Hey, welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I'm your host Justin Stoddart, very excited about this topic that seems to be like a unicorn work life balance. Is there such a thing in real estate? Can you actually have it all? I have with me today, Beth Kellan, she's a Top Producing agent has been for years. And we're going to get into this as soon at a point in her life, that her highest producing year, she had very strict parameters, five miles of inner house and had to be done by 5:30pm and had a GCI of $620,000. That year, we're going to talk about how she did that. Before we get into that, I want to thank you again, for tuning into this show. And let you know that if you go to think bigger got real estate, on that website, you can sign up to get in your inbox every week. The highlights of this week shows and specific action steps. So be sure to sign up for that. Lot of people reaching out to me very grateful that they because they can't catch every episode. But this really gives them the cliff notes, the ability to apply things in their life, which is how you become a big thinker. So, Beth, let's get into this. Let me kind of begin by maybe introducing you, Beth Carolyn, again, Top Producing Windermere agent here out of the Portland Oregon market. You are licensed since 2001. And really caught hold of ninja selling, which was highlighted a few episodes ago in 2007. You're now a ninja certified mastery coach. I'm excited and grateful to have you on the show today. Thanks for being here.
Absolutely. Thanks for having me. It's such an honor.
Well, it's an honor for all of us to hear how you have done what you've done, and how you're now again, of moving beyond success to significance, right? Where you're looking to pour how to find success through other people, by being a coach by helping other people to do what you did. So let me just kind of restate that in case people missed this, which is you were at a point in your life where you had your little babies at home. And you decided like I've got to be done by 530? Because why? Tell me why was that? Yeah.
Yeah, 530 was when the daycare shuts down. My for the first several years of our kiddos lives, my husband worked nights. So he and I were like ships in the night, he would keep the kiddos during the days except for the few days that he had to work. And then he would go on to work at four. So I had to be the one to pick them up at 530 when daycare was over. So I can have a choice, I had to shut my day down at five in order to get to them. I don't know if you guys if you know this, but they charge you about $1 $5 a minute beyond 530. So you can get costly if you're not on time. Because I didn't realize I had four nights a week I had to pick up the kiddos and have them with me. And then the other three nights I wanted to see my husband on those nights that he was home.
Yeah. powerful stuff. So you just simply drew a line in the sand and said, Okay, my day ends at this time. Therefore, I must get a lot done before 5pm. Beth is now you've coached people that the hours that they dedicate to real estate, let's say it's eight to five, right? If If someone were to really get in and get after it, do you believe that that's enough time to create a successful real estate business if you're highly focused and have a solid plan?
Absolutely. I think that that the focus pieces but absolutely the key. We go about our days, and we do so much throughout the day, and how much of it is actually productive work?
Yeah, I think we all fall victim to that and right, or choose that right on victims the right word for the bigger real estate show. But but but we all make choices, right? That dilute our productivity that dilute our effectiveness, and keep us from really being on task, those things that matter the most. Um, let's talk a little bit about this case. So the timeframe is clear. You've got to be done by 5pm. Now you made the decision also to work within a very specific geographical ring from your home. Was it five miles? Is that what I remember? You told me
it was actually closer to 10. And I was a little bit too I would be choosier if it was closer. And of course, they had lots of help and would refer out if it was a little beyond the location of where I needed to be my kiddos where I live in southwest Portland, my kiddos were in daycare and triggered. So if I'm showing a property out in outer northeast, at 430, it was not happening.
Yeah. So you then I mean, how did you You didn't turn business down, you just created strong referral partners in the ne se kind of any area that was outside of that ring? To where you said, You know, I don't service that area. And probably it's it, I would imagine some degree, it's a cert, it was a service to your clients, to find people that really specialize in that area.
Absolutely. And it's still always a work in progress. And something that I strive to continue to work on is making those relationships feel seamless. And it is challenging, but when you don't have any other choice and your kiddos become the priority, you it somehow makes it happen. And I looked back on that year and I thought wow, I really did not work evenings this whole
last year, it was pretty amazing.
It's it's truly phenomenal. Interesting to have you say no to stuff, right, I think know, is one of the most powerful words that anybody that's highly successful. gets really comfortable saying is like, No, I can't do that. No, that's not a good customer for me. No, I don't work well there. If I because if you say yes to it, then you're saying no to picking up your kids. Right? Yes. You know, we tend to be those of us that are in sales tend to be very kind of Yes. driven. Yes. Customer Service. Right. But I think one of the more powerful things is to realize that yes, the customer's always right, yes, we service the customer at a really high level. But no, not everybody needs to be our customer know, like there's a there's a certain standard that people have to have to have to fit into in order to to meet our customer criteria. Would you say benefit that by you making that choice to say I'm going to say no, to those, you know, far northeast properties from where you are? Did you start to fill that that void with properties that were closer in? that were actually closer to where you were at? Yeah, good
question. It's interesting how it all kind of works out my principal broker, john Gregory always said that, you know, when you stick your hand in a candy jar, you go in the jar, and in order to pull out some candy, you have to let go of a few to get your hand out of the jar. Right. So it became that quality over quantity. And I, I also learned that if I was honest about who I am, and let my folks know that look, I'd be happy to show you that house, you know, at 430. But I have to be on the road by five o'clock to get to my kiddos. They were the people that I really wanted to be working with. were super respectful about that. And I went through this whole period where I tried to not be a mom when I was at work and not work when I was being a mom. When in reality, when I combine the two and let everybody know who I was, it became more natural and it was more of a harmony versus a work life balance.
I think that's probably a great way to put it is that balance can be a true unicorn, right? But you found like counterbalance, like there's times where I'm going to bring my kids with me mana showing, right. And you probably like you shared that with me before that you knew certain clients where that would be totally permissible. And then they'd probably love it. There are other clients that maybe wouldn't appreciate that as much. But you had the emotional intelligence to be able to tell the difference between the two, right?
Yeah. And so those evenings that I wouldn't work, it was like, I'd be happy to if the...
