The Perfect 100

Hello and welcome back to the Perfect 100 podcast.

I'm your host Tammy Zurak.

Today I'm joined by someone that I've had the privilege of knowing since 2020, Jane
Massie.

She went from scaling teeth to scaling her business, making a bold career shift from
dental hygiene to real estate.

We're going to dive into the story behind that switch.

what it really meant to step into the driver's seat of her career, how she built her
personal brand from the ground up, and how she's leveraging her natural talents to lead

both a chapter and a business.

She's known for her drive, her heart, and her commitment to doing things the right way.

Jane, welcome to the show.

How are you?

me.

It's really special for me to be here with you.

Definitely my pleasure.

All right, let's kick things off the way we do every week with a 45 second commercial.

Go ahead.

Well, I'm Jane Massie with Crye-Leike Realtors.

I am a full-time realtor that's licensed in Mississippi and Tennessee and I specialize in
residential and land but I think my passion is with residential because it seems to be

more of where more emotions are involved and so my clients tell me that

They appreciate the fact that I walk them hand ah to hand, step to step through the entire
process.

I give them a lot of information because I want them to be able to make informed decisions
and make their own informed decisions and not feel like they don't have any control in a

transaction because it's not a transaction.

it is something very personal to them because people don't buy or sell because it's a
business.

I work with individuals and families more so than I do investors and there is always a
transition that causes someone to decide whether or not it's time to buy or a time to sell

and I want that to be a positive memorable

experience for all my clients.

So I'm Jane Massie with Crye-Leike Realtors.

Awesome, So you, I mentioned that you started your career helping people smile, literally,
and now you help them find homes.

What inspired that major career shifts and when did you know that once you made that
change it was the right move?

I actually had gotten my real estate license around 20, no around 2000 and I could not
figure out how can I go show a house if I'm cleaning someone's teeth and it wasn't a good

time to give up a guaranteed paycheck.

So COVID, which brought about so many changes in our society and in business was what
actually was the catalyst that caused me to make that move.

For the first time in my life, I was laid off.

I never thought I would ever see unemployment.

But during COVID, we were laid off in March and I went back to work in May.

And the world had changed and it impacted dentistry and medicines.

I can't even explain how much it impacted it.

And people were saying that I had the most dangerous job in the world at that time because
the virus was spread orally and.

here I was working in that environment every day.

So I went back to work, I worked four hours and I said, you know what, I think the world
will change enough that I'm ready to do something different.

And I had always had that passion that I wanted to try real estate again.

And that is what I decided to do.

I went home and wrote my letter of resignation that night and two weeks later I was ready
to start a different journey, which I did.

Yeah.

That's, I mean, I can't imagine, I can't even imagine just putting my hands in people's
mouths on a daily basis.

Cause that alone, I went and had my teeth cleaned like two weeks ago.

And I said to the hygienist, I'm like, I don't know how you people can do this every day.

Let alone, and cause I'm kind of a germaphobe and COVID only made it worse for me.

So let alone, know, dealing with a pandemic, worldwide pandemic.

I don't know if you have any insight on having that as a career for however long.

How long were you a hygienist?

was a long time, right?

Okay.

I ended it and retired in 2020.

Yeah, so that's a, I think that's a calling.

People need it and.

loved the technical part of what I did and I loved the relationships that I built with
people but it just didn't allow me to grow as an individual and tap into all my other

skills and talents the way real estate has and being an entrepreneur and doing what I
always did well but doing it for myself.

Right.

Yeah, it makes a big difference, right?

Yeah, it's I said it makes a big difference working for yourself.

so that's a lot of people's story in BNI, that going out on your own after having worked
for somebody, you in charge of your own thing, but that's also a scary thing, right?

Is now you're in charge of your own paycheck, 100%.

How did you know it was the right move for you?

It was terrifying.

It was something that I thought about for a long, long time.

And I had the funds at that time.

You know, I didn't just make a knee-jerk decision based off of COVID.

I had been planning to do something different.

I was actually in school to get a master's degree in leadership because I wanted to teach
at UT.

You don't make as much teaching as you do practicing.

And there's a lot more uh red tape in everything you do.

But I was burned out in just the day to day clinical dental atmosphere.

And I wanted to do something different.

And I knew I had a lot of knowledge that I could give back to others.

So that was the direction I was heading.

And then when COVID hit, I realized that teaching, man, if my life changed and just

the clinic part My gosh, what would it be like in teaching and it was just going to be too
restrictive and I just need this was the best time for me to do it but oh as I said I had

put I Had things that I had put in place so where I decided to make that transition I
could do it without the fear of could I pay bills I had you know

resource there waiting in case I needed it.

Which in real estate you're going to need it.

Yeah, they tell you right to always have enough money to pay six months of bills.

And I did that with when I started my journey, I bought everything I thought I could ever
need to run my business.

And then, you know, then made that leap.

So um it's always a good good to have a backup plan, so to speak.

So if it doesn't kick off right away, which sometimes it doesn't that, you know, takes
time to build that you have that fallback position.

Now, I met you at the beginning of your real estate

because at that time I was doing portrait photography full time and you came to me for a
now infamous headshot.

Yeah, so, Jacket Yeah.

been told I can never sell the pink jacket.

I can never give it away.

Yeah, I think I'll put that on the cover image of the thumbnail for YouTube so just
everybody can see the famous.

is a everybody has commented to Jane on her headshot with her pink jacket, which is
exactly what we want for branding, right?

Is we want people to and I think you and I both share a hair branding thing that um I
could never I could never change my hair because people tend to notice me uh for the hair.

You know, you can pick me out of a room.

uh

that's what people are looking for.

And my husband's like, you never can cut your hair short because that's a thing now.

um But I know you're in your brand building.

Was that an inherent thing for you?

Or I know you spent a lot of time and you came back later for a full portrait session when
I was still shooting full time.

that we talked a lot about your brand and you building it.

You hired a videographer.

Talk to me a little bit about that journey.

journey in building that brand.

Well, I don't think the hair style was intentional, but when I started talking to you
about the head shot, you said, okay, go grab some of your jackets or what it, cause I love

wearing, I wear the jacket and the button down and the collars.

And you said, go grab some, something out of your closet.

And I did.

And we, started sending you photographs and I,

I I just went to Macy's or somewhere and I saw that pink jacket and I said, well that kind
of stands out and I took that and sent it to you and you said run with it and we did.

So you played an important role in me picking that pink jacket.

Yeah, I don't remember exactly that conversation, but I know that the pink in your hair
color, you know, is going to be, it was going to pop.

So I was so happy that it turned into a thing.

So you've built a reputation now in being a real estate agent.

You're, I know that you're a reliable person.

You're a caring person.

There's things, those are things that people respond to.

What do you love most about the being a realtor now?

Well, some people, if you asked other realtors, they'd probably say, you know, having the
control over their schedule.

And I have found that I work every day of the week.

ah I work long hours because my personality is that you do what it takes to get it done.

And...

I've always enjoyed helping other people get what they want.

It gives me a purpose and makes me feel a sense of fulfillment when I help someone else.

So I think that's probably the biggest reward that I've had and look forward to is, you
know.

helping somebody else get what they want.

That's a big thing is the investment someone, know, the largest investment someone
probably will ever make.

Right.

Yeah.

And the biggest change that, you know, that moving and all of that is one of the most
stressful things that people go through and you're right there in the thick of it with

them.

So it is demanding.

It's lots of hours, lots of moving parts.

People are counting on you.

What helps you stay focused and productive when all those things are hitting all at once?

anxiety.

I'm joking.

Anxiety does make you do things and stay on top of it.

But it's mostly good anxiety, anticipation, know, knowing that someone has put their trust
in me and that if I don't do what I told them

that I was gonna do, it's going to not only hurt them, but it's gonna hurt their trust in
me and my integrity.

And I have a need, I guess, to show people who I am.

want, you know, I don't want to just say, hey, these are all the things I'm gonna do for
you.

I want to do those things plus things that you don't even expect.

Right.

I want someone at the end of the day they get the keys or the day that they get their
funds to say, know what?

mean, you're the best realtor I've ever worked with.

I've never had anyone that kept me in the loop and that was able to, you know.

get me information that I could trust and that you were transparent enough to say, hey, I
don't know.

I don't know what the answer to this is, but to not have an ego and to go ahead and reach
out to other people to try to find.

the best answers because sometimes there's more answers than one to questions and things
every real estate transaction and every client brings different variables that you can't

control, you can't foresee things just happen and when they happen it's how do you react
to those things and help somebody get past the bumps in the road.

Right.

Well, and you're, you're, yes.

Well, we're going to get to your CliftonStrengths because a lot of the things you just
said play to what you, all of the things you just said.

uh But you, have you, it seems like you're a solutions oriented person.

Have you always been that way or is that just more so now that you kind of are in a
position that you have to be?

I think I've always been a problem solver.

ah I don't look forward to problems.

Let me be clear clear that of course, you when the seas are calm and you have smooth
sailing, that's what everybody wants.

But the winds come up and the water gets choppy a lot of times and

I've just always been the one that didn't want to sit back and be passive when there was a
problem.

That I jumped in and I did what was needed to be done to help find the solution.

I didn't always have to be the person that could solve the problem, but I was definitely
the person that was going to talk to enough people that we got a solution.

Does that make sense?

It does.

Yeah, and so I'm going to change gears a little bit.

I remember inviting you to your very first BNI meeting, more than once, I think, but I
think we I knew behind the scenes that we were going to have a change in realtors in our

chapter.

And I was it was kind of trying to, you know, sprinkle the seeds away before that change
was going to happen.

So I invited you.

So tell me what was your first impression when you came to BNI and what made you decide to
join later?

Okay, so I love this story and I share it at our, I've shared it at our visitors days and
just remind people.

And I think it's important to hear my story and others that are similar to it, to people
that are in BNI because a lot of times we're scared to offer the opportunity to other

people.

And you sent me a text and you said, do you know anyone, not me, but do you know anyone
that would benefit from word of mouth referrals?

And I was like, gosh, who would that be?

I was thinking about everybody else I knew.

uh

I said, well, it could be me, what are you talking about?

And you gave me, you know, just enough to make me go, gosh, I don't have time to go to a
meeting in Memphis, you know.

So I, because I knew you and I wanted to help you.

I think I started texting you names of other people that you could contact.

Yes.

uh

like a week later, I even reached out to them and I was like, did you decide to go to that
meeting, you know, that my friend Tammy invited you to?

And I was getting back, you know, crickets.

So I started feeling bad and I reached back to you and I was like, so did you ever hear
from any of those people I recommended to you?

And you were like, no.

And then I was like, hmm.

I gotta go help my friend out, you know?

So I said, okay, I'll make time to go.

And once I got there, I was like, this is so weird.

They're ringing the bell as somebody talks over 60 seconds.

They're passing around a sack and they're putting little pieces of paper in it, you know?

But then I started going, wait a minute.

And it didn't happen while I was at the meeting, okay?

I left the meeting going, what did I just experience?

know, I don't know.

And then, like a week later, it hit me.

Oh, now, okay, I'm starting to see that this could be a way for me to get word of mouth
referrals.

that's not going to cost me thousands of dollars every month in my business.

Because this is what I've been working for anyway.

I was just, had not been in real estate that long to really get a lot of repeat business
from my clients.

You know, they were referring me, but...

And I believe I was at the of mine because I still do get a lot of referrals from my
sphere of influence, but you know, it just takes time to get that organic type of

referral.

And I was like, this could be a way where I could get the word of mouth referrals that are
built on trust the same way my past clients can pass me referrals, but I can multiply it.

more like the pebble going across the water and the ripples that it creates.

So that's what made me say, hey, let's take a more in-depth look at this and see.

And it was about me.

At that time, it was about me.

Right.

Well, and then we came to you later and said, so Jane lives in Mississippi.

We're in Tennessee.

I invited her to my Tennessee chapter, which, I mean, isn't at the end of the day all that
far, but far enough.

And you're trying to build your clientele closer to your central area.

So somebody, I don't know who it was, put your name in and said, hey, you should talk to
Jane about starting a new chapter in her area.

How did that go?

Well, I was invited immediately to go to a leadership training and I feel terrible, but I
don't remember the guy's name.

oh Maybe a new regional manager or national, James?

James, okay.

So I actually went and sat in on what felt like a workshop for people that had been in BNI
and understood it.

And it really clicked with me.

Part of my past that you probably know that I don't talk about much was that I had
actually had experience in Mary Kay in my 30s.

I got into Mary Kay.

I'd never worn makeup.

I didn't use skin care.

I washed my hair with shampoo.

Then I washed my face with shampoo.

And I wanted to start a business and so

Mary Kay had all these tools and resources and support and I mean I was just said golly
this is an opportunity to do something different and I got into Mary Kay and I just

followed to me it's like baking a cake you got it you got ingredients and if you put all
the ingredients in the cake and follow the directions that other people

say this is going to make the best moist delicious cake you could ever have if you follow
the directions you're going to get the desired outcome and that was the same thing with

Mary Kay I mean within a year I'd earned my first car with Mary Kay within the second year
I'd earned the second I had 88 women in my um goodness

line.

Yeah, that's not exactly the term, but you get where I'm going in my unit.

In my unit, I had 88 women in my unit and I was the first sales director from Mississippi
that was ever invited to speak at a national conference.

So, Bea and I had a plan and what I really loved was I saw that it was trackable.

They kept up with the numbers and I was like, wow, that's what Mary Kay did.

And they gave me statistics and I enjoyed that.

I liked to see my progress.

I liked recognition.

I liked having.

resources that I could go to to learn more about it.

They had everything that appealed to me, my personality and as a business owner.

So I drank the Kool-Aid and here I am and I love it.

Yes, yes, so you've been a loud proud member and let's roll over to your power of one.

Speaking of recognition, so your power of one, you are a perfect 100.

Can we clap, clap, golf clap?

So yeah, so I don't need to read it because you're green and 20 points all the way across,
a perfect 100.

while it's up on the screen, we also have your palms report.

So this is

for 25 weeks.

I guess no, it's 24 weeks.

You've had zero absences.

Looks like you've had a sub or two, but that does not count as a absence because you have
a sub.

Referrals given inside 20, referrals given outside 43, referrals received inside zero,
referrals received outside eight, visitors six, or does that say, yep, that says six, one

to ones 42.

Thank you for closed business given 50.

$28,853 and 24 CEUs.

I'll repeat that was in 24 weeks.

So you have given a boatload of referrals.

Talk to me about that.

So like I said, when I got into BNI, I thought it was all about me.

And what could I get out of BNI?

After I learned more about it, because I did do CEUs, I went to all the meetings.

ah

I got, I started to see the giver's game.

And as a realtor, when I got in it, I didn't realize it, but I've always known that I was
the resource where people just come back to me and they're like, hey, do you know a

handyman?

Do you know a roofer?

Where do I go for insurance?

And so I always had contacts in my phone, but I didn't always know who those people were.

I was giving people referral based off of secondhand knowledge.

When I started participating and our chapter started growing and I started to go every
week and meet these people, I was able to just build up my collection of resources.

Yeah, it trusted people that...

I knew would not only do a good job, they would follow up, they had a reputation.

I could trust who they were and I could trust sending them to my clients because, you
know, my reputation is impacted by the people that I say, hey, this is someone that is

reliable, that does quality work.

You know, that...

won't leave you hanging, you know.

So when I made that referral, I know we're going to get a good result.

when things in the past, when I've made those referrals and they call me and they go, Hey,
you know, that contractor I've called like four times.

I mean, they're not calling me back.

That makes me look bad.

So it's really important to have people you trust.

Yeah, love that.

I think that's no matter what your position, but especially for a realtor to have that
arsenal of people that you can pull out and say, I've done business with these people.

I trust they're going to show up at your house and do a good job.

It's a lot.

It's not more meaningful, but it's as meaningful as it can be, you know, in terms of who,
how they feed your reputation, right?

Is we all care if I recommend somebody that they do a good job, but you know, yours is,
can make or break your, I mean, your deal can hinge on whether or not they do a good job

because they might be before the deal happens, right?

They could be somewhere in the middle of the deal happening, depending on what the
circumstances are in some cases, I would imagine.

Yes, and could I elaborate on something else about givers name?

ah As the realtor, I have many opportunities to refer other chapter members, but I didn't
actually receive my first true BNI.

closed, thank you for closed business, know, referral until this, well, October.

So I'd been in BNI for 10 months before I received something.

Now I did have something in the beginning, full transparency.

did, uh there was a transaction that was already in place when I got into BNI and we
recorded it because we closed it.

down the road after I was in it, but it didn't come from BNI, but it happened while I was
in BNI and it was two, you know, two BNI chapter members.

But this, it took 10.

So if you look at my numbers and you see how many referrals that I've given, oh I think
other people in my chapter and other chapters, if you're sitting there thinking about, I'm

not getting anything out of BNI.

I think you have to ask yourself, what are you giving to BNI?

And are you actually utilizing all the tools and resources that BNI give you?

I look at the Power One every month when it comes in.

I'm on the leadership team.

I'm the secretary.

And I don't know if everybody in BNI gets to see the Power One of other chapters in our
area.

Yes.

And the two areas that I see that in my opinion are lacking across the board are
continuing education hours.

And bringing visitors.

And this may be something you were already going to talk about, but.

If you don't mind.

I'll just continue so.

I found at first I was like, I don't want to take, you know, an hour out of my time to
listen to four podcasts or participate in this video session, which I don't even remember

the correct terminology for them.

But I found when I was driving, it was really easy to go to Spotify and put on podcasts
and, you know, in less than two hours, knock.

eight of those out, get really good information and be able to record that I had two hours
of continuing education.

The other part of that is visitors.

Visitors bring so much life to your BNI chapter.

Whether they join or not, just by having them there is like a catalyst to elevating
people's emotions within the room.

So if you're in BNI and you feel like your meetings are stale, are you bringing visitors?

Yeah,

I want to know.

Are you bringing visitors?

Are you letting other people bring visitors?

Because you might get business from the visitor that's brought, that somebody else
brought.

But if you bring a visitor, maybe someone else in your BNI might get business from that
person being in the room.

And then if they join, wow.

Imagine that was doing the math on how much our seats seats are worth and with 17 members
right now, which we started out with like I think we got up to like 22, but people get

sick jobs change Babies are born people die not our member but people in your family die.

I mean Change right and so

We've gone down to 17 members, but we have three that are joining, which is great.

But I did the math on, we've done about $711,000 worth of business in our chapter.

And honestly, I don't think we really started keeping up with those numbers until probably
the 1st of March.

We just started in January.

We still had people that didn't even know they had access to two apps by March, you know.

So a lot of recording wasn't done.

If you take the number of members that we have with the volumes of business that we closed
in that short amount of time, every seat in our BNI chapter is worth over $44,000.

Nice.

Yeah, that's a, it says a lot and you know, people don't, not everybody tends to look at
it the way all the things you just said.

So I, and you and I share the same viewpoint on all of those things.

One of the things, and I don't, I don't know why, how do I put this?

I had 20, I got a, my chapter was lovely and gave me an award for being,

contributing to the chapter.

And the point that was made was I brought 25 visitors for the last term and you're on
track for, know, pretty similar to that.

So everybody struggles, it seems.

I mean, I don't, I go out and I meet people and I do things.

So I invite them.

You know, and I, in,

put myself in places where I'm gonna meet people who are in business because I need to
meet people who are in business for my, I'm a business coach.

I need to meet other people that do that as growing my business.

But so does everybody else.

Everybody else needs to be doing it.

So I'm gonna ask you, how do you find your visitors?

I took my blinders off.

I quit thinking about it.

What is in it for me and how?

Why would I want to keep that opportunity from somebody else?

And that's what I constantly try to.

Reiterate it.

our chapter meetings is take your blinders off.

If I had been sitting in BNI going, doesn't work, I haven't gotten anything from BNI, I
probably wouldn't share the opportunity because I don't think I would possibly see the

value in it.

But I saw it helping other people in my chapter.

And that's when I took my blinders off and any entrepreneur, it's worth just saying, hey,
you know, I'm a part of Business Networking International.

We're just a group of entrepreneurs and business owners or people that work within
businesses that meet and share word of mouth referrals.

I learned it from you, you know, you don't have to go in.

You don't have to spew everything about BNI the first time you meet them.

Just invite them to come, let them experience what BNI is.

If they're interested, they will ask for more information.

And that's when you give them more information because although we do want to grow BNI,
BNI is not for everybody at every moment in their business.

Right, yeah.

And the consistency of, again, and we're gonna get to your club and strikes here in just a
minute, but the consistency to just be at 100.

So you started in January, you're at 100, and this is November for those that are
listening to it later.

We're at the very beginning of November, so that's 10 months.

The power of one.

All the core company owned regions get the power of one.

Every individual gets it sent to them.

I'm not sure, I can't speak to all the franchise ones, but em you're, we're seeing it.

So we were the recognition bit is coming across an email, you know, every month we were
due for a new one here in a couple of days.

So there's a, em

there's a consistency and a follow through that is required to kind of put yourself at 100
for six months, especially when you're new.

So is that just because that is your personality?

I'll give it away.

Your first CliftonStrengths is achiever.

Achievers like to achieve.

And they like to see it.

I like to and I have achiever in my top top group as well.

Achievers like to see their name at the top and they want to climb the mountain and be at
the top.

So is that simply it or are you?

Is there to me there's obviously more and I'm guessing there's more to it for you, but
tell me about that.

absolutely.

So two of my Clifton strengths are achiever and competition.

And I will, you know, and it doesn't necessarily have to be that I'm competing with
somebody else.

I play golf and it's always a competition within myself to be better at what I'm doing.

So I think it's more about me than it is other people.

but we tend to raise the, you know, have a bar or a standard that we, you know, compare
ourselves to others.

So I do enjoy the recognition, but it does not, I'm also a supporter and a cheerleader for
other people when they're, you know, striving to have success in certain areas.

But when I first got into it, it was about me and, you know,

I wanted to achieve certain goals, but it was also about commitment.

And I stood up in front of the group one day and I just said, you know, I don't think I've
really been doing my job as secretary.

um I haven't been bringing visitors.

I haven't been doing continuing education.

I've been doing coming to all the meetings.

I mean, if I give you my word that I'm going to be a part of something and I'm going to
come to a weekly meeting, I'm going to come to a weekly meeting.

So I'm responsible and reliable.

And but commitment, you know, I stood up and I said, hey, I can't ask you.

to do something that I won't do myself.

So I'm committed to our chapter and to the power of one.

Just, you know, putting it out there like you could do this too, you know.

It's not easy.

I'm not sitting at home all day waiting to do something for BNI.

I'm out there working my business every day.

I'm inherently active, busy all the time.

It's just I'm driven to stay busy.

And I know not everyone is made like me, and I appreciate that.

But I still think it's a commitment.

And if you make a commitment, you need to fulfill it.

Yeah, so let's let the cat out of the, the rest of the cat out of the bag, I guess, and
show your, uh your CliftonStrengths.

So your top five, uh your number one is achiever.

You work hard and possess a great deal of stamina.

You take immense satisfaction in being busy and productive.

Number two is harmony.

You look for consensus.

You have no use for unnecessary friction and guide others toward practical solutions.

Number three, responsibility.

You take psychological ownership of your commitments.

You are dependable and embrace values such as honesty and loyalty.

Number four is developer.

You recognize and cultivate the potential in others.

You spot the signs of each small improvement and love when you see someone make progress.

And number five, competition.

You measure progress against the performance of others.

You love contests and need to win.

I want to call attention to the fact that this

happened so I've been this year I think you're number 27 in um the list of people I've
interviewed on this podcast so if for you're listening and you haven't heard the first 26

you have lots of hours of CEUs to listen to and you can get them all in one hour here you
can just turn it the biggest thing I can promote yeah people just plug it in and go and

they got a whole hour don't have to change a thing um but I wanted to call attention to
the fact that

The questions that I ask you up to this point are revealing your strengths, right?

You've said, um, exceeding expectations, being transparent.

You're out there doing your work and you've got to, you feel responsible for if you say
you're going to do something, you're going to do it.

So as, were there any surprises when you got your report or did it hit home for you?

There were no surprises.

I've done different types of personality tests over the years.

I really have a good idea of my strengths and that's what I try to improve and build upon
are my strengths.

And harmony is one that we didn't really talk about, but...

We will, but yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, go for it.

me more.

just going to say, especially in real estate, but I think in any type of leadership
position, your goal is to help people unite, not to cause division.

And it seems to me that every time there is a place in.

a negotiation or a contract where there is a problem, it's usually, it will go back to
lack of communication and understanding.

And I've always been the one that came in when I saw whether it was two friends or two
coworkers or a doctor and a patient, it just...

every place in my life where I could see that there was lack of communication or lack of
understanding or a miscommunication where I could sense that we weren't talking about

apples and apples.

We were talking about apples and oranges and I always tried to say, you help us understand
what

you're really saying, you know, and then how are you interpreting what they're saying?

And I have to do that with myself constantly because me being a driven driver type
personality, I can hear one thing and I'm like, ready to get to go.

It's just like, okay, got a green light.

I'm, you know, and sometimes I have to even tell myself, wait a minute, did you really
understand what you're being told?

And then negotiations, it's about

buyers and sellers and realtors and lenders and attorneys and closing companies all
communicating and understanding what is happening in the moment.

Or you will end up with a terminated contract and people that are unhappy and stressed
out.

Right.

Well, you have the blend of Harmony and Developer and those two things together create
growth in a peaceful way and a productive way.

So, you you work well with other people and you love seeing people improve.

So that speaks to all the things you just said is bringing all those parties together
where

they might not recognize their lack of whatever in that area, but you see it and you can
change that for them.

uh Have you found that that helps you lead or collaborate with others better or even
succeed in BNI in a better way?

it does.

I don't I don't always want to be the person in charge you know but I think

different parts of my personality.

Just kind of automatically people see me as a leader because I'm not passive.

I'm actively involved in whatever endeavor that I have chosen to participate in.

when and all that sometimes that's all it takes is being active and

and stepping forward and taking on responsibilities when nobody else in the room will do
it.

And the next thing you know, you're leader.

Yeah, well, and you may, we only have your top five here.

You may want to unlock the rest of them.

And I would, I would guess you may have commands somewhere in there in that top 10 ish,
which helps people lead, but you also, the blend of achiever and responsibility, that's

where that drive that, that, and the ownership.

you achiever.

wants to work hard, get things done and the responsibility, you know, the follow through,
right?

If I said I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna make sure it happens.

So you feel personally accountable.

And you've said that several times here, even when I reached out to you initially with my,
by the way, that was a recruiter tactic.

So when I was a recruiter for five years, that's how we found people is we would call them
up.

If I knew I had a position open for,

a plant manager, I would call other plant managers and say, hey, I've got this great
position for a plant manager.

Do you know any of your friends or, you know, in your your circle that would be interested
in this, all the wonderful things?

And they're like, hold on.

You want to be talking to me?

So it works really well for BNI as well.

It's not something I do all the time.

And you reminded me of it.

I've forgotten that I did that even.

But

It is something that is really easy because when you wanted to help, as you said, you
know, and that's the help becomes you.

So that's an amazing thing.

But back to the achiever and responsibility, those are they take patience and leadership.

So what have you learned, whether it's in BNI or as a real estate agent about that
patience and leadership?

How do they bring people together towards a shared goal?

Patience and leadership.

Gosh, I don't have patience.

You don't think you do, but you.

The developer is a developer, somebody who wants to see everybody succeed, right?

They want to take the little and sometimes it's hard to do that, but you you push through
it.

So how do you?

Let's just take the patients out and how do you?

Because you're not seeing yourself that way, but how that shared goal?

How do you get people to do that?

Patience might not necessarily I might not be seeing this as patience, but consistency and
ah Repeating repeating repeating repeating because When you say something the first time

Not everybody in the room is listening.

They may be distracted the next time you Say it

they may hear it, but they're not ready to hear it.

They haven't had a need to hear it.

And then repeating it again, you know, maybe something has happened recently that they go,
well, wait a minute, that resonates with them at that moment.

So I don't really have patience.

I do like things happening at a faster pace, but I've learned that it's not about me.

and that everybody learns and receives information in different ways.

You know, it might be someone saw a slide, maybe someone listened to a podcast, maybe
someone saw a video and that information is given and received in different manners that I

can't expect just because

I want something for it to happen immediately that I do have to be patient and because I
see our chapter being very successful and I do have one thing I don't want to run over

your time but just personal about BNI when I got into real estate I really started
networking with other realtors and a realtor

is not going, a realtor maybe in another state may use me as a referral because we don't
have share those same licenses and you need somebody in a different area but the realtors

that I network with they're not going to send me any of their business.

It was building relationships so when I send in an offer if those two offers were the same
offer and the only thing different was the agent I wanted them to go I know Jane I know

that she is going to

do everything in her power to help us because it's a collaboration and to help negotiate
and help these buyers and sellers both get their desired outcome.

And I had gone to numerous other events and seminars all over the nation where I was just
passive.

yeah.

I was there, I was there to hear the speaker.

I may have introduced myself to five people, but I was not there actively telling them who
I am.

And the tools that I have received in BNI, the 60 second commercial, being able to say
this is who I am and this is why you should use me, I went to an event in just October.

And I went and I saw it in a totally different way than I'd ever seen it before.

I've gone for five years and I had never asked anybody for referral.

Well, let me tell you, I was walking up to everybody introducing myself.

I had business cards next year.

I'm probably gonna have koozies or something, know, keychains or something, but I'm gonna
elevate it.

But I was so excited about it because I just wasn't there.

I was actually participating.

and what could bring my business, you know, help me be more successful in getting
referrals.

Awesome.

So if you could look back at the moment that you decided to leave being a dental hygienist
and uh what you would tell yourself about what you'd learned and what you'd become and

what impact you would have along the way, what would you say to yourself back then?

Go for it.

Do it.

Put a plan in place.

Get as much information as you can and don't hold back.

Don't let other people's perceptions of who you have been hold you back or the fear of
failure hold you back because you know if you if you do all of the planning and do all the

steps of the planning along the way it's going to be hard to fail.

And I'm just, jumped in with both feet.

Sometimes I have to kick myself and say, hey, don't become complacent if you know what
you've done.

And I know for a fact that I've done things faster and better than a lot of other people
have done, but I can't rest on my laurels.

I have to keep on striving to be better and to achieve and to...

um

Because I want to leave a legacy of not just money, but I want people to know who I truly
was as a person and to tell stories about how I helped and impacted their lives.

And it's funny because that was my next question is as you think about your business and
your community and your personal life, what excites you most about the impact that you

want to make?

What excites me most?

um Continually growing as a person.

I think that really excites me.

It's so easy to just feel like there's nothing else exciting to do.

And there's lots of things.

um I've got something now that I'm starting with.

someone else that's in BNI and how I plan on trying to expand my business, you know, in
2026.

So I'm constantly looking for something new, cutting edge, or just something that I didn't
realize because you can't do everything at once.

I've only been in real estate for five years.

You cannot do everything at once.

Right.

Is whatever you were thinking about doing, is that something you can share or is it not
quite something you want to let out of the bag yet?

Well, it's not business coaching because I, it's not real estate coaching because I have
done that with Tom Ferry, which I highly recommend.

uh list a lot of real estate coaching can be done just watching YouTube.

I like Jared James, Ricky Caruth.

I think I'm saying his name correctly.

But

You mentioned the collaboration with somebody in your chapter.

Yes, it's Billy Leishman, which is the perfect listing.

He is a real estate photographer, but he is going to do something kind of similar to BNI
where he will help on the media side, help businesses, and he'll only do one realtor, one

lender, one photographer that way.

And he is, and I hope he doesn't get upset with me, you know, sharing it too soon, but.

He's looking at different ways to help people grow their business more organically through
different avenues of the flywheel.

I'm sure you've heard of the flywheel.

So we're in talks, you know, whether or not he decides to do it.

But I will tell you, if you're looking, if you're a realtor or you're looking for real
estate photography, I mean, he's the best.

All right.

I do all of my business with him on all of my listings.

Okay, awesome.

So the last bit here is the quick fire lightning round.

So just a minute or so with each question or each answer, I guess, would be the better way
to put that.

So number one, what's one word clients would use to describe you?

Genuine

What is, what's something you've learned from your family or friends that's helped you in
business?

I don't always know everything.

Okay.

Good one.

If you had a magic pause button for your busiest day, how would you use those 10 extra
minutes?

I can't even wrap my head around that concept.

In silence.

Okay, yeah, sometimes that's good, right?

uh What's one thing you'd tell a brand new real estate agent on their first day?

Get coaching.

Okay.

What's something only a dental hygienist knows about humans?

We have dirty little secrets.

And what are they?

That's the thing.

We know we got secrets.

figured there's nothing.

Well, we'll leave it at that.

All right.

Well, what is it?

Tell us more.

All right.

Who's someone who's recently encouraged or inspired you?

I get inspiration for it.

I find inspiration in just the little things.

I don't know that I can just name one person or one thing.

There's so many I would hate to name just one person, you know.

I mean you inspire me.

I mean you inspire me with this podcast.

I've seen you go from photography to business coaching.

to doing a podcast.

So, I mean, I love how you're constantly evolving and growing as a person.

And so if I just had to pick one right this second, I mean, the person sitting in front of
me is my best choice.

well thank you, I appreciate that.

All right, and then, if your life were the title of a book or movie, what would it be
called?

These are tough ones.

Yeah.

about that.

What is it called?

I have no idea.

You have stunted me on that.

I don't know.

well I'll ask you two more and then if you think of it, if think of it, you can come back
with it.

ah What's something that instantly lifts your mood even on a tough day?

someone telling me that they appreciated something that I had done for them.

oh

Okay.

And if your dogs could describe your work day, what would they say about you?

She's never home.

Aw.

All righty.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us, for helping people smile from one
way to another.

um Your dedication, consistency and care show up in what you do.

um And I know that you have great heart and great excellence.

I appreciate you being here and being a guest on the podcast.

Well, it was an honor to be here and to be asked to share this experience with you.

It was fun.

I still don't have a title for that movie.

That was a great question.

You know, I'll be thinking about it all day long now.

I stumped you.

All right.

Well, pleasure.

All right.

And for our listeners, remember, subscribing is the easiest way to give me a referral that
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So if you have not already subscribed, please do.

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And if today's

episode inspired you to want to know more about your own CliftonStrengths and then apply
them to what you do for your life or your work.

uh I do coaching on that so you can find out more information on BNI The Perfect 100
website or Tammyserac.com.

But I thank you all for being here and we'll see you next time on The Perfect 100.