00:28:16  She does a lot.

Katy Ripp 00:28:17  She’s just Katy and we love Katy.

Holly Lovell 00:28:19  Katy. She’s like the 17th Katy in my life. You know, besides you, the most important other. Kate. I will get in trouble for all this. But, you know, she was talking about the cleaning crew that we use all the time for. They clean our office, but then they also do all of our listings. Brandon had come in to pick up some checks, and he was gone when I came back. And Katy said, by the way, he wanted one of our level group t-shirts, and then Ashley wants another one because they want to start wearing them and promote us. And by the way, they work with a ton of other realtors. So the fact that I’m like, oh, I feel really honored. And I’m like, okay, well, yeah, we’re not. That’s fine. And Katy didn’t even think twice about just handing it over to, you know, I don’t know how much those t shirts are, but listen, if someone wants to be a champion for us and also be proud, I mean, I’m not that easy to deal with when it comes to, like, how clean things are or, you know, I’m sure that I have high expectations, and the fact that they still want to work with me is amazing, let alone wear our t-shirts is pretty damn cool.

Katy Ripp 00:29:23  Yeah. It’s amazing. I mean, there’s no better compliment, right? Yeah, then a referral and somebody wanting to champion you. Right. And if that costs $9 a t-shirt.

Holly Lovell 00:29:34  Yeah. And I would do the same for them, you know, giving their name out like it’s just when you again, feel like someone gives you value. It is so easy to pass that along to somebody else. And also like you’re proud to say, here’s somebody that I would exclusively work with, right? Like you can trust them like I do. So yeah, it’s kind of a fun I don’t know, those little moments are nice. It’s amazing.

Katy Ripp 00:29:58  There’s the fun side of this like that, right? Like delighting your client and all that. Oh, it’s all fun. It’s all fun. It’s all a learning experience. Right? So let’s get into the big one, right? Because I’ve been along for this ride and it was so amazing. It was so amazing. So Holly sold the most expensive home in Iowa on record, correct? Yes.

Katy Ripp 00:30:21  Summer. Yes. Tell me about it.

Holly Lovell 00:30:23  It was very exciting. First off, so I get a phone call from Melissa Legrand, who’s the owner of. And by the way, I met at properties Christie’s Real Estate at Properties 11 here in Madison and Iowa. And Melissa called me on a Friday night. We were out for dinner with friends and she said, hey, will you call me tomorrow morning? I have a lead in Iowa I want to talk to you about. So I was like, still in bed. Called her, I don’t know, 7:00 in the morning. And she said, listen, I got a call from this couple last night and they’re in this town, and I cannot remember how she said it. It was the funniest. It’s Okoboji, Iowa, but that is nowhere near how it was pronounced. And which, by the way, everybody else butchers it too. Unless you’re.

Katy Ripp 00:31:04  You’re from Iowa. You knew it, right? Yeah.

Holly Lovell 00:31:07  So. And I am the lead luxury listing agent in Iowa.

Holly Lovell 00:31:12  So she said, well, listen, you know, would you be interested in this? And I said, okay, well, let me look it up. And it had been on the market for roughly on and off for ten years, but it was kind of spectacular, like the coolest design ever. It was 24,000ft², had been listed between 10 and 12 million, maybe 14 at one point. And you know, when I googled it, there were stories about it in Iowa being the most expensive home in Iowa. And, you know, we’re like, I don’t know if we’re going to sell it, but let’s go meet with the guy. Like this sounds cool. And what a fun opportunity to meet someone. And why did he build this in Okoboji, Iowa, you know, and I had to fess up. I’m like, it is six hours away. So, you know, I think the call was, hey, you can handle this. And I of course said, sure, because we’re crazy together and say yes.

Holly Lovell 00:32:03  But when I looked it up, I’m like, oh, it’s a good drive. And so anyhow, we all got together and drove and met this wonderful human being. Like instantly he opened the door and talk about an amazing storyteller. Like, I can’t even goosebumps the entire time I’m walking around the house. And, you know, you and I talked about this plenty. I got like, super geeky and so crazy over the stories. Not about how big the house was or the dollar amount, like, so weird. I was just like, yeah, but you don’t understand it. Is it like, I get it, I get it that it’s a $10 million listing and that’s pretty cool. But mostly like, you should hear why he built this home and how he put this together and talk about a person wanting the best for everybody, like every person that he brought in to build this home was all from the community, and it launched their careers into what they are today. And so, again, you know, we’re all just like, oh, he’s our people.

Holly Lovell 00:33:05  Like, this is amazing. Yeah. So he’s giving us a tour and he’s talking about, you know, his dad was a congressman in Iowa and he had a big he still does a fishing line company. So again, hearing his story, he had homes in other areas. And this was just a lot for him. And it was time to move on. So and he had been working with the local realtor for years and was at the point where they just needed a new approach. So again, we walked in the door thinking it could just be a good marketing opportunity. Not sure if it hasn’t sold in ten years. How the heck am I going to sell something in Okoboji, Iowa for $10 million, right? And ten minutes in, I looked at our team and I’m like, I think I’m going to sell this house. Like I’m very intuitive. I get very like, if I say it, that now it has to happen, right? Like, I think, I think I can do this.

Holly Lovell 00:33:58  And they looked at me and they’re like, I think you can too. We’ve got this. So we got in the car after our tour with him. You know, we had to sit in a little circle, have a little cocktail with them, talk more. Look at the lake, which was amazing. We all got in the car and we were all choked up. We’re just like, oh, yeah, the coolest experience ever. And I don’t think at that time I had I think I was pretty on the download yet even with you. So yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So you know, we had to still get the listing. And so it was just a matter of doing our homework and treating it like any other property, which sounds, you know, I’ve had a lot of people ask me like, how did you know how to do that? I’m like, well, you know, we sell 80 plus homes a year. And so there’s just a process and this is how we’re going to do it.

Holly Lovell 00:34:43  And we have an incredible marketing team. And but really I think it comes down to the connection. Right. Like it was knowing that one. This was very important and very near and dear to his heart. This was a dream and it was a dream for the community, this home. And you needed to be very delicate about how we approach this. Right. Like it was very emotional. Doesn’t matter if this is a multimillion dollar business owner who has companies all over the world and homes. This was his heart. And so it was very important that we all, as a group approached it as such. Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:35:24  Question for you. And maybe you can’t get it in the weeds on this, but one of the things that I was not great at as a very young real estate agent was I was a yes girl, right? Like if somebody said, I said that the house was worth 220 and they came back and said it was worth 250, and we’re not listing with you unless you give us 250.

Katy Ripp 00:35:47  I would give them 250 and then I wouldn’t sell it, and then somebody else would come in and give them their real opinion, like I tried to, and stand their ground and be really confident in themselves and trust themselves and then sell it. Right. So when you get into big numbers, right, like so much of this is relative, whether you’re selling a $10 million place or $100,000 place, so much of it is, like you said, the same process, like these are tried and true strategies that we’ve done over the years. Right? Like maybe it’s going to get a little extra lipstick or it’s going to get a, you know, somewhere more of.

Holly Lovell 00:36:27  Some closure or. Yes.

Katy Ripp 00:36:29  Yeah, but tell me about was there a argument about price because it was so big? Sure.

Holly Lovell 00:36:34  I mean, and it wasn’t an argument. It was just, you.

Katy Ripp 00:36:37  Know, many arguments the wrong like a conversation about it.

Holly Lovell 00:36:40  There was a strong conversation about price because again, and I will say all day long and I said to the buyer’s agent, like this property was worth more than 10 million, which, you know, if people were coming to me, I’m like, no, listen, this is what it’s worth.

Holly Lovell 00:36:53  This is what the land’s worth. And I felt very confident in that. But also, you know, we knew we were going to be up against, you know, there’s a few things. One, you have to have an extraordinary marketing approach, but also you need to make sure that you have a compelling price. And if there’s been something that’s been rejected for ten years, you better make sure that when you launch all of it, it’s going to make sense as a whole to get as many buyers in as possible. And so I think it’s very important that one, I don’t ever buy a listing by price. Like that’s because I don’t want to have a conversation in six months saying, well, I knew this was going to be too high. One. Why would they ever trust me to negotiate ever again? Because if I couldn’t negotiate with them up front, they shouldn’t be hiring me.

Katy Ripp 00:37:40  Oh, interesting. This is a good lesson for any sellers out there if you cannot negotiate with your agent.

Holly Lovell 00:37:49  I mean, really, it’s a matter of if you’re looking at someone and they just immediately give in at the table, they’re going to do on you when it’s all money.

Katy Ripp 00:37:57  That’s so good.

Holly Lovell 00:37:58  Right? So I think I feel very confident in that. And again, there’s not a lot of properties like this. So pulling together comps I mean we were in the Ozarks, we were in Lake Geneva and really just trying to come up with a number. And I think I came in with the number we landed at and again, discussions with the team and oh, should we, you know, is he gonna like that? And we weren’t far off. Right. But it was certainly like but yeah, but we’re doing this whole launch. Why don’t we go more. And I’m like, that’s not the way it works. Yes. There’s so much exposure and so many people love it. They’ll pay more. That approach will work. But we better make sure that, again, there’s kind of this relaunch as a whole.

Holly Lovell 00:38:35  And that was really, really important that we got that right. So one of the things that Tom, the seller said was he always said I appreciate it, Holly. I just have to, like, tell you my thoughts and then you will advise me and I will listen or not. But he always after, you know, he said he used the word coaching with me all the time. And I loved it, by the way. It was like, I don’t know if it fed my ego or what, but here I am with this person that’s far more successful than anybody I’ve ever been around. And here he’s saying, okay, I trust your judgment. You coached me, you talked me through it. And again, there were times where it was like, can I just get you to do this time? Like, let’s meet in the middle, right. But he heard and listened because he did trust right away that we had his best interest in mind. He got to make all the decisions.

Katy Ripp 00:39:25  What makes you an amazing coach and also what makes him a great business owner is he knows his strengths.

Holly Lovell 00:39:32  He’s like, I’m not the realtor. Like I have not had success doing this, so I’m going to trust you. And so which again, I didn’t take lightly. So that was like, oh, don’t mess this up, Holly. There we.

Katy Ripp 00:39:42  Go. No pressure paying, no pressure whatsoever.

Holly Lovell 00:39:45  But it was very much, you know, those conversations. They weren’t quick little conversations. We could be on a zoom for two hours or a call and give them information that he wasn’t happy. And then we get on a zoom and by the end. Okay, all right, let’s go this route. So which one for him. Right. Like it’s we’re under contract in seven days. So it was amazing how it all came together, but it really was because everyone was just working for that end goal. Like on the buy side, the buyer’s agent me, his Tom’s team and Tom.

Katy Ripp 00:40:18  I think the coolest part of that whole story, which by the way, I will put all the articles and all of the links in here because there it got some major exposure for you, right? Yeah. But also, I remember calling you or you called me or whatever, like I found out that you had gotten the accepted offer and of course you were like, well, you know, like we’re not going to count our chickens before they hatch and, you know, that kind of thing. And I write, like, very humble. And you’ve been through it enough to know that this shit can fall apart. So, like, we don’t really get super excited until, like, ink is dry, right? And the check is cast, right?

Holly Lovell 00:40:55  Right.

Katy Ripp 00:40:55  And then it closed. And I remember calling you to congratulate you. And of course, you know, a hundred other people did too. And it was so exciting. And, you know, people can do the math. They think like, oh my God, this is such a huge commission.

Katy Ripp 00:41:08  And this is going to, you know, it’s a life changer. And, you know, all of that which those of us in business that spend money to make money commissions are what feed the next thing. So it’s not like you’re going on these like crazy Thailand, you know, vacations, although you deserve it. But that’s not exactly how this all works. But from the outside looking in, that’s what it does look like, right? Like everybody just does the math and they’re like, oh my God, this is insane. But at the same time, when I called you to congratulate you, you said, you know what I’m going to miss the most is the conversations with Tom. And I have goosebumps now. Like that is the money is great, no doubt. Right. Like that allows you to do more of what you do. But to hear somebody else say, this multi-millionaire or I don’t know if he’s a billionaire, whatever he is like, you were able to connect with him on such a level that you were going to miss conversations more than you cared about the commission, and that’s different than most real estate people I know.

Katy Ripp 00:42:14  I mean, that sets you apart in such a, I don’t know, in such a heart led way. It just I love it so much. I don’t know how to explain it.

Holly Lovell 00:42:23  Well, it was I think I had said to you a couple times when we were, you know, under contract and my gosh, it’s awesome. But also I wanted to get to know them more, you know, like he had this amazing team who really I probably interacted with even more so than Tom. But again, you could see like how much trustee put into Carla and Ben, like the whole group. And so we all had to work cohesively together to make this happen. But I was so sad. Like, I just reached out to Carla two weeks ago to see how she’s doing and how are things and back and forth about the kids. And she’ll comment on Instagram and Facebook. And I’m like, when are you coming to Madison? I really was so bummed, legitimately bummed that it went that fast.

Holly Lovell 00:43:07  And then I was like, oh, don’t put that out in the universe. Like I would say that. I’m like, I didn’t mean it. I shouldn’t wish that. I shouldn’t think that.

Katy Ripp 00:43:13  Because God.

Holly Lovell 00:43:14  Only knows things like, I have to get this to close. But it was just a cool story, and I loved being able to share the story and who they are as people and how they work together. And then the house was a bonus, you know, and even my family, you know, I think I had told you I was trying to learn as much as I could about the build of this home. So I would watch this YouTube video that the seller had put together to like, honor. Every contractor there worked on this house. So we would watch that YouTube video. I would make my husband and Jack sit down and we’d watch that and it’s like, yeah, we’ve seen this now ten times. Got it, got it. See? Like how they laid the floors like, this is incredible.

Holly Lovell 00:43:52  Like my whole entire family. Jack was with me. My son was with me when we went for the showings. Right. And it was like I left the poor kid in a hotel room without a phone cord, without food. I thought I’d be right back and ended up with multiple showings and getting back at 11:00. And he was like, this bumped me and went awesome! Like all of that was. So that.

Katy Ripp 00:44:14  Was the coolest.

Holly Lovell 00:44:15  Part.

Katy Ripp 00:44:16  Of it all. Oh, again, the money makes it popular, right? The money makes it because it was such a big thing, right? Like it makes it very attention grabbing and all of that. But the experience of Like Caroline had a very sweet Facebook post about how proud she was of you and your son. Fist bumps you, right? Like when you’re a mom and when you’re a woman and you are in these big experiences, you almost have to be stone in order to not have some emotion around, like the imprint you’re giving to your kids or your spouse, or the people like me that are watching from the sidelines and like cheering you on.

Katy Ripp 00:44:59  Right? Like you can almost you can’t do it without emotion. And the more you try, the worse it gets, right? Like then it sort of snowballs into a whole bunch of things we’re not going to discuss today, but it’s certainly snowballed, I think, for you, I mean, just in general, like if you continue to push those emotions down and never celebrate being heart lead and heartfelt, it just manifests itself in some icky ways for sure.

Holly Lovell 00:45:27  I mean, I think it was again, I was just doing my job and this was just part of it. And I didn’t want to disappoint one the sellers, but also everybody else. It was.

Katy Ripp 00:45:38  Like.

Holly Lovell 00:45:39  Oh my God, she’s not. You know, they were I had team members that were reaching out to other agents saying, hey, you know, Holly’s got this listing. They’re like, oh, it’s been on the market forever. And just it’s not going to sell. And so again, I had a lot to prove, but I really didn’t get caught up into that part of it.

Holly Lovell 00:45:55  It was just showing up and showing up for the seller and doing what I needed to do, like we do for everybody else. It just was a very emotional on a different level.

Katy Ripp 00:46:07  Yeah, it’s validating, if nothing else like that. What I’m doing is right the way I did this, the strategy I used, the things that I’ve done and learned all these years have set me up to continue to use that process, nurture the relationships. And that’s how this is going to get to closing. And within seven days it did right like it.

Holly Lovell 00:46:30  And it was you know, it was amazing. I’m just thinking to was like my best friend’s daughter was getting married and, you know, everybody’s at their house celebrating and I’m at a nine hour inspection and I’m coming in and I, you know, you feel guilty and terrible because you’re missing out on the personal side of things because you’re trying to handle the personal side for somebody else. Right? So that doesn’t get lost on me that there’s a lot of people in my life that sacrifice a lot for me.

Holly Lovell 00:46:55  So it’s like, oh, I better get this done to make sure that it’s worth it. And people see the results in it.

Katy Ripp 00:47:01  At the same time, you’re also giving your kids something to strive for, right? And like when you hear your kids say, I’m so proud of you, mom, or this is really fucking amazing, mom, it cannot get lost on you that all of the hours and all of the sacrifices and the games missed and the you know, all of that is also sometimes not as important as what you’re doing, right? It’s very hard to see that in the moment, right? Like when you miss somebody’s first touchdown pass or somebody’s volleyball kill or whatever. It’s very hard to see that. But collectively, Caroline wasn’t telling someone on Facebook that her mom missed her volleyball game in order to do this. It was, I’m watching and this is fucking amazing. So it’s.

Holly Lovell 00:47:54  Pretty cool.

Katy Ripp 00:47:55  Yeah. And again, cool that it was $10 million. Don’t get me wrong.

Katy Ripp 00:48:00  Right. Like I’m all over that too. And I love that you made that kind of money even though I know. Right. Like, we also had to spend a bunch of money to do that.

Holly Lovell 00:48:08  Yeah. Like, you know, look at the bank accounts beforehand where it.

Katy Ripp 00:48:11  Was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Like you gotta spend money to make money, sister, right?

Holly Lovell 00:48:16  Right. Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:48:17  That story hits me so hard in like, the heart because of the way you just because of the way you navigated it. I just and again I mean we say this all the time but like referrals are worth it, right? Like if somebody else trusts you, that next person is going to trust you to. Right? Like that’s what Facebook was built on. Literally, if you’re recommending something to a friend, that’s what Facebook is, right? Like recommendations. But Tom, Carla, Ben, all of those people have a relationship with you. Now, again, it may not be a $10 million property.

Katy Ripp 00:48:55  It might be 20 million next time. It might also be a $20,000 piece of property in, you know, the next town down Okoboji, that you’re going to give them the same exact service. And I.

Holly Lovell 00:49:08  Absolutely. And I think that that’s again that’s really how I measure my growth, my success, my team’s growth, their success is, are people willing to want to work with us a second or third time Or are they willing to share our name with somebody else? That is everything. You can buy leads all day long and get the business, but that organic, nurturing referral coming from somebody that experienced what you’re willing to do for them, it’s invaluable for sure.

Katy Ripp 00:49:37  Well, and it’s the cheapest way.

Holly Lovell 00:49:39  I had no money. Right. And so I get agents that, you know, come over and they’re like, well, I spend money on Zillow leads and Realtor.com and I’m like, listen, you know, we do a pretty darn good business and I don’t stick money into that. But here’s what I do.

Holly Lovell 00:49:55  I also put more time and energy into things than writing a check out. Right. Because that’s how I’m going to get my business. Referral business?

Katy Ripp 00:50:05  Well, energy begets energy, right? Like that. What you put out, you get.

Holly Lovell 00:50:10  Yeah. And if somebody else because I know when Zillow is gone or Realtor.com or any of these become so Expensive or they’re competing against us, which they are, right? There’s all these things that I can still continue to do what I’m doing and my business will continue to grow. I don’t have to rely on somebody else or some other method that I don’t have control of. What I can control is how I treat people and the relationships that I build. And again, not perfect. There’s a on a daily basis. I’m like, I didn’t get this out. I said I was going to bring them dinner. I didn’t get the, you know, I beat myself up all the time because my intentions sometimes outweigh my calendar. It’s kind.

Katy Ripp 00:50:50  Of like your eyes sometimes are bigger than your stomach, and you get like.

Holly Lovell 00:50:53  It’s like you really want to be playing with them. And yeah, it doesn’t mean that I don’t think about them all the time or I’m not grateful. There’s just things that do get missed. But it is really, really important to my group that again, people feel valued and we do value them.

Katy Ripp 00:51:08  Yeah. What is one of the things that you look for when you are interested in having somebody on your team?

Holly Lovell 00:51:16  The first thing that pops into my mind is they need to be hungry, right? I feel like they need the desire to. Not just the desire, but they have to need it, right? Like I feel.

Katy Ripp 00:51:28  Yeah, we’re not talking about the, like, hobby people.

Holly Lovell 00:51:31  No, I can’t again, those are choices and that’s awesome. And there’s people that are very successful with that. But for my team, again, I think it’s important for people to have the drive because I think it shows when you’re in front of clients, right. Like people can see if you have the innate desire to be really good at your job.

Holly Lovell 00:51:51  Yeah. And so I think I can pick up on that from team members. And, you know, I just had this conversation yesterday. I’m like, you kind of have to be a little psycho crazy to be on our team. This is just the way it is because we just, you know, my team will be like, can you believe so-and-so didn’t do this? And I’m like, well, yes. But also like, actually, I can, I can. And, you know, it’s funny because everybody on my team, for the most part, came in on my team as brand new agents. Right. Maybe a little bit of experience in the past. So they really don’t know any other way than what I’ve coached them?

Katy Ripp 00:52:27  Yes. The Holley level way.

Holly Lovell 00:52:29  Oh, that’s scary, but it’s really funny when I am, you know, I’m on the other side of a listing and I’m working with another agent who is very good, but I’m starting and and then I see how my agents are handling things and I’m like, oh, that was good.

Holly Lovell 00:52:44  And that was great. Like, I get so excited and proud because I’m like, that was sharp, right? Like your attention to negotiate in your detail on that offer and how you executed it and your contracts and your process like, that was really good. And it’s really, really, you know, for all the extra time of training and developing a team, it’s so fun to watch them. And by the way, they’re starting to see it too, like, oh, we might be good like this. Yeah. Something that, you know, we’ve got it. But again, all they knew is this is how you do real estate. Yeah. They’re not seeing that. It’s just a different way of doing it from others.

Katy Ripp 00:53:21  So when did you decide to start a team?

Holly Lovell 00:53:24  I was living in Iowa and I had an assistant and myself had a development doing very well. But we were just ready for a little change. And, you know, I’m like, life is short. Let’s move to Madison, which was a whopping hour away from Dubuque.

Holly Lovell 00:53:42  So it was like super risky deal, kind.

Katy Ripp 00:53:43  Of a big deal.

Holly Lovell 00:53:44  Yeah, I know everyone thought we were out of our minds, which probably we were, but we had some opportunities and I thought, well, I can expand that business into Madison 4 or 5 years down the line. And of course, you know, you say to one person that you’re a realtor and they’re like, oh, Cary with and can we work with you? And are you recruiting? Are you opening an office? And so it ended up kind of accelerating faster than what I planned, and I realize I just kept getting busier. And it was one of those things where I’m like, I can’t, I need boots on the ground, like I can’t be everywhere at all. I mean, we can think at all we want. But, you know, I did come to that realization pretty quickly that I needed another person. And this was I think this was in 2019. When was Covid? It was like the spring, right? Like, yeah.

Holly Lovell 00:54:35  So Katy was my first person that I brought on board as a buyer’s agent. And I met with her, I think, 3 or 4 times, and I kept saying, no, like it just nope. You’re not going to be as crazy as me. You’re not going to respond as fast like I don’t. You know, she had been in real estate for a few years, and I really put her through the wringer. And everyone just kept saying to me, I think Katy would be great. I’m like, well, I love Katy. Katy’s amazing, but she’s going to have to work for me. And I’m like, crazy, right? Like, I need someone to work the way I. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyhow, so finally I said, okay, we’re going to give this a shot. And clearly she’s been with me now for six years and she’s awesome. Five years and I love her to death. But it was so crazy because, you know, when I left Iowa and continue to have the market in Dubuque, I mean, here’s the deal.

Holly Lovell 00:55:23  I started that in 2011. And, you know, I’d been to all these trainings and they’re like, well, you can expand into different markets. Like, why wouldn’t you? Why would you pick up and leave and just let it go? That doesn’t I just spent seven years building my business, four of which was, you know, making $40,000. And then it started taking off. Right. So I’m not going to lose that momentum. How do I continue to grow? And I heard from everybody like the second you move, your business is done. There is no chance she’s going to be able to do this, which again, just lights a fire, right? I’m like, well, yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:56:00  Like, actually I can yeah.

Holly Lovell 00:56:02  Actually, like you were at that seminar with me when they said we could, like, what would we pay that money for, but I’m actually going to do it. And so it was like I was super determined to, again, just kind of come up with a new system to make that work.

Holly Lovell 00:56:16  And it just as I continued to grow, and it was funny because it wasn’t, I realized that what happened was I was so focused on one particular thing that I was working on in Iowa, which was an amazing opportunity, but I had kind of removed myself from the people that helped me get to that point, because I was so in the nuts and bolts of that project, and when I removed myself from that project, all those people were still there and they started referring and coming back to me. And I’m like, I haven’t talked to them in four years, which again, is not very hospitable or whatever, but it was like it wasn’t even the people that I thought would continue to give me business. It was the people that I served for the years leading up to where I was. Yeah.

Katy Ripp 00:57:01  And time is not linear. It’s just not linear.

Holly Lovell 00:57:04  So I mean, it was so cool because I’m like, oh, look at I’m not even sending them anything. Like they’re just calling me out of the blue.

Holly Lovell 00:57:11  And that kept happening. And then it started expanding between Dubuque and Madison, where people were relocating. And then I brought on another team member who was referred to me by a client, and she said, hey, I know this girl named Ali, and she wants to get her license. So I talked to her and she was in Colorado and relocating back. And I said, well, hey, you know, I don’t know what I can do for you, but I’d love to work with you. You should be on my team. And again, I had one, and I think I had someone working part time maybe at that point. But Ali came on and then Ali said, hey, there’s someone in Madison who I think wants to get her license, would you talk to her? And I said, okay, but I don’t have enough business in in Wisconsin. I’m not focused on that. I can’t have you on my team and drove away and called my assistant and said, so we’ve got another team member.

Katy Ripp 00:57:56  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly Lovell 00:57:57  And then and and she was doing it part time, and within six months I called her and said, hey, but you need to quit your job if you’re going to be on my team. We have too much business. And just like, okay, so it just. And then we just added another agent who’s 20, and she quit her job in the summer. And it’s just got Jennifer I mean it just kept growth, kept building my business structure. It all came from growth. It was like, hey, you have to shift and figure out how this is going to work. And through it, we became our whole business model was, you know, we collaborate with each other. Yeah. The collaboration, the value proposition is that you’re not just working with one person, you’re working with a whole group. So it’s you can have seven for the price of one and seven people that genuinely are invested in you seller or you buyer. Like how amazing is that? Yeah.

Holly Lovell 00:58:52  Yeah. So I think that became kind of our platform of I’m just not passing you on to somebody, but now you have more.

Katy Ripp 00:58:59  Yeah, I get this question a lot about, like, I’m not ready to hire my first person. I’m not ready to like, I mean, the biggest thing is I can’t afford it. Yeah, I can’t afford right now to hire somebody. And you and I are who? Net how junkies. Holly gave me the suggestion for this book. This was only, like three weeks ago, right? Yeah. And I consumed that book in, like, two days. There was a meme out there that I just sent to hell yesterday. It was like one of the friend’s scenes, and it was like, when your friend gives you a recommendation and you love it just as much or more than the person who recommended it. I mean, I love that book, and I got really good at outsourcing. I mean, I had to have employees because I had brick and mortars, right? But after I hired those like first five or were not the like boots on the ground people, but the people like Cassie, that when I hired her, I hired her strictly as an event coordinator.

Katy Ripp 01:00:00  I mean, yes, she bartended too, but she did my events, which I was totally capable of doing, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. And I was like, I can do this. I don’t need to hire somebody, right? And I also don’t want to train this person to do it because I can do a better myself. And I don’t have time to train. La la la la. Right. Like you can go on and.

Holly Lovell 01:00:18  On and on. Yeah. Every story.

Katy Ripp 01:00:20  Once I hired her, it was like the door opened and I was like, oh, now I bought a little time back. Now I can do the things that bring in more money. The things that I really love to do. And then I hired Abby, and then I started going into like, oh, is there somebody that can order for me and somebody that can do the inventory and somebody that can write the newsletter while I write all the newsletters? But I think it just it’s a slippery slope in a good way.

Katy Ripp 01:00:50  But you have to hire the first one.

Holly Lovell 01:00:53  And that was terrifying for me. Yeah, that was just my assistant, and that was when I was in Dubuque. And it was like, hell, you you should hire someone. I’m like, no, like, I don’t have enough money. And how am I going to pay $30,000 a year? And they’re counting on me. And that is a huge responsibility. And when I did, all of a sudden it was like my business doubled and it was.

Katy Ripp 01:01:14  And she paid for herself.

Holly Lovell 01:01:16  She totally did. And I do see that, you know, we talk all the time. There are moments where, you know, three weeks ago, I take a hiatus to wherever upstate New York because I am so, like bombarded. And it’s people coming at every direction. But also it was a good lesson for me because and that’s where the Who not how book was recommended to me. Like how I get a grip. It’s advantageous for your growth and their growth, right? So sometimes I can get caught up in the being so focused on their growth that it consumes so much time, that I’m not focused on the other part of it.

Holly Lovell 01:01:53  So that’s Definitely.

Katy Ripp 01:01:55  Like this.

Holly Lovell 01:01:56  Chapter of me trying to figure out how to do that and being very aware of it.

Katy Ripp 01:02:00  Yeah, we’re really super great players but not great coaches. And so to manage people is a skill set that most of us entrepreneurs have to develop over time. And somebody has to be the guinea pig, right? Like in my case, it’s Abby. Poor Abby has to be the guinea pig of my like, how do I manage people, you know, how do I give them direction when they need it, when I just expect them to do things like that’s not fair, and making sure that how I’m rewarding them matches their values. Right? Because some people aren’t motivated by money, but they’re motivated by time off or, you know, like being really intentional about that. Because I think when you want to lead with your heart and when you want to be heart lead, you have to have boundaries. And those are tough for people. They’re tough for people. But I think people crave it too, right? They want to be so too.

Holly Lovell 01:02:57  It’s sometimes, you know, it’s just saying it, you know, I came back and said, okay, listen, like I’ve got to put some boundaries up. And yeah, understandable. You know, it’s like they’re feeling it too, right? Like it’s family, it’s team, it’s whatever. And again, it’s you know, you can coach everybody in the world, but you’re not paying attention to how this person’s living their business or boundaries or whatever. I can say it all day long like, hey, don’t pick up the phone past 9:00. Yeah. So but yet I am like, oh my God, I missed your call. Oh yeah. You know, again, it’s a work in progress for sure.

Katy Ripp 01:03:31  But yeah, I had a therapist tell me and I’ve probably told you this before and I don’t know if I’ve said it on here yet, but I went to my therapist one time and she said this was the last time I saw her, actually, not because of this, but like, what? So whole other story.

Katy Ripp 01:03:49  I that’s a different day. I said, well, I work all the time. I write like people ask me all the time, like, how are you doing that? You’re working from 5 a.m. and the coffee shop, and then you’re going to the wine bar, and then you’re going to the ice cream shop, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, I just, I feel like I need to be there all the time. I don’t think that makes me a bad person. And she was like, it does make you a bad person. Yeah. And I was like, what? Right. Because I’ve always I mean, up until a few years ago, my character was so tied to my work ethic, and if I wasn’t breaking my fucking back, overwhelmed, burned out, you know, medicating myself, if I wasn’t doing that, I was lazy. There was no in-between. I was either breaking my fucking back or I was lazy. There was nothing in between.

Katy Ripp 01:04:34  And when she said that to me, she said, basically, you’re telling your staff that they can never take a break because you’re modeling to them. You are never take a break, right? So they can never take a break. And I was like, that’s not true. I tell them all the time and she’s like, it doesn’t matter what you tell them.

Holly Lovell 01:04:51  They see it.

Katy Ripp 01:04:51  Tell them all day long. They’re going to feel guilty if you are taking their place. And I was like, well, I don’t want them to feel guilty. And she was like, stop modeling that behavior. Then I had.

Holly Lovell 01:05:02  Someone last year we took our first big family trip to Croatia. Our daughter graduated, Caroline graduated, and I was a nervous wreck. And like, I haven’t gone outside the country. I was a new broker. We had a brand new office. There were so many things that were big on my plate, and I was freaking out. Like I couldn’t plan things more than what I was planning things and overthinking.

Holly Lovell 01:05:27  And we had a real estate coach that she said, listen, like you have to be an example for your group, that if they’re going to do real estate and be successful, that they also need a breather. One, it makes it sound like you don’t think they can do what you can do. You don’t trust something, right? And two. Do you want them to feel like this? And I’m like, well, you know, I had I think I told you this and Ali loves when I bring it up because I know she had good intentions. But when she first started on our team, I was sitting in the office and not great at eating lunch, not great at whatever. I’m just horrible habits. And she’d come in and she’s like, well, I have to get to the gym. And it was, I don’t know, 11:00 and she was eating her breakfast and I’m like, oh, you could do like eat and work out like, this is amazing. And she’s like, well, Kirsten, she’s going to kill me and she’s going to want you to cut this whole thing from that thing.

Katy Ripp 01:06:24  Sorry, Ali.

Holly Lovell 01:06:25  Well, Kirstie and I, we don’t want to be you. And I was like, oh, I literally sat back in my chair. I’m like, what? And she’s like, I mean, we want to be successful and we want to like, you know, do really well on real estate, but also, like, you don’t sleep, you don’t eat and you don’t take time for yourself. And I was like, it was seriously a dagger. Now, have I changed much since then? No, but I’m aware of it more. And there are certainly times where I’m like, nope, this is going to take priority. But having people with good, healthy habits call you out in a way of like, hey, just because you’re sacrificing all those things doesn’t make you better then, or more powerful or more successful. It makes us want to do it better than you. And it was so eye opening for me where it was just like, oh, I can’t do this.

Holly Lovell 01:07:17  I can’t develop me in this light in my team. It needs to be different.

Katy Ripp 01:07:23  Well, an ally did you a favor.

Holly Lovell 01:07:26  100%. I mean.

Katy Ripp 01:07:27  She’s probably, you know.

Holly Lovell 01:07:28  Ally is on this, but I’m like, you don’t understand how impactful that was for me. Like, legitimately. I sat back in the chair and went, oh, but also like in a way of how this doesn’t make you awesome by putting everything above you, right? Like, I just it it was so stupid, but also like, eye opening. And so again she’s going to be like, why do you say that? That’s not what I meant. But it really was. We all need to kind of hear it. I mean, in theory.

Katy Ripp 01:07:59  It was what she meant, right? It would just maybe like, maybe the delivery was not exactly how she wanted it, but she probably wanted to tell you that you need to take care of yourself. Yeah. We want to have what you have in theory, right? Like we want to be busy.

Katy Ripp 01:08:14  We want to be successful, but we’re not willing to sacrifice our health for it.

Holly Lovell 01:08:18  No.

Katy Ripp 01:08:19  If that’s the only lesson that anybody takes from anything I do is there’s just no reward for sacrificing yourself for anyone else. There just isn’t. We’re all going to die, and nobody’s going to get a reward for people pleasing, right? Like good job. You were the best one. If anything else, you’re going to die in early death because of it.

Holly Lovell 01:08:42  And you do you feel you know, I was at our friend’s daughter’s shower, and I had, you know, the Okoboji deal. I get a bunch of big deals that were very needy. And I’m running around like a crazy person. Right. You would have thought that I was the flippin president of the United States. Like, ridiculous. And they. He probably takes more time off than what we do. Right. And I had people that, like I’ve met maybe once or twice, but he was like an intervention on the back porch.

Holly Lovell 01:09:10  They’re like, you are going to have a heart attack. Like you need to slow your roll. There’s just too much going on. And I’m like, well, no, everything’s time sensitive and you have to do this. And they’re like, but don’t you have people to help you with that? I’m like, oh, I do, but this is my problem that I am not delegating. And again, I trust everybody wholeheartedly. But again, it’s like I can just handle it because I want them to be with their family tonight. I’ll just do this and it’s like, oh, this is not serving me in the way that it needed to. But again, all of that stuff was very eye opening because now when Jen or Kirsty, they’re going on a trip, it’s like, hey, let’s actually take the time and enjoy it. I don’t want you to be doing what I do right, like do what I say, not what I do. But also in the meantime, I’m going to start kind of retraining myself.

Katy Ripp 01:10:01  We’re also trying to retrain decades of that. Right? Right. So like, give yourself some grace because as you’re talking, I’m like, if I was on that back porch, that would have, you know, hit me in a place where, well, I can fucking do it, you know? Right. Like it almost was like a challenge. And so I have to really talk myself off the ledge there, too, of, like, when people start to question it or it’s a defense mechanism for me of like, well, actually, I can fucking do that. Don’t worry about me. I got it. Like, I can be strong, I can do this, I can, but I did that for Years and now I don’t really like. Sometimes I have people say to me like, oh God, I don’t know how you’re doing it, or you’ve been sort of quiet lately. What’s going on? Right? And there’s a quote out there like, the people that really care about you are the ones that notice when you’re quiet, which.

Katy Ripp 01:10:56  Thank you. Holly. I feel like yesterday I felt really seen yesterday, but there’s something to be said about that. Part of it is having people in your corner, having people that know when to say stuff like, we don’t want to be you because I need you to know that I’m seeing this and I don’t know how else to tell you this. Yeah. Again. Ali it’s fine. Yes, yes, Ali.

Holly Lovell 01:11:20  It’s good, it’s good.

Katy Ripp 01:11:23  Right. Like I it’s a good thing, but like you needed to hear it. Just like my therapist telling me I’m a bad person, right? Like, she didn’t really say that, but.

Holly Lovell 01:11:32  Right.

Katy Ripp 01:11:32  I think that was it. Like, I needed to hear it that way, that you’re actually doing a disservice to your staff, which I never wanted to do. Right? Like that was never my intention. It’s never our intention. It’s quite the opposite, actually. Right. We want them to be the winners and the, you know, and the doers and all of the.

Katy Ripp 01:11:53  We want them to get all the accolades and all the credit. And then we’re modeling behavior. That’s quite the opposite. So I mean, I could go into, you know, you know, me, I do a.

Holly Lovell 01:12:05  Lot of therapy. We can say that.

Katy Ripp 01:12:07  But tell me what you would say to somebody who wanted to get into we didn’t even really get into the real estate part of this. I’ll have to get you back on here for a down and dirty of real estate transactions, because I’m so fascinated about, like, how it’s developed over the years and like, how negotiating contracts is so different than it was and how you think it’s fun.

Holly Lovell 01:12:29  I really I like nuts, I love I yeah.

Katy Ripp 01:12:33  Let’s have would you do another episode with me and negotiating? Yes I would. Oh good. Okay. Well, we’re going to do that. So I’m going to ask just to sort of wrap it up. What would be something if somebody wanted to get into real estate right now. And they were thinking about leaving a full time job and, you know, sort of the security of that and getting into it.

Katy Ripp 01:12:53  What would be like a piece of advice?

Holly Lovell 01:12:55  I think it’s, again, real estate’s very different than when I started. I think. One, if you are looking to get into real estate, interview many brokerages, find people that you feel you can trust you connect with. You have the same ideals, values, how you want to treat people. And again, you can pick up a lot of that by interviewing a brokerage. Oftentimes the brokerage is interviewing you, but, you know, ask them questions like, you know, what do you think of your clients? Right? Like just the basic question. And, you know, make sure that you’re kind of on that same level they’re going in, because I think if that core piece of it isn’t there, the job is going to get old real quick. You have to be so motivated. And I think if you’re not motivated not only by money but by heart, I think that that’s, you know, we’re working 16 hours a day and, you know, everyone’s like, well, this is a slow time.

Holly Lovell 01:13:55  Well, it was even worse. I mean, we were crying in the driveway if a client lost a deal three years ago, I mean, it’s but also that heart helps an agent be able to pick up the phone and find them another property and get them back in the game. Right. So you want to make sure you’re around like people you’re not going to find everyone, but then also find either a team or a mentor that you can really just kind of connect with and shadow them so that you can learn. You’ll learn faster, you’ll learn better. I know I felt like I was flailing for four years. Honestly, it was like I grew up in the industry, but I felt like I was flailing and it really, I don’t ever want anyone else to feel that. So I think it’s really important to know that it doesn’t make you look incompetent to your sphere. If you’re working with somebody else, use that as a strength to build on your reputation, to build on your skills, and you’ll get there faster and better.

Holly Lovell 01:14:59  I really think the mentor or team is I would do it all day long if I could start over.

Katy Ripp 01:15:04  Oh, I’m so good.

Holly Lovell 01:15:06  This is fun.

Katy Ripp 01:15:07  So I know, right? Thank you so much for being on. I mean, we.

Holly Lovell 01:15:10  Could talk for 17 hours, so this was better. You know, we’re going to.

Katy Ripp 01:15:14  Some day in Paris. Oh yes. That’s right.

Katy Ripp 01:15:18  And that’s a wrap on today’s episode. I hope you enjoyed diving deep into the world of living authentically with me. Before you go, don’t forget to connect with me on Instagram. Shoot me a message at Katy Ripp. I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s episode and connect with you further. And remember, if you want more details on today’s episode, or just want to explore more about designing your life unapologetically, head on over to my website at Katy Ripp dot com. There you’ll find all the juicy details and resources you need to keep the inspiration flowing. Lastly, if you’d like to join me on the show, whether it’s to tell about your experience of designing your own life, to share your expertise, or if you’d like to participate in lifestyle coaching live on air, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Katy Ripp 01:15:59  Your story could inspire countless others on their own path to living authentically. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, keep living boldly designing your life. And remember, #ActuallyICan.