Reluctantly Building a Powerfully Inspiring Empire from Welfare to Wealth with Kellie Revoir
Key Takeaways
- Kellie Revoir transformed from reluctant agent to successful team leader and investor, proving growth is possible despite humble beginnings.
- Investing in rental properties and teaching others to build passive income can create long-lasting generational wealth.
- Work-life balance and self-care are crucial for sustaining success and avoiding burnout in business.
United States Real Estate Investor
The REI Agent with Kellie Revoir
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A Leap into Real Estate She Never Wanted
Kellie Revoir did not dream of becoming a real estate agent. In fact, she resisted it.
Raised by parents deeply entrenched in the housing market, she watched the volatility of the industry and vowed to avoid the same fate.
But when the 2008 recession hit, leaving her unemployed and on welfare, her mother invited her to help as a transaction coordinator.
Kellie reluctantly agreed.
What started as a temporary lifeline transformed into a life-changing career.
“I like to say my mom threw me into shark-infested waters, and it was sink or swim. So I had to learn how to swim real quick.”
From Reluctance to Leadership
Kellie did more than just swim.
By 2013, she had earned her license, and by 2016, she and her mother were building a high-performing team.
What began as late nights and grueling weekends eventually evolved into a thriving business where Kellie now leads independently.
She learned to harness systems, embrace lead generation, and eventually transition into a balanced lifestyle focused on referrals and warm relationships.
“After three years, I finally reached the point where I could hand all incoming leads to my agents and work only with sphere and referrals. It changed my life.”
Building Generational Wealth
Kellie’s parents did more than sell homes. They invested, creating a legacy of over 50 rental properties.
Inspired by their example, Kellie started building her own portfolio at 37, amassing nine rental properties in just eight years.
She now teaches her team the same skills, ensuring they understand how to build passive income alongside traditional sales.
“We have a golden ticket to change our lives and the lives of the people around us through investing. If you’re not taking advantage of that, you’re missing out.”
Mastering Balance and Self-Care
Despite her success, Kellie admits she battled burnout more than once.
Over time, she learned the importance of intentional scheduling and self-care.
She now starts each day with exercise, meditation, journaling, and healthy habits to ensure she shows up fully for her clients and family.
“I had to put my kids in my calendar and treat them as appointments. You cannot tell clients that, but you must prioritize them or you’ll lose yourself.”
Calm in the Chaos
In her leadership, Kellie emphasizes composure under pressure, likening real estate professionals to first responders.
She believes calm energy not only prevents burnout but also earns trust.
“We are the EMS of real estate. If we panic, everyone panics. Our job is to take charge and keep the room calm.”
Books That Fuel Her Growth
Kellie draws inspiration and guidance from reading, crediting The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, Worthy by Jamie Kern Lima, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki as essential resources.
These works, she says, helped her transition from survival mode to building a secure, prosperous future.
Changing Family Trees Through Action
Kellie’s story is a powerful testament to perseverance, discipline, and transformation.
She rose from hardship to create a thriving business and lasting wealth, now mentoring others to do the same.
“You can change your family tree. Buy a rental for each of your kids. Over time, those properties can become life-changing legacies.”
The Journey Is Just Beginning
Kellie’s path proves that reluctance can turn into purpose and survival can lead to legacy.
Her journey inspires agents and investors alike to embrace growth, master balance, and take bold action toward a better life.
“We are extremely fortunate as long as we take action and use the knowledge we have. This industry truly gives us a golden ticket.”
Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on The REI Agent podcast, your go-to source for insights, inspiration, and strategies from top agents and investors who are living their best lives through real estate.
For more content and episodes, visit reiagent.com.
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- From For Sale Signs to Life Design (How The REI Agent Transforms Real Estate Into Holistic Wealth)
- Achieving Holistic Wealth and Success Through Real Estate (Insights from The REI Agent)
- Partnering with Investors (How Real Estate Agents Can Exponentially Maximize Profits)
United States Real Estate Investor
United States Real Estate Investor
Contact Kellie Revoir
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Mentioned References
- Worthy by Jamie Kern Lima
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
United States Real Estate Investor
Transcript
Welcome to the REI Agent, a holistic approach to life through real estate. I'm Mattias, an agent and investor.
And I'm Erica, a licensed therapist.
Join us as we interview guests that also strive to live bold and fulfilled lives through business and real estate investing.
Tune in every week for interviews with real estate agents and investors.
Ready to level up?
Let's do it.
Welcome back to the REI Agent, it's just Mattias again. Actually, I wanted to talk a little bit about this, Erica not being here and kind of where she's at with it. I probably mentioned things to a certain extent before, but I just wanted to address it again.
We had the knee surgery for a while, which took her out for a good bit of time. Her schedule has been filled up with PT on top of seeing clients. But really right now we're in the mid-summer months at the time of recording.
And she just really feels like it's important to her that she gives our kids a good summer holiday. So they are all going to some sort of camp, daycare situation during the days. And we would have options to keep them there until five or whatever.
And that would afford her more time to be able to be on these podcasts to help record, be a co-host. But that doesn't leave much time for things like going to the swimming pool. So she's opted to put that as a priority, to take them to the pool when she can, make sure that they're having a great summer experience.
And I mean, that's kind of what this show's all about. So I do join sometimes, don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm the only one working, and she's the only one having fun with the kids.
We're going camping this coming weekend. We were just in the Philly area this past weekend all together as a family. So we definitely are trying to have those summer moments together.
We're gonna be going to the beach, Hilton Head, later. Yeah, I think that's in August. And so yeah, we have a lot of good summer activities planned.
Next year we hope to go to Spain. And then Erica just mentioned that maybe we'll go to Costa Rica or something later in the winter months. So stay tuned for that.
We'll see if that one comes to fruition. But yeah, again, life is more than the pursuit of all my business ideas and ventures, all my hobbies and things that I'm into. We, the time of recording, have hit 106 episodes in the podcast, which is awesome.
I really wanted to do something for the 100th episode, but it snuck up on me. And honestly, the way this podcast works well for me is just to kind of keep my nose down and just grind and try to give you all the best content, recording interesting people, and having that come out regularly. So I didn't plan a good 100th celebration episode, but you know that we did a little cheers and celebration here at home.
It is an awesome milestone to hit. Today we have a really good guest, and she kind of is the epitome of what this show is all about. So we have Kellie, oh, I can do this, Revoir.
Yeah, I think that's right. I'll say it right when we come on. But anyway, Kellie is an agent.
She's been one for a while. She is a team lead. She has invested in real estate as well, and she grew up with her parents investing in real estate, and she's done flips and all those kind of things.
And we get into some really good conversation about all those areas, and also how to kind of keep ourselves grounded and sane and not burn out in this crazy business. So it's a great episode. Definitely don't miss this one.
And without further ado, here is Kellie. Welcome back to the REI Agent. We are here with Kellie Revoir.
Thanks so much for joining us, Kellie.
Thank you, it's definitely a pleasure. I have been looking forward to this for a while. So thank you so much for having me today.
Well, thank you, yeah. We talked briefly before the show. You're a natural fit for the show.
You kind of bridge the gap, do both investing and the sales. But let's kind of get started on how you got into real estate in general. What got you into the business?
So life got me into the business, and actually I had no desire to get into the business. My father started building houses in the 80s. He still builds houses.
And my mother became a real estate agent in 2006. The recession hit in 2008. Everybody got out of the business, or majority of the agents got out of the business.
So her business skyrocketed.
Oh, really?
Yeah, her business grew during the recession. So I found myself unemployed, living on welfare, and she asked me to come join her as her TC while I figured out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And here we are, 12 years later, still doing it.
Although I'm no longer her TC, so I did upgrade a little bit.
Yeah, that's the end of the story. I turned to my ex-coordinator, and we are, it was nice talking to you. That's awesome.
Okay, so you did TC for a while, and I think that's a really good way. I mean, I think that's probably, I know that a team lead or somebody may not want to hire somebody who wants to move past the TC position necessarily. They might want to kind of stick with one person.
That's a really great way of learning the business, right? I mean, was that a huge advantage for you?
Yeah, that was the job that I had done before that. I was an office manager, so it was a very easy transition for me to get into, for sure. And you know, being a TC, there's so many, there's a fine line on what you can and cannot do, so it was just easier for me to get my license.
I did not want to get my license, because at the end of the day, I did not want to be a real estate agent. I'd watched the ups and the downs and the struggles that my parents had gone through over the years, and I had no desire, but she kind of forced me to get my real estate license, and then, pretty much, I like to say she threw me in shark-infested waters, and it was either sink or swim, so I had to learn how to swim real quick. But yeah, it was a good learning experience, for sure.
Sure, what things were you limited from doing? I mean, I know that, in Virginia at least, I think TCs unlicensed could, in theory, write contracts as long as they weren't sending them out without having a licensee review them. What were the limitations, and how did licensing, yeah, open more doors for you?
You really can't talk a lot to the clients and answer a lot of questions, is what it boiled down to. My first quote-unquote job when I became a licensed agent outside of the TC world was there were people online that wanted to go look at a sunroom, and so I had to go to the house, open up the lockbox, take extra pictures of the sunroom. It was just little things like that, attend closings, show a couple of houses when she didn't have the availability to show, so it was whatever she needed me to do, I couldn't do it as an unlicensed person.
All I could do was go into the office, not hardly talk to her clients at all, just make sure that all the I's were dotted and T's were crossed on the contract, and she needed a lot more at that point.
Yeah, that makes sense. So then that kind of, you got thrown into the shark-infested water, you were helping her with the extra things as well, still TCing, when did you kind of move into just being a solo agent, or how'd that evolve from there?
So we actually still work together all these years later. We started in 2016, let's see, I got licensed in 2013, and then in 2016, we, her and I were just, we were killing it, and we were running ragged. I mean, lots of nights, lots of weekends, I was, and still am, a single mother.
My kids were a lot younger then, and so it was really, really hard, and I said, there's just gotta be a better way to do this, and we dabbled in real estate coaching at the time. So in 2016, we hired our first real estate coach and started building a team. So she was the team leader, and I assisted her, and we just went all in on team building, which is what we still do to this day, and she is now, since pretty much retired, I run the team on my own at this point, but prior to that, it was something that the two of us did together and absolutely loved it, helped us with leverage and gaining some of our life back.
Awesome, okay, so what were the first steps in forming the team? Did you bring on a separate TC? Did you get showing agents?
Did you divide it that way, or was it just kind of referring the additional business that you couldn't handle to the people on the team?
We went all in. There's so many different ways to build a team. We really went all in on the traditional model.
We hired a TC, and then we started hiring agents to join the team. We actually built a lot, and people are gonna, I'm sure, throw eggs at me, but we built a lot of our, a lot of, when we first started on Zillow. So Zillow was, I mean, pretty much at that point, nobody was doing Zillow leads.
I think we were spending three or four or $500 a month on Zillow leads, and I remember going, oh my gosh, that's so much money, but we just, we went really heavy on the Zillow leads, and then we went into Tiger leads, for anybody that's been around long enough and knows what Tiger leads are, that Howard Tager created that company, and so we just started buying leads and getting team agents to join our team, and I worked harder then. I worked harder for probably the first three years of building a team than I had ever worked in my entire life, I feel.
It was very, very, very challenging. I thought I was gonna get some of my life back. It did not happen for a few years, but eventually it did, so it was a huge blessing to start building a team.
I'm really happy, and so much has changed since then, but we really just went in, all in on the traditional building a team model. I never wanted to do the showing agent assistant. I do believe that if you just hand out referrals, they don't, agents just don't work them like they do when you're on a team, so.
Okay, yeah, that makes sense, and I'm curious what was the thing that transitioned you to having more, like you worked really hard for three years, and then you were able to kind of balance things out. Did you have to take some intentional steps to do so, or what did that look like? Was it just building the team up to the point where you could step back, or then it was always in the grand plan, or did you have to be like, all right, we need to change how things are going, or else I'm gonna run myself into the ground?
Well, after about three years is when I finally got to the point that I felt comfortable enough to hand all of the leads, the incoming leads to my agents, and I only work sphere and referral. So that's all I do now, sphere and referral, past clients, of course, that's all that I work now, so I don't have to, a lot of times with online leads, there's a lot of nights, and there's a lot of weekends, and you've got a little bit more flexibility when you're working your sphere and referral agents, so I just kind of increased that aspect, so I don't take any of the leads anymore for our team.
Yeah, that's a really good distinction, or one way to look at the difference between that really cold versus warm leads, where they're wanting to work with you if they're warm, they're gonna work with you on your schedule if they can, versus, I don't know you, I wanna see this house now. I mean, that's kind of what it boils down to, right?
Yep, yeah, and if you don't show me the house tonight, I will go find the next agent down the list that will, so. Yeah, it takes a while to get there, but eventually it happens.
Yeah, so okay, so that's still kind of the business model for the team in general, you're bringing in leads that they will work with. Do you have systems, CRMs, that kind of stuff in place for them to help kind of nurture, to transition those cold leads into the longer term kind of relationship to make it more sphere and referral based in the future?
Absolutely, yeah, we started 2017 using follow-up loss which we still use that today, all these years later, and we are big on nurturing. We host client events, we host team events, we send out monthly newsletters through snail mail and email, we're just very, very good at staying on top of our clients. I hold the team accountable, so if they have a required number of calls that they have to make and contacts they have to make and contracts that they have to sign to, so you know, there's a lot of accountability to be on our team.
I like high producing agents that have a great work ethic. Doesn't always happen, but you know, those are the preferred agents on the team for sure. So we have a great culture, I'm very, very proud of what we've developed over the years.
And have you had any agents that have kind of, I don't know if graduating is the right term, but kind of also gotten tired of the online lead method and have been able to have enough business that they're happy with from the sphere and repeat business model?
Yeah, absolutely, yeah. And that's a great transition for them too because they do feel like they're getting some of their life back as well. I've had agents on my team that have been there for probably, let's see, we've built a team now for 10 years, so I have agents that have been on my team for six years at this point and then some agents that just joined last month.
So I have a good range of all of them. But yeah, the ones that have been on the team forever are definitely at that point where they don't, they don't need to take as many leads as they do unless it's totally up to them if they want to.
Sure, no, that makes sense. I mean, that's kind of maybe the natural ladder of progression, if you will, in the business. And it's unfortunate for the people that don't treat their sphere, the people that they sell to, if they have this, that's the danger with the buying leads, I think, is if you've got this, sometimes it can feel like a fire hose blasting you and you're playing secretary.
You're having to keep up with all this stuff. It's really hard to remember that you've gotta nurture the people that you've already spoken with or they've already sold to so that you can kind of get past that. Because I mean, personally, I don't love being on call all the time like that.
It would drive me crazy. I've never, I've dabbled in it a little bit, but it's not really been my way I like to work. So I can see how that is a natural progression.
And yeah, people just have to be intentional about building the systems and building everything so that they can kind of move past that one day if that's their end-all, be-all goal.
Yeah, I think that's the hardest part, too, when it comes to building a team or even just being a real estate agent. I think when people see real estate agent, they see us showing houses and talking to people all day. And there's so much more to it that if you don't have your systems and processes built out, you're gonna fail or you're gonna struggle.
You might not fail, but you're definitely gonna struggle.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's, and so I've been big into the personality theory and strength-based stuff with my team and just kind of been on that kick for a while. And I think that it's also, when you talk about somebody getting into the business and what they think it's gonna be, they don't really expect to have all the hats that we have to have, right? I mean, we have to be like a marketing director.
You have to do all this kind of stuff that you may not have been expecting to do. And that's, I think, another advantage of having a team is that you can kind of have people that are specialized in certain areas they're good at and that don't drain them. Have you taken any approaches when you hire?
Do you do disc assessment, any kind of assessments to see if they're gonna be a good fit or kind of how they fit into the team in general?
The only time I ever do a disc assessment is if I'm hiring staff, but for a team member, I don't do a disc assessment because we don't have our, a lot of times people do a disc assessment if they separate buyers agents versus listing agents and we don't have that separation. So you can figure out pretty quick what kind of person they are. It doesn't take that long to figure it out.
So I don't worry about it too much.
Yeah, and I think that- Because people surprise you. Oh, absolutely. And I think that's, yeah, I mean, this is the kind of business that you, I mean, the bad thing is, is that if you are somebody looking to get into the business and you're like being approached by teams or brokerages in general, you might feel flattered that they want you.
But in the reality is like a lot of places, they don't really care if you're successful or not. You can, you're not going to cost them that much money. If you come in and are successful, it's a great win.
If not, then, you know, it's not like they're paying you an annual salary. And so that's, yeah, one of the downsides of it. But I think, you know, there are ways of, and this could be a personal thing for anybody going through the business of focusing on what you're strong at, what you're good at, and learning how to delegate the things that you're not so that you're not, you know, burning yourself out.
And I think that's very common in the business as well.
Yeah, I agree with that completely. I think a lot of, and just being an entrepreneur in itself and a business owner is harder than what most people think because you have to be extremely self-motivated to get up and do the right thing.
100%, 100%. Well, so I guess the next question I have is just kind of how did you get into the investing side of real estate as well? When did that start and what did that look like?
I was very, very fortunate that everything that I have learned in the real estate realm came from my parents. When my father was building in the 80s, he ran into one of the wealthiest gentlemen at the time here locally in my market in Southwest Missouri. And just chatting with him, that gentleman said, buy one rental property every year and you'll retire comfortably.
And so that, they took note of that and they, my parents have literally taught me everything. I mean, they own 50 some odd single family doors, duplexes, things like that. I personally own nine.
I started finally when I was 37, which my father actually started at 37 and I know a lot of, when I was 37 and I was buying my first rental property, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm so far behind the game. I should have started this sooner and I'm so old. I mean, I'm 45 now.
So it's comical to think at 37, I felt old, but I was like, oh, I'm so old. I'm so far behind and you're not. I mean, I see now that I am very, very lucky.
Real estate, we literally have a golden ticket to changing the lives of the people around us, changing our buyers and sellers lives, changing legacies for ourselves, for generations down the line through investing. And so many people want the knowledge, the information, the things that we have at our fingertips. So if you're not taking advantage of investing, I mean, you're crazy.
You need to learn how to do it. You need to lean on people that know how to do it. And so I started, my first one was in 2017 and then when I run across good deals, I snatch them up.
So now I have nine. So in, what would that be, eight years, I've got nine rental properties.
Yeah, it's awesome. And what a great thing to grow up with, what a great environment to grow up with. I mean, it's so common to think that you've missed the boat with investing.
It's so common. I mean, and I think it's also, I mean, we see this when we sell to people in general, that it always feels like you're overpaying when you buy, like always it feels like you're overpaying. And you look back at what real estate prices were, when we started 2013, 2014 is when I started, but yeah, it would have been great to scoop up a ton of real estate then.
Look what happened to the pandemic. It was amazing. But the fact is, it's like a tree, right?
Like the best time to plant one was 10 years ago. The next best time is now. And if you are able to just, even if the numbers aren't perfect, I think it's really important to analyze and be smart about your financial decisions, but just know that it gets better and better and better over time.
And I mean, your parents could attest to that. Their portfolio, I'm sure has grown significantly in value and the rents have gone up. So the cashflow, all that stuff has gotten way better.
Not to mention that the fact that, they have 50 tenants paying down mortgages, maybe not anymore, but you add that up, you compound all these things over time and over numbers of properties, it's powerful. And yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, we have the ability to change our clients' lives and we do help investors and we do help people buy their own houses, but it's amazing sometimes agents don't buy themselves.
And I think it's, yeah, it's a shame. I mean, it is the best way to get wealthy.
It is. I mean, I'll scream it to the rooftops. One of the things that I truly believe with us building our team is I want my agents not just to work with buyers and sellers.
I wanna teach them all these other ways to build a passive income lifestyle. So we're very big on that here. We teach them how to do property management.
We teach them how to buy and hold and fix and flip. We teach them about new construction if they're interested. I mean, pretty much I can teach them seven different ways to build an income here on the team that is not just working with buyers and sellers.
And it is so important to do that. I mean, so much wealth is built. I cannot remember where the wealthiest people, it seems like I read somewhere the wealthiest people all own real estate.
I know a lot of people own businesses and stuff as well, but I mean, you have to have a lot of capital to own a business. You don't necessarily have to have a lot of capital to buy your first rental property, so.
Yeah, especially if you're doing a house hack or even just buying a place to live and then moving when you can. That's such a low-hanging fruit way to get in the business. And yeah, it works.
And you have to, you know, there are headaches. And I think at a certain point, you have to understand yourself as well. And if not getting property management, doing it yourself is gonna make you get out of the game, then maybe it's better to hire the property management.
Because again, we're looking at the big term. We're not looking at, when we say this is the best way to get, to become wealthy, to become a millionaire or whatever, this isn't like, yeah, you buy one rental and you're wealthy. It's not like you buy 10 rentals necessarily and you're wealthy.
It takes time. But once you start experiencing that power over time, it just, yeah, it's so drastically different. I mean, I bought my first house for like 144,000.
We lived in it. We put $7,000 into it. And that house is probably worth like 275 now.
And we actually, we put it on a 15-year mortgage, which I probably wouldn't have done. But we owe like $40,000 on it now. And it's just, yeah, it's been a great thing.
It is needing to be remodeled whenever these tenants move out. That's the downside. But we're just kind of, you know, they're happy paying their rent as it is.
And, you know, if we kick them out, we'd have to put a decent amount of money, still worth it, into it to get it back and ready. But yeah, it's just, you get used to those kinds of things. I mean, it's just like sales.
I mean, you kind of get used to the ups and downs. There's things that are stressful in sales and, you know, managing properties. But yeah, the more you experience it, the more you kind of just get used to it and go with the flow.
And it just is what it is. It's just take care of it.
Yeah, you just, you're right. You just have to take care of it. And when I started in 2017 with my first rental property, I really did not want to be a property manager.
I was a single mom to two little boys trying to run all these other businesses and build a successful real estate career and a successful real estate team. And I was like, I don't mind to pay her 10%. So I paid, it wasn't, truthfully, let's see now, it's been eight years and it wasn't until this last year that I bought two and decided to start to manage those two on my own.
And she still holds the first seven that I had. So she still has them. Because I didn't want to take all of them on at once.
So I just wanted to dabble. And if this didn't work out for me, I was gonna give those two back to her. So it really is a slow game.
And you do have to prioritize. For me, it was completely worth it because I didn't want to have to go worry about unclogging a toilet at 2 a.m. because somebody's dog shoved a bone down the toilet. I didn't want to do it.
I did not want the checks to show up in my mailbox. I didn't want my tenants to know where I was living because, you know, single parents. So all these things I was concerned about.
So I just dipped my toe in last year. So it's definitely a slow game. You're not gonna get rich overnight building out your portfolio.
But it is a good, it's our 401k, you know.
Yeah, it is like the real 401k. Because there's also the great tax advantages of it. I mean, there's, you know, if you can get even that accelerated depreciation added in the mix, that could be a huge tax write-off for you as a real estate professional.
So it's really a really good opportunity for agents to get into. And I think if you are gonna self-manage, one of the ways I've looked at it or had to reframe, because I mean, often when something happens, A, you're annoyed that you're getting bugged. There's that, right?
And then B, you're like, oh, how much is this gonna cost? And can I go over there and fix it or do something? And I'm not super handy.
So I'm like, it's usually not, that's not the first thing I, you know, think of. But I kind of try to reframe it to be like, okay, you're the property manager for these properties. These are businesses, you're not relying on this income.
This is a long-term thing. And I just send a professional to take care of it. And that's it.
And again, like, you know, it may not be the most cost-effective way of doing it, but at the same time, like I'm not managing, having it managed, so like I'm saving there. And it's just the decision I make to keep it easier on me and less stressful.
Yeah, and that to you might be worth everything. And so it might not be the most cost-effective when it comes to your checkbook, but you're also having to look at the opportunity costs. How many other potential buyers or sellers could you be working with instead of chasing down a plumber?
So there's always a cost benefit one way or the other for, you know, you're either boots on the ground, just getting started, or you're at the point where you can pay a little bit more for a reliable plumber while you go make another sale.
Yeah, and I think there's always a grind phase. And that's true with sales and true with investing. And you do maybe do a few more things in the grind phase than you would like to or where you can get to eventually.
But again, as time goes on, you become more successful, you don't have to do that grind stuff as much like we talked about, like getting the leads in, or, you know, you have more equity, the rent has gone up so that the cash flow is better, you can just choose to pay for a plumber to come and not go try to get that dog bone out. Yeah. But.
People, those non, those flushable wipes that really are never flushable, you know, those are the worst.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah, so it's not without headache, but it is an incredible tool. And it's awesome that you're teaching your people and your team to invest as well.
Through the years, have you found that there's anything that kind of helps keep your brain right, helps keep you from burning out? What do you do to kind of, I don't wanna say balance, but how do you keep yourself going and motivated and there at 100% whenever you need to be?
Well, I've definitely failed at this many, many times over the years where I've experienced burnout. And the, when I first started Definite Investment, I definitely experienced burnout. And the thing that I had to learn, which was the hardest thing, I think, for any of my learning experiences that I've had, is that I had to put my kids in my calendar.
And then I had to make sure that my clients did not know my kids were in my calendar because your kids are appointments or your family, you know, whatever your priorities are, whether that be a spouse, children, family, it could be ailing parents, they need to be a priority in your calendar. And unfortunately, you can't tell your clients that they are, I lost a client because I wanted to spend some time with my kids. And your clients are always, when you say, I'm so sorry, I can't show that house to you tomorrow night because my child has a basketball game, you can hear the irritation.
But if you say, I'm so sorry, I've already got other appointments tomorrow night, how about the following night? That's okay. And that, it's not the, it's not right.
I'm not saying that it's right, but it's just the way that our clients think. So that was the biggest learning experience for me. Through then, I mean, I've had so many ups and downs of burnout and the thing that I do now that is a non-negotiable for me, I get up in the morning, I work out.
And I did have some help this year, last year, so I did have to take some time off from that. But work out in the mornings, meditate, I journal at night, I do a ton of reading, I'm a huge reader. These are all things that I have to do.
I bring my lunch, even now, I mean, it's sitting right over here, so I have to bring my lunch every day. I pack it the night before with very healthy foods because if you just eat junk, we are all on the road all the time. I've had more food spilled on me because I had to slam on my brakes than I care to admit.
But eating healthy, planning healthy meals because it's easy for our day to get ahead of us and to run through Chick-fil-A and grab junk for lunch, so. And they sound so simple. But yet it sounds so like, oh my gosh, I don't know how I can do all that.
But it needs to be a priority.
Yeah, I think it's being intentional and prioritizing is kind of what you're talking about. And it is hard. I mean, you can also get in the trap of always having business lunches.
So there's times where it's good to meet your clients and everything for lunch. That could be a good way of having a great connection with somebody. But if you're just in the habit of eating out every single lunch, most of the food you get when you eat out is not healthy.
And it's really hard, especially for me, to go somewhere and order what would be the healthier option when there's something that's way better there.
Yeah, uh-huh, no, I completely agree. There's a whole book on that, it says Never Eat Alone. And I look at that book and I think to myself, oh my gosh, you know how expensive that is?
I think when the book was made, lunches were still like $7. Now you're dropping 20 or $25 a lunch times five. That's $125 a week times, you know.
So, woo, it gets to be expensive now. And it's not good for your waistline, it's not good for your health. No matter how healthy, I mean, it's still not as healthy as a home-cooked meal.
Yeah, and you're gonna often feel sluggish afterwards as well, not be able to be as productive the rest of the afternoon. So it definitely has a big impact overall, for sure.
Yeah.
Do you help your agents when they come into the team kind of with this work-life balance? Do you give them suggestions, et cetera, as they kind of get busier and busier?
Yes, we do talk about it on their onboarding as well. There's a lot of self-care on their onboarding. And I'm really big on my social media and just talking about it in person.
I don't necessarily teach them. It's not like I teach classes on it. But they know that I'm pretty big on work-life balance.
It's a personal journey too.
Oh man, it is such a personal journey, for sure. And I notice even when I don't journal, if I don't journal for a long time, I'll notice that my headspace starts to fill up and get cluttered and I start to feel irritated and annoyed for no reason other than I just didn't have, I call it Kellie time, Kellie just hasn't had her time. So, and I truly believe being selfish with our time is one of the most selfless things that you can do for the people around you.
Yeah, that's well said. And I think it's also, we talked again about the grind phase where you're gonna be trying to cater to other people a little bit more than you can get to when you're working more with warm people that wanna work with you, et cetera. But yeah, I think especially those kind of clientele that know you, that know your family, that all that kind of stuff, they're more likely to be okay with you going to your kid's basketball game.
They're gonna be happy for you and that kind of stuff. So it's definitely one of the ways to move forward. And you have to, it's hard to transition from doing whatever it takes to make it, setting boundaries, like what do you do with your text messages, your email responses?
Do you have like times that you just won't respond? Are people expecting you to be back in touch with them within like five minutes? Or how do you kind of work with all that?
I hope not, because they'll be sadly disappointed. Yeah, I've gotten to the point now where I do have a VA that does monitor a lot of my emails, but obviously that is not where I started at all. I did it all on my own.
So my text messages and stuff, no, like obviously I'm here with you right now. And so I'm not checking my phone, I'm not responding to phone calls or text messages. And that's really what I had to get around to when it came to being able to tell my clients that, again, back in the instance of one of my kids' basketball games, I am here with you right now and I'm not checking my phone or my email.
How come I do not give my child the same amount of respect? And if I can't respect my own family, then how can I expect my clients to respect me? So I had to put my phone away when it came to watching basketball games.
I had to put my phone away when I was driving them from practice to practice. Now they're older, they're driving themselves. But it's really important to me to be 100% present as I am meeting with clients, as I'm going to listing appointments.
I don't check my phone then. And if somebody's really upset with me for not answering a text message immediately, they're probably not the right client for me. So, and there's a lot of people that do set those boundaries up front.
I don't necessarily set those boundaries up front. You know, knock on wood, I've been really fortunate. I've not had to fire a client because they got mad I wasn't answering at a certain time period.
So I just don't like to attract those types of people in my world.
I think that's basically where I'm at too with it. And I don't, yeah, I think it could be beneficial. And I haven't set up a system or exactly a practice that I can, you know, talk about with a client.
But in an intro meeting, you know, just explaining like, hey, I'm 100% with you right now. Like you just said, you know, I don't, I'm not checking my phone. I'm not taking any phone call.
I'm not, you know, answering text messages right now. And just understand that when I'm with other people, that's true too. And I will get back to you.
And I know what is pressing and what's not. And, you know, we've never had a ball drop so bad that, you know, we couldn't recover from it from just not checking a text message right away. So, I mean, we'll get through it together.
But yeah, I think there's room for something to be stated. But I think I also just by not constantly responding immediately, that precedent is set without having to say it.
Yep, I completely agree with that. They wouldn't expect it either. I mean, they all have jobs.
At least you would hope they wouldn't expect it either.
Yeah, and I, it's just that the whole, you know, that this is the most exciting, stressful, whatever thing that they're gonna do in their lives, like for the next at least seven years, maybe. So it is, you know, that they might be more ready and on it and wanna, you know, move quickly and just be maybe tunnel visioned on it. But, you know, they have to understand that this is, you're bringing out the calm, the place they can feel, you know, that this is gonna be taken care of in a, you know, rational, level-headed way.
And so you're not gonna be at that level with them.
So I tell my team that I feel that we are the EMS of real estate. And if you think about it, you know, you're, somebody in your family is having a heart attack, ambulance comes, if the EMS races into the door and they're like, oh my God, everything's going on fire, oh my God, they're panicking, all of a sudden, everybody in the room is on a meltdown and panicking. As EMS of real estate, it's our job to walk in there and say, okay, it's okay, all right, you just go sit down, just let me take care of it, I've got it, I just need all of you to back up, let me work at the problem at hand.
And as long as we are calm, then the whole room is calm. So you just gotta try to remember that when it comes to deals and transactions. I mean, I've been doing this a long time and there's nothing that's been such a meltdown to where everything, the world stopped for a moment so that we could fix this.
There's not a lot of emergencies in real estate, there really isn't, that need to be handled within minutes.
Yeah, that's a really good analogy, I like that. I think to add to it as well, like while the EMTs or whatever, they're not coming in there panicking, it's also nice when they are actually attentive to you and not talking to each other about the party they're gonna go to afterwards or whatever, you know what I mean? They're also providing the attention and the care to the person.
So that's a really good analogy.
One of my real estate coaches over the years has told me that, and I was like, that is awesome. And it's funny, I tell everybody on my team, it's like something clicks, you know? You can tell as you're just in this real estate world, the agents that panic, they think it's their own personal house.
I'm like, goodness gracious, people only do this every seven to eight years, because it's extremely stressful. We do it however many times a year, I think we'd all have ulcers if we got as stressed out as our clients would. We would have had a nervous breakdown a long time ago.
Yeah, I definitely can limit people's abilities to perform because they're too emotionally invested. And that was a transition for me as well, where caring so much, because I wanted to succeed in this more than anything, to just kind of be like, all right, I need to depersonalize a little bit. I need to not bear the weight that they are putting on me, but still be there and be professional and get the deal done.
And honestly, I feel like that shift, also, the feedback I got throughout that shift, I feel like people just now mention me as this like very calm, a calming person in the transaction, like it's stressful, but I was always there and always calm and able to walk them through it. So yeah, it's probably another skill to learn, for sure.
I definitely agree with that. My mother was very much that kind of person. She would cry at the dinner table along with the clients.
I guess I'm much colder than that. That was never me. All different, going back to the discs, we're all different personality styles, but it is definitely something that has to be learned.
I see it a lot with my agents too. So good for you for recognizing it though, because I think people that get incredibly invested can experience burnout much, much faster.
Yeah, I mean, because we all have stressful things that happen to you and then sometimes they all happen at once and it can be a lot to bear, but I think the more you are able to handle, the easier or the less it feels like it's pulling you down when these things happen, especially if you get through a really rough one, like the next little problems that come up or like a walk in the park, it's nothing. So it's good perspective when you're in the thick of it to know that once you get past it, nothing's gonna faze you. I think that's been something helpful for me as well.
Well, and you have a responsibility to all of your clients to show up to the best of your abilities. And if you've gotten completely overwhelmed about this one client, about Jack and Jane Doe, and you are just completely emotionally spent by the time that you get off the phone with them, you can't show up for the rest of your clients and that's doing the rest of them a disservice. So I think we've got to just say, we've all got a responsibility to our clients to show up to the best of our ability that we can.
That's why I still practice self care. I get all that anger and aggression out in the morning at the gym and try not to let it burden me. And I'm not saying I'm perfect.
Trust me, I've definitely had my meltdowns with my clients and I've had agents that have screamed at me on the phone more than once. My poor children are like, is that a real estate agent? Yep, I just got yelled at.
But you never know what somebody's experiencing.
Yeah, that's always funny to me, why people feel like they need to go there. But anyway.
Reminds us what we don't want to be.
Oh, I had the most beautiful message written to another realtor earlier this year that was one of the worst agents I've worked with probably. And I just had this beautifully crafted email that was so nasty. I wrote it in the notes app, I didn't write it in my email app.
I didn't have their name in there already ready to send because I knew it was one of those things that I just needed to write and not actually send. And then luckily there was a couple of things that happened still, but if I had thought about sending it, which I didn't actually seriously consider, it would have made things even worse going forward. But I guess maybe this transitions us into a golden nugget.
Do you have any golden nuggets like writing nasty emails in your notes app so you don't accidentally send them?
Yeah, that's a great one. Definitely do that and don't push the send button. So good for you for having the strength to delete it.
But that actually is a great transition. I think all of us need to maintain a level of professionalism because our buyers and sellers will come and go, but as realtors, we all need to be able to get along. They're our actual coworkers and we've gotta be able to get along with them.
So if you say, oh, I'm fighting the hardest that I can for Mr. Seller or Mr. Buyer, a real estate agent probably isn't gonna wanna work with you if you're just gonna bully them and try to pressure them and just be hateful to them. The next time that you're in a multiple offer situation, you've done yourself a disservice. So maintain professionalism at all time.
It's a very easy job. One, to overwhelm you, two, to get you emotionally wrapped up in it, but we have to maintain the level of professionalism at all time. But truthfully, my golden nugget for everybody here is just to start dabbling in investing.
Listen to this podcast, learn everything that you can, learn from people way smarter than you because it really is, we really do have a golden ticket and people would do anything to have the information and the knowledge and the expertise that we have at our fingertips. So do not discount that. We really are extremely fortunate people as long as we take action and do things with what we're learning.
I love it.
You can change your family tree, you can change generations down the line.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, buy a rental property for each kid and by the time, if you're holding it until they are gonna inherit it, for example, I mean, that's gonna be a crazy, hopefully be paid off by then, but also it will be worth so much more. But yeah, you're right.
It really can change your family tree. And I think that is a whole other topic that I love getting into. We probably don't have time for now is just how to have kids that be having to say, no, we can do that, but we're not going to versus like, we just can't afford that.
And I think this is trying to raise good self-sufficient kids is a whole other battle. Wouldn't you rather have that than not?
Yes, sir. But that's, I don't even know if you can solve those world problems in one hour. I think that takes like a whole decade.
Just hoping you don't screw it up too bad.
Exactly. I mean, and we're all gonna screw, like you said, nobody's perfect. So we're all screwing something up along the way.
And my wife's a therapist and she's like, yeah, the goal is just to minimize the amount of therapy that's needed after you get through with the kids.
I love that.
It's not like you're gonna be perfect and they're not gonna need anything, so. Yeah, so okay, so that moves us into a favorite book. If you have, you said you're a big reader.
I don't know if you have a fundamental one that you think everybody should read or maybe just a current favorite.
I read all the time. So if anybody ever wants to reach out to me on social media and say, I want a good book on X, I can definitely do that. One that I have fallen in love with, this is more of a personal development one.
Jamie Kern Lima wrote an amazing book called Worthy for anybody that struggles with worthiness and their value in life. When it comes to business, always think and grow rich I think is great by Napoleon Hill, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. But one I think that's really changed my life and my viewing in a lot of things is The Compound Effect.
That is one that I read almost every year by Darren Hardy because it goes back to showing you like where I was just in 2013. I was living on food stamps, welfare, unemployment and now being able to own nine rental properties and it's taken me 12 years to get here and it's just The Compound Effect of just showing up every single day. So The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, I would say is just a fantastic fundamental read and one that I think should be read more than once.
Use it as a workbook.
I love it. Those are great recommendations. Thanks so much.
Yeah.
Kellie, finally, if there's anybody that does wanna reach out to you about a book or just follow you along the way, is there a good social media slash business websites that they could find you at?
Yeah, Kellie Revoir on pretty much everything. So at Kellie, which is K-E-L-L-I-E and then my last name is R-E-V as in Victor O-I-R. You can pretty much find me on all places, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook.
I do have a TikTok account. I'm kind of wondering if I should dowel back into that. So if y'all wanna reach out and say, yes, I need to do that, I don't know.
I had one post go viral however many years ago because my kid was screaming at me and I recorded it and I was laughing the whole time. And then I'm like, you know what, this is just too overwhelming. So I stopped.
Yeah, it's a whole thing. There was a funny reel or meme or something about agents in their 40s, 50s that are at houses trying to dance. I didn't realize I was gonna be like having to learn how to dance in front of a camera for my business.
Yeah, the things you don't think about. Yes, I really wanted to steer far away from that but we do so many flips throughout the years that the before and afters I've heard would make great, great media, so.
100%, it really doesn't have to be a dance. I mean, you can definitely make it your own. I've yet to dance on any of the social medias, so.
I had a 19-year-old kid, he literally just moved to Dallas a couple weeks ago but he, all of our new construction homes, he would go and create these videos within our new construction homes. He sat in bathtubs and sinks and made funny poses in the shower. I mean, and my gosh, this 19-year-old kid was one of the top agents on my team up until he left.
And you would have never thought it but that media.
That works.
It works, yeah.
That's awesome. Cool. Well, thanks so much, Kellie, for being on the show.
It's been a lot of fun. We've covered a lot of ground. I feel like we could have probably covered a lot more if we had a few more hours.
Yeah, I'd love to. I mean, anytime.
We'd love to do a part two.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, thanks, Kellie.
Thank you. Have a great rest of your day.
Thanks for listening to the REI Agent.
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All content in this show is not investment advice or mental health therapy. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.
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