From The Classroom to Cash Flow: How Mckenzie Built a Purposeful Life in Real Estate

In this episode of Her Purpose, McKenzie shares her inspiring journey of leaving behind a teaching career that left her feeling unfulfilled to pursue her true passion—real estate. She dives into how she transitioned from education to becoming a real estate agent, navigating both short-term and long-term rentals, house hacking, and real estate investing.

But beyond her career shift, McKenzie opens up about experiencing two devastating losses in the past two years—one, the brother of a close friend who died by suicide, and the other, a baby who passed away from SIDS. These tragedies rattled her to her core and radically shifted her perspective on life and purpose. She shares how these experiences reshaped the way she approaches her career, relationships, and, most profoundly, how she embraces motherhood.

Her story is one of courage, reinvention, and finding deeper meaning in life after loss. If you’ve ever felt stuck in a career that no longer serves you or wondered if it’s too late to pivot, this episode is for you.

Transcript

I think a lot of people feel pigeon holed once they choose their career. And you know, I spent all this money on this education, and how am I just going to say, Oh, I'm gonna go do real estate now that's a scary thing. I just didn't feel like I was doing a good job. I did not feel like it was my skill set to be a teacher. It felt so forced for me and I I wasn't enjoying it. I just remember feeling like when lunchtime would hit and I could close my door, I'm like, Yes, and I feel bad saying that, but I felt it like I when I got a break, I enjoyed it. I knew there had to be something different. And I just had always been attracted to real estate since I was a little girl, I would have files of like my dream home, and I would cut out the magazine pictures of the things I liked and I saved it. And so I've, I've always had a poll for it. What would you say to the woman that is like, I love real estate. I really am passionate about real estate. What do they need to know in order to create success in real estate in 2025 so a I would prioritize getting in with a really good brokerage that will number two, as far as getting clients, I think so, having a brush in with death has really pushed me to figure out what my purpose is and what matters To me. Can I ask who it was that passed?
Gosh, I still remember getting the call.
Welcome to her purpose, the podcast where together, we dive into the inspiring journeys of women who are living out their purpose, not just for themselves, but in a way that serves others and creates lasting impact. I'm your host, Kendra Morse, and I'm here to share stories of women who've discovered their passions, overcome obstacles and found fulfillment in stepping into the work that they know they were meant to do. In each episode, we'll explore what it means to live fully, embrace your unique gifts, discover the purpose and past experiences, often painful ones, and use them to make a difference in the world. So if you're ready to be inspired and empowered to pursue your own path of meaningful purpose, then you're in the right place. Let's get started and remember that no one cook your wings
in this episode of her purpose, Mackenzie Bruin shares her inspiring journey of leaving behind a teaching career that left her feeling unfulfilled to pursue her true passion, real estate. She dives into how she transitioned from education to becoming a real estate agent. She now manages both short term and long term rentals, and is passionate about House hacking and real estate investing. But beyond her career shift, Mackenzie also opens up about experiencing two absolutely devastating losses in the past two years. One was the brother of a close friend who died by suicide, and the other was a baby who passed away from SIDS. These tragedies rattled her to her core and radically shifted her perspective on life and purpose, influencing not just her career and relationships, but most profoundly changing the way she embraces motherhood. Her story is one of reinvention, taking bold action in pursuit of a life that truly aligns with her passions, and finding deeper meaning in life after loss. If you've ever felt stuck in a career that no longer serves you, or wondered if it's too late to pivot, this episode is for you.
Oh my gosh. I am so freaking excited to be talking to you today. So we have been friends for a million years. We went to school together. I was you were a lot cooler than I was in school, though, so
I was
but I'm pretty sure, anyways, I was telling my husband I was more nervous to talk to you today than I have been to talk to some of my guests, because I was like, Oh my gosh, she was so cool in school.
I love movies that you thought that about me, but that's I'm excited to talk to you too. So I saw your post actually. I loved your post about kind of your story. A long time ago when you posted this particular post, I think it was early last year, and it was just talking about how you were a teacher, and then you just felt unfulfilled or you weren't living in your purpose. And I loved it. I remember loving it. I remember thinking, that's so cool. And then, like, a year later, I decided to put together this podcast, and I happened to come across that post again, I was like, I have got to dig into this story and hear more. So you went to school to be a teacher?
Yeah, so I went to school to be a high school English teacher, and I did that for about five years. I started in high school, and then didn't love it, so switched into elementary at a private school for a couple years, and then ultimately, I got my real estate license and left the teaching field. I just never, it never felt like the right fit for me. And I had always been interested in real estate, and my husband was encouraging for me to try it out if I had the itch, and I had the itch, so at that point.
Left, and I have never gone back. So I don't that decision for a moment. You know, there's some who are meant to be cheapers, and I just wasn't one of those. Right? What made you think when you went to college that this is the path for me? So I played basketball in college, and I think that it is a natural career path for a lot of athletes. I thought I wanted to be a coach. So I, you know, at that point, I saw a lot of teachers who were coaches, so I kind of just went down a path that I had seen other people. Do you know that, being said, the education that I got to be a teacher I still value, because it pushed me to have to publicly speak and put myself out there in ways that I didn't feel comfortable. And the more that I've done that I've gotten more comfortable doing it. And so it definitely gave me a skill set that's transferable, just not the way I thought it would be transferable. So many people go to college thinking that that's like, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. How in the world are we expected to know at 18 the path that we want to take? I think there's just a lot of people that go to college and then their path looks entirely different. So when you were teaching, you were just going through the motions every day and doing your job. Yeah, exactly. You know, teaching is a lot. I would show up before school for like, an hour, and I was prepping for the day, making copies, and then I would stay out, stay late, and then I would go home and be correcting papers. And at the end of it, my husband was like, You're not even making that much money. Like, this is not worth it if you don't enjoy it. You know, there are people who enjoy it, and I just didn't, and so
I knew there had to be something different. And I'm super thankful that my husband pushed me to try something else out, because I think a lot of people feel pigeon holed once they choose their career. And, you know, I spent all this money on this education, and how am I just going to say, Oh, I'm going to go do real estate now. That's a scary thing, so having the support of a partner to go try something else out was really key for me, and something I'm very thankful for. Yeah, I don't think everyone has have. So when you decided to get your real estate license, was that something that you were working as a teacher and seeing what the real estate world was like? Or was it a hard, fast like, I'm stopping this and I'm shifting here? Yeah, so I, you know, was taking the courses while I was still teaching, and there was another teacher who was doing it with me. We would, after school, go to each other's classrooms and study together and take tests together. And so that was fun. I had a buddy in the just the real estate classes, but then the school year ended, and I let them know I wasn't coming back, and I I just went full full throttle with real estate. However, I will practice that with I had the backbone of my husband being able to financially support us. So it wasn't that stress that I needed to make those deals right away. And so I'm blessed in that way. And I know that's a big blessing, because not everybody has that and but some people still take that leap of faith and go in, even though, you know, they have to make that sell, and they they make it happen, because they have that motivation. I was motivated, but I I I just had that extra support. How did you know real estate was something that you were going to feel a lot more fulfilled in doing that work than being a teacher? Good question. I just had always been attracted to real estate. I have family members who are real estate agents, and then my dad has been somebody who always has had rentals and has renovated homes. And,
yeah, since I was a little girl, I would have files of like my dream home, and I would cut out the magazine pictures of the things I liked and I saved it. And so I've always had a poll for it. You know that being said, real estate is a funny, funny business. I don't love all aspects of real estate. When I once I got into it, I realized what I liked and what I didn't like. And I don't like quote, unquote, prospecting all the time, because sometimes I can I feel a little disingenuine when I am doing things to network for the purpose of business, as opposed to genuine connection with people. But what I did like is, once I had clients like doing a good job for them, servicing them well, that connection that was formed between us, and then a friendship afterwards, you know, so you really get close and intimate with your clients. And I really enjoyed that aspect of it. And so in real estate, I've had to
find a way to prospect that feels genuine to me. And of course, I have the goal of drumming up business, but I don't want to be doing things in an inauthentic way.
I want the connection, and I want to work with people who are connected. And so I I've this year, I'm really kind of navigating what that looks like for me, so that I feel genuine to myself and to other people. You know, I told my husband I was so excited to interview you, because you are such a genuine person. You're such a kind. You're very authentic and but you're very, very genuine. That's the word I use to describe you to him. And I think that anyone that's in sales, see, I don't, I don't think people realize how every time you're in business, for yourself, you're in sales, you have, you have to learn about sales. You have to learn how sales work. You have to learn how to be a good sales person, and there's a certain aspect of being in sales that for someone like you or me, that I am the exact same way I have had, the exact I want to run my business in a way that doesn't feel salesy and or inauthentic, or I'm only doing this to make a sale. And I think everyone can benefit by hearing maybe what's working best for you in real estate, like what ways of networking or prospecting, or what things are you doing that are building those relationships in a way that feels authentic to you? Yeah, and so I've had, I think that what I've tried to do is identify my hobbies and my interests and then create networking events around that, so it's something that I enjoy and can really connect with people on
like I like running. I have been part of run clubs. Right now. I head up a Run Club, and I'm on the board for Zion So moms groups as I installed a local town that I live in, and I am the director of health and wellness, and so I do networking events around that. So last night we have a sauna and cold plunge. So last night I hosted an event where we we had two groups. One was doing the sauna and cold plunge outside, and the other group was doing yoga, meditation, and then we flip flopped, and it was a group of, like, eight to nine women, and it was so much fun, but there were a lot of new people who I've never really gotten the chance to connect with on a deeper level, but a setting like this allowed us to do that. And,
you know, I don't know if it will be business down the road, I've tried to shift my mindset to connection, first friendship, first serving others first. And if business comes along the way, that's a trade on top Absolutely. So I want to go back to, I have, like, a couple things that are, I'm like, What about so I want to go back to, what was it in you, in your teaching job, before you made the transition, that you knew this is not the right path. Like, What did that feel like? What was happening on a day to day basis that made you decide I want to take that leap? Yeah, that's a great question. A I just didn't feel like I was doing a good job. I did not feel like it was my skill set to be a teacher, the storytelling. I just, at that point, didn't feel like I had that skill. And so it felt so forced for me, and I wasn't enjoying it. I just remember feeling like when lunchtime would hit and I could close my door, I'm like, Yes, and I feel bad saying that, but I felt it like I when I got a break, I enjoyed it, and I at the end of the school day, I was like, I am so ready to go home. I'm so exhausted. That's why I have a huge appreciation for teachers now, because I know how much it is, it's so much, and it is so taxing, and you give so much of your energy that it's I couldn't even fathom having kids. Because when I was a teacher, I didn't have kids. I could not fathom it because I was so exhausted and done. Have feeling like I poured out all my energy, and then to think that maybe one day I'll come home to kids, it was just like, Oh my gosh. I cannot even imagine so all that to say. For whatever reason, it just it was not a good fit. How long were you and your husband having conversations around like, was he seeing this in you before you saw it in you? Or were you the one that went to him and said, I just think I need to do something else. I'm trying to think back.
I don't, I'm sure it was me saying, you know, I've always been interested in this, and he's always been a supporter of, you know, do it. We were young and have kids, we had some flexibility to try some things, and he is good about finding your happiness and going after that and so. And he also, like at the end of the day, the income that I was bringing in would have been easily matched doing almost any I know I want to ask, how long did it take for you to replace your income as a teacher, I think teachers are so underpaid, but I imagine it probably didn't.
Take that long? How long into your real
estate I sold, I doubled my income the first year selling real estate. So that is amazing. Oh my gosh. Hello. So much better. So how, like, what limiting beliefs did you have before you took that leap? Well, you know, going into 100% commission, it's just scary, like, am I going to be successful?
I was, at that time, living in California, which I I'm not from California, I didn't have a huge network. I had to really develop a sphere very quickly, and so a lot of unknowns, but I, I was willing to try, and that first year, I realized that I'm, I'm a networker, and I can network it's one that is one of my strengths and and I've kind of taken that just going forward in everything that I do, knowing that's a strength. I can use it in a lot of different ways. So how would you say that your days like when you were a teacher and you had to you close the door? How does it feel now to be like, obviously, I'm guessing you're not closing the door on your breaks. How does it feel differently to do the work that you're doing now compared to what work you were doing as a teacher? Yeah, good question. So I'll just step back a second to talk about what I do. So I sell real estate, but also we have rentals, and I manage three of our short term rentals, and then I manage
a handful of long term the short term rentals are a lot more hands on and require more than the long term so it's kind of two different jobs that I'm doing, and then at the same time, we are trying to grow our rental business, so I'm also doing the research, trying to find more. So my job now, it doesn't stop, right? Like, we still get messages middle night. Sometimes we get messages late at night, and it's always you have to respond right away, but
because I'm my own boss and I don't have,
of course, I have my my customers, my clients, my people who I have to please, but I it just feels different. There's still a freedom. Even though I'm working all the time, there's still a freedom to it that I wouldn't trade everyone I've talked to you work all the time, but you love it, right? It's different. Yeah,
it's hard. The other thing that I know that maybe, obviously, our listeners don't know about you, but you do amazing flips, renovations I've seen, and I don't know if the different projects that I've seen you work on are just personal projects and personal residences, or your I'm assuming, your short term rental properties you've done some of these renovations on, or if you're doing those for other people, are you helping other people with those types of projects? So it's mostly ours. It's mostly rentals that we find, and then we renovate them and we turn them into a rental I have started. I have a handful of friends who have now become investors, and so a couple of them have asked me to help them do what we do in our rentals. Yeah, it's a business that I'm exploring, but the majority of it is for us. I want you to kind of do my kitchen,
like, for real. I love your work, like, I seriously love your eye and the things that you've put together. So you should definitely pursue that as another avenue for business, because you are very talented. Well, the thing about that is, I'm I still feel like I'm learning, you know, I I have mistakes along the way, but I've learned, you learn from your mistakes, and so some of my projects, I'm more prouder than others. You know, to be honest, I just finished this bathroom remodel, and this is the project I'm most proud of. Like, it's everything. Finally, it turned out just how I wanted. It so beautiful. Yes, your bathroom is beautiful. I think I actually saw a couple things where you talked about in your stories, maybe that it's harder for you to do this on your own than it is for someone else to pick out, to pick out the different finishes. Like, I think what I've seen you talked about how it's easier for you if it's just like a job versus your own space. Yeah, did you say, why is that? Yeah? Like, that's just so interesting. Like, is it because you're afraid you're overthinking it? Are you afraid that you're not gonna like living with it? Why is it? Yeah, that I won't like living with it? Some of them well, and I with our home where it's located. You know, with real estate, it's all about location, right? And you have to match the level in each location. And so I think that my the home that I'm in currently, well, it was a major fixer. It has a lot of potential where it's at. And so I just want to do high end quality choices so that I and I'm always thinking resell, and we're not going to sell this, but.
Every time I say that, my husband's like, we're not selling this. I'm like, I know, but one day it needs to be sellable. And so I also try and do timeless. So even if it's 1015, years down the road, the finishes that I've chosen, I'm hopeful that that they will outlast the time aspect and still be beautiful. So I think that's why
I was a real estate agent also for about five years. And I think that when you are, I don't know if that's why, but I'm the exact I am always looking at everything that we're doing on our own property as how is this going to look when it's listed for sale and we don't have any intentions of selling it. But you know that everyone sells their house after seven years on on average, um, you just know that at some point it will be for sale, and you want to make sure that when people pull up, there's that curb appeal, there's that, you know, looks good. So I totally get that so and how long have you been in real estate now? Well, so when I got my license
in California in 2000 let me think back,
2014
I think. And so I practice for two years out there. And then I I've had my license along the way, but we've more just used it for purchasing our own rental properties. And I this last year, I'm getting back into the sales of it in Indiana. In Indiana, yeah. How long have you lived in Indiana? We've been here for three and a half years. Okay, so
we've been here almost four years, but we've been in our house for three now. Yeah, right. So you had two and a half years to build new networks before you went out to become a real estate agent. What would you say like to the woman that is like, I love real estate. I really am passionate about real estate. What do they need to know in order to create success in real estate in 2025 Yeah. So a I would prioritize getting in with a really good brokerage that will train you right now. I'm with Keller Williams, and their training has been phenomenal. And so just in that first year, you need that training. You need a mentor, somebody who you call with all your questions. That's number one. Number two, as far as getting clients, I think social media is like where it's at these days. I see people who don't have a huge network, I don't have a huge sphere, but because they're really good at networking, or Yeah, networking and marketing themselves on social media, they're able to gain clients through people who are moving to the area and doing searches and the SEO finds them. So getting good at social media and CEO and posting frequently to get yourself up there in the surgery things is what I would focus on. I need to do more of that as a mom. It's hard to do all the things, but that is probably number one, I would think, enjoy the social media side of things. You know,
when I first decided to purposely start posting, I hated it. I would delete them right away, and I would have all this anxiety, and I'd come into the kitchen. I remember, like, one of the first posts I did. I came into the kitchen. I'm like, Morton, I had so much anxiety. I just want to delete it. I don't like it.
And, you know, I've been telling you, he's pretty supportive. I think on the social media it was hard for him to get behind. And he's like, we'll just delete it. And I'm like, Well, I mean, I think I need to do it, but I think I have to learn how to get past this feeling. And so I had that feeling probably for the first, like week or two of posts, and now you get a little bit numb to it, like I don't care as much, and it helps, like I really try and pour into myself with books that will help me. One of them was the art of not giving a
Yeah, beep. And that helps, you know, like just learning not to care what people think of you, and just turning that portion of your brain off. And I have a goal, and even if it's not perfect, even if I make mistakes, I'm gonna work towards that goal, and I'm gonna put blinders on, not really worry about the outside world and what I'm going to do. So, yeah, what would you say? I Yes, absolutely. I've been on social media for so long, and I'm like, I don't even care. Like, post stuff all the time. I used to worry so much, and now, if a post does amazing, it's like, oh, that's so awesome. And next that flops. Oh, that sucks. And next week, no one will remember it like it's does. It's not going to matter at all. It's just showing up. How would you say, like, what advice would you say to the woman that is afraid to show up online? Um, like, what ways have you found showing up online have felt the most authentic?
To you like, what types of content that you're posting, that have that you feel good and confident sharing? Yeah, so I like that question because what I've had to do with it is narrow into who are the influencers that I like, what do they do and and what, what do I like about them? And then I try and not copy them, but hone in on their principles and try and apply those. And so I've tried to brand myself as a house person. Right now, I sell houses, but I renovate houses. I'm an investor, so there's a whole slew of house and so I don't want people sometimes I don't love the label as a realtor. So I'm just trying to market myself as a house person, whatever that looks like. I'm just hearing my little ones who got in from the bus. Why do you know you're totally fine that that's totally fine if they come in. Um, why do you not like the label of realtor? Good question again, it goes back to the salesy. I I have, I have had a lot of interaction with salesy realtors. I don't love the way it feels, so I do find that I try and distance myself from making people feel that way or being that way. It's a hard line to walk, because at the end of the day, my goal is business, so it's just finding what it looks like for me. And a lot of times, there's a lot of times that Realtors get a bad rap or and maybe, and that's justified sometimes. So trying to distance myself from that, you know, I think that sales people in general have a bad rap. And a lot of people don't realize that everyone is in sales. To some degree. It doesn't matter what you do. You're in sales when you're parenting your kids. You're in sales when you're talking to your spouse about that next vacation that you want to take. So flipping the script on our mindset around what it means to be in sales or a sales person. And I think the biggest thing that for me is understanding that being in sales is not bad if your focus is 100%
on what value does this purchase bring to this person? Like, what value am I giving this person, if they if I am in whatever way, give them the courage to make that purchasing decision. What will that decision change for them? And so for you like, how does it feel to help a person that's maybe nervous to buy their first house, or, you know, the couple that is nervous to buy their first investment, right? How does it feel to help that person take that leap? That's so true, and you know, even hearing you say that, I have to remind myself that and and it's all about providing value and your intentions and showing up with good intentions and providing value. So you're right there, there's there's good in it. And I need to separate. Sometimes it's just the mindset shift. You should be so damn proud to be a realtor. So like and I do think you show up. I love the way you show up online. Because, like I said, I think you show up very authentic. And I love watching most of your content, all of your content, but the content that I typically see is your I would actually say it's more of your artistic creativity that I love seeing, that I tend to see most is, what have you taken? You've taken something from this, and you've created this in a bathroom remodel, or in, you know, whatever it may be. And so when you share that with the world, people are a inspired to maybe like do their own bathroom remodel, but they see your love for real estate. I think that's probably the biggest thing that you're showing the world is how passionate you are about a person's home, whether it's your home or a home that someone's going to rent. So definitely keep showing up that way. Yeah, I like that. I want to dive in a little bit more into when you didn't, when you wanted to pull that post down that first week, like when you were talking to your husband and you're like, I just want to delete it. What thoughts were you thinking that were making you want to pull the post down? So I was doing some notes before this, and the word thirsty came to my mind. Have you heard that? Oh, yeah.
So that was a joke among some of my mom friends at one point. So I sometimes, I guess I feel thirsty like
I'm putting this out here for attention, and attention is not my goal. So I guess I was letting my mind go down those, those rabbit holes. But I just had to come back to that that's not my goal, providing value is my goal, showing up and hoping that other people are interested in the same things I'm interested in. I think oftentimes I just go back to, who do I like on social media? Why do I like them? What do they post? Is it relevant to me? And then trying to provide relevant, interesting information to whoever may follow me. Yeah. So when I've heard the word thirsty or thirst.
Up. It's more I've only ever heard it in the context of a person's physical appearance, like showing off your body, more all of the content of yours that I've seen and thought like I've never once thought anything of anything even remotely like that about any of your content. So what? How would you define what attention is it just engagement that you would consider as no well, so I like, I've had to think, rethink all of it, honestly, because I think there was a time where I really wasn't posting at all, and then, and that was a I just keep myself off social media to just because I still feel like social media is addictive and limiting social media is important, and I so quickly can just scroll, you know, waste so much time scrolling. And so prior to starting to making the decision to put myself on social media, I wasn't on it that much and and that was a little bit purposeful, I wasn't posting that much and wasn't sharing that much of my life, and now I feel like I am and so there was, there was these feelings of like, am I showing off whatever it is? I don't know, but I had to work through that. And I don't, I try to whatever I post, to a not make it about me again to just provide something that maybe I would want to see. But yeah, you're right. I had to work through those feelings and kind of give myself some pep talk sometimes about and even I listened to some coaches on social media, and listen to them and and hear their perspective on it, and it gives me the freedom to not care what people think and to just do what I'm going to do. Yeah, I'm almost hearing your resistance to it was more rooted in I'm only posting to make money. Yeah, like I'm only posting because I want to make a sale. Why do we have such a hard time? I think that for me, when I first started in what I do, one of the huge benefits was that I don't sell like, any anytime prior to the company that I'm a part of, and then I sold it at retail. I couldn't sell it at the retail price. I'd be like, let me just give you my price. I'll just give you my price like I don't feel right, marking it up, and the business that I'm in now, it's all built into the system. As far as, like, I can't get it at a better deal than you can. Like, we all get at the same price. Like, I can't give you a discount. I don't get a discount. We get the same price. And I think that I needed that. I had to have that because I had that same mental block for the longest time about why it's so bad to be profitable. Like, what is that about? Yeah, I, for me, I don't, yeah, I'm still unsure of whether if it's about the sale or if it was just putting myself out there, like, fear of rejection, yeah. Well, and also, you know, to grow a business socially, you need followers, and so getting those likes, and it all feels a little funny. I do think it's a little funny, but at the end of the day, I just, I have to go back to there's people who have who provide value to me, and if I have some information, or whatever it is that I feel like could provide value to other people, I don't need to have that fear of rejection. Or if I have it, I can move past it and think of the bigger picture. So yeah, rejection, that's probably what it was. And I saw this meme one time where it was like, Oh, I'm not going to post this because of Becky in high school, who I'm afraid might think it's funny that I'm posting, and it is so funny because it's like, are you ever going to see that Becky from high school ever again? Probably not. So why is that a limiting belief for us? These conversations show us that living with purpose is so not about perfection. It's about trusting the whispers of your heart, embracing what is probably going to feel like a mess, and having the courage to take that first or next step when you probably won't feel ready. I do believe that every woman has a story that's unfolding, and every story can become a spark of inspiration for someone else. So if today's episode has touched you in any way, my ask is this, share it with a woman you love who might need a reminder that she's not alone, and those whispers she's feeling, they're there for a reason. Alright, let's get back to the episode. So I'm seeing stuff like that. I'm like, Okay, I could have felt that way, that resonates. I'm never going to see that person again. I just need to let that go. So it's funny. It's almost like, when you shed light on it, you're like, wait, it's like, you're in a dark room and there's a mouse, and it's like making noises, and you think it's a lion, and then you turn the light on, and you're like, oh my gosh, it's a tiny little mouse. Like, why am I even afraid? Like, that's what.
Like, we build these things up in our minds, and they're the tiniest little things, like, they're not, they're not real. They're not. I always used to I tell people in, like, showing up online or even just asking for a sale, like, do you actually, like, go out and ask I do it indirectly, like, I was running with a girlfriend the other day, and we've only been running together for like, six months. We don't know each other that well, but she mentioned that they were thinking of downsizing. And so I'm like, Well, if you need a realtor, I'm here. So I'm more of an indirect person, but I can feel
just getting more confidence with it, the more education I get on it, for example, with the science with this mom's group that I'm on the board of, I can, my goal is to, as I get more solidified in the group, is to start asking for referrals in some fashion. And so I wouldn't, wouldn't have done that in the past. But that confidence I can I can feel that I would be okay with doing that, and I've done that for other people, too, and that confidence has just come in reading a lot of books and listening to a lot of podcasts where they talk about this is how we got to get business. And so just filling my cup and my mind with information gives me the confidence to do stuff like that, I think that you'll get more business when you have more you take more bold action, because it's having that confidence to ask that tells the person you believe in yourself enough to ask, and they are more likely to give you that business because of the confidence, not the ask, but the confidence behind the ask. So I tell people, going back to, you know, asking people, Hey, if you decide if you need a realtor, I'd be happy to support you, even if they say no, it's not going to give you a pimple or gray hair. Like nothing is going to happen. The worst thing that's going to happen is they may say no. And the more that you're in sales, the longer you're in sales, the more that you just realized that if you don't ask, the answers always no and asking is is a way of showing how confident you are in what you provide, whether it's a service or a product or an opportunity or whatever it is. I wanted to ask the what books and what podcasts have been your favorites? Yeah, so How to Win Friends and Influence People. It's like amazing. I listen to that probably once a year. Um, atomic habits is a good book that I've read this year. Most recently, I've read this book called this naked mind, which a girlfriend of mine from college. We played basketball together. She posted that she was six months sober, and I drink
socially, or I have probably two glasses of wine, maybe three nights a week, and it's more than I would like. And so anyways, when she posted that, I messaged her, and I'm like, I'm curious to hear more. And so she just told me, you know, I read this book and I didn't have a problem, but it was really inspiring for me to cut it out. And I've never felt better. And so I read the book. I read, let's use the book because I was more of a listener, and it was inspiring, like super inspiring, and gave me the push I needed to to just choose alcohol less. So it's one of the books when I had read through your what we might talk about today. It's one of the books I put on there, because as far as like living my best life right now, and my purpose cutting out alcohol has been pretty paramount,
just in where I'm at today. So, and I still do drink, but not nearly as much, and so, so that's so anyways, going back, that book was something that has kind of changed my life this year. Other books I'm like, right now I'm reading Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.
I was kind of thinking about what I'm going to talk about today. And one of the things we haven't talked about yet is just financial like my financial journey and where I came from and where we are today. So, and that's one thing I'm passionate about, so I want to talk to talk a little bit about that. The question was about books. A lot of my books, kind of and my podcast that we listened to
stem from that. So, like bigger pockets. You've probably heard of bigger pockets. It's a real estate investing one that we listen to a lot. There was a time when my husband was really interested in the fire movement, which is financial independence. Retire early, and so that was probably our first podcast that we, like just ate up and would listen to all the time. That shaped a lot of our financial decisions in our life as it is today. So, yeah, well, I wanted to dive in. So I like your financial situation and where you came from, like, what's there?
Okay, so where it came from, you know, I was raised in a rural community, same as you. And my parents were both educated, but they were, you know, my dad was a lawyer, and my mom's a nurse.
Yes, but they were never educated financially. So they never managed their money well, and so I was never taught how to manage money. And it's, it's something that I really wish was taught in our schools. It's really a pitfall, I think, of our education system, that they don't focus more and give that the foundation for net financial literacy to kids.
So anyways, I just didn't have it growing up, and my parents had separate bank accounts, and it was always a fight over money, and just wasn't a healthy relationship. And then when I got into my husband and I got married, he kind of had the talk with me. I'm like, Okay, we need to join our finances. And that was so scary for me, because my parents never did
and I had student debt. So when I went to college, I took out loans, and I didn't have a whole lot, but to me, it was a lot I had, I think I had, like, $30,000
in student debt, and so just revealing that to him, and I mean, I had told him before, but just Yeah, and then joining one bank account, he knew exactly what I spent all the time. All of that was just scary for me, but he sat me down, and kind of was like, You know what? Here are our bills. Here's how much money we have. This is what we have at the end of the day. And he came from a home where his parents weren't they didn't go to college, but they had the foundations of financial literacy, so they taught him like, this is how much money half we don't spend more than this. And he was a saver. They were savers, and so, you know, they lived a good life in their retirement, because they planned for it. And I've just learned a lot through him. And then, like I said, he, at one point, got really into this fire movement. And at first I was annoyed and hesitant, because he already is pretty frugal. And a lot about the fire movement, fire movement is frugality. So at first I was resistant, but eventually I got on board. We started listening to it together, and the lives people were able to create was inspiring. Again, there's a podcast, I'm trying to remember the name of it. If you just were just Google fire movement podcast, I'm sure it would come up. But also it was, they talked a lot about passive income, and making sure you create multiple streams of income outside your w2 so if anything would ever happen, you would still have money coming in and but also so that you're really setting yourself up for retirement, and you could retire early, like some of these people, retire at age 40 or earlier. So my husband set a goal that he was going to retire by 2030, I think, is when he set that goal. I remember when we were telling people, you know, we talked a lot about it for a period, and people just didn't get it, and they're like, well, like, what are you going to do when you retire? Why is that such a big deal to you? And it was, it's just a little unconventional, non traditional, but it's been a goal of ours. So one motto that we kind of live by is saying, My husband says it a lot we live like nobody else does now, so that we can live like nobody else does later. And so we make sacrifices now, for example, we have house hacked for the last five years. And so what that means is, when we first did it, we bought an instead of buying a single family home, like most people do, we bought an apartment building, and we lived in one of the units and rented out the others, and our mortgage was covered. And what that allowed us to do was to save money so that we could save up down payments and buy other investment properties. And so it kind of just became this snowball effect, and we still do it, actually. So we bought a home that has a walkout basement, and we renovated the basement and transformed it into an Airbnb, and we rented out, and it pays our mortgage, so we live for free, and we can save up that money and invest it either back into the house. And when we decided to do that, my whole goal was, because the house that we bought is a fixer. My whole goal was, I want to pay for the renovations through renting out my basement and see if that would work. And it has, I mean, it it's still anyways, it's non conventional. There's people who
don't understand it, like, I've had some friends be like, I could never and that's totally like, I get it, but at the same time I'm like, we've set ourselves up. Like, for example, my husband lost his job maybe almost a year and a half to two years ago. It took him a year to find a job. Well, he was selective. We could be selective, because we have set ourselves up, and it just shows that there are sometimes unforeseen situations, and so preparing for them is smart. We are thankful that we had prepared otherwise it would have been a stressful situation and it was manageable. And.
Also, we've been prepping for retire early, and this gave us a chance to like, see what it would be like, and to
see if we could make it work off the income from our rentals. And we're not 100% there, but we're pretty darn close. And so that was also cool to see kind of the fruit of our sacrifices and our labor and to to see that it's we're on the track to do it. So I have so many questions. So this fire and this money mindset, were you guys already on that path before you switched careers? No, we really got into that when we lived in Chicago, and I can't remember what turned my husband onto it some. Oh, I remember now. Mr. Money Mustache was a friend of ours. Shared Mr. Money Mustache with them,
and Mr. Money Mustache was one of these retire early. And he did retire early. Oh, look, we have a very similar
lot about funny
everywhere. So Martin started reading like everything he could for Mr. Money Mustache. And a lot of these people are family people who just want more time with their kids. They're like, I'm just not going to work while my kids are young. And then when they're out of the house, then finally, have some time outside the office. I want to do it differently. And so just finding a way to do it differently. And so that really resonated with us. So yeah, that was after the fact. I was thinking, okay, so if you had already so you had no rentals, no short term rentals, no long term rentals. When you stopped being a teacher, right? So, I mean, it still was risky at that time to make that shift, but I was thinking, How much easier is a shift like that? If you have invested in real estate and you have built passive income from another source, I could totally see that making that transition easier, but also you learn about those investments the best choices in houses to buy for short term and long term rentals as an agent, so it'd be a lot harder to know to navigate the market before you're an agent, right? Yeah, yeah, you're right. I think you do get a head up being an agent and finding rental properties. But there's a lot of investors who aren't agents and who still do great and those people are just listening to the podcast like there's so much great information out there via podcasts that if anyone is interested in investing, I would point them towards bigger pockets for sure,
podcasting or YouTube. YouTube, university will teach you anything you want to know, like the information is everywhere and it is absolutely free, and I mean now more than other as a person who went to college and is now running businesses not related to your college degree at all, how pro college are you for your kids? I'm pro College, still pro College. I am.
I am, and we have this talk a lot with the gamut of friends of ours, like lawyers, engineers for us, I think a lot of why I've had the freedom I have is because my husband has an MBA, and that MBA goes far.
There's still a lot to be said for the entrepreneurial, but I think having the stamp of approval from school helps, even in those early years, to get you jobs that give you the contacts
I yeah, I still am
pro college, and I also I've reflected just on my circle of friends, people I went to school with, who went to college, who didn't the paths that we're all on. And I still see a direct correlation in my generation between college and not college.
There's one offs, but yeah, that's my stance. I'm just curious. It's super interesting. As someone who did not, I did running start. I don't know if you remember that, so I wasn't. I did. Most of my junior and senior year were at the college so I sort of have a college education. This is so embarrassing, I shouldn't even share this.
Yeah, I am two general elective credits away from having an associate's degree, which I I went into real estate, so I had been in college, and I was like, the year after we graduated, and I had one quarter that I needed to do after graduation to to wrap up my AA, and I got my real estate license. And real estate was booming. So this was 2005 I was a real estate agent from 2005 till 2010 2008 was super fun as an agent, but real estate was picking up. Things were happening. There was lots I was making money. And what had happened was one my one of my classes was a two credit.
Class. It was like, PE or No, I think it was first aid. Anyways, I missed one of the three days. It was like a three day class, like you had three Fridays during the quarter. It was, that was it. And missing one of the three days, I it was an automatic failure, whatever drop out. So I just never went back because I was doing, I was selling real estate, and I was doing so well with real estate, and I've done well in other business ventures all along. And so I've never gone back. And I've talked to my my my son is doing ready start now, which is so full circle. And we were just talking about it the other day. I'm like, I should go back. But why? I'm 40 now? Does it matter? It's never mattered. Like, should I think so. I mean, you're definitely someone who's developed your skills, right? And people trust you. You're an expert in your field. So, like I said, there are exceptions and you and not that you're an exception, right? I I think that a lot of people who don't go to college are still very successful,
but I just think the numbers might be more in your favor of the population as a whole,
to go the college route. And I would say my husband went to school in Denmark. Which school is free in Denmark? So like that plays into it too, right? Is he from there? Yes, yeah, I have a friend in my company. She is the number one income earner in my company. She has earned over ten million in commissions, and that was stated three years ago, so I don't even know what her income is at now. She went to school to be a speech pathologist, and we had this conversation, and her point was so interesting, like someone that went to school to be a speech pathologist, never made that kind of money, obviously, and then went on to make a ton of money, not connected to her education, and she still is super pro college. And her reasoning was so interesting to me. She believes that the vast majority of her success, obviously, she's an amazing woman in a lot of different ways, but was the network that she had because of college. So the people that she met in college, the friendships that she made in college, the people that she ended up being connected to, were very pivotal in the business that she was able to build. And so she has all of her kids are planning to go to college. Her daughter's in college now because of the people that you'll meet. Not even, yeah, that's that's really, I heard somebody say recently about applying first class or flying in the main cabin. And they said, fly first class, and it's because of who you're going to meet in first class. It's not that you get to show it off. It's just the connections you will make there will make all the difference, and the return on investment will be there. So it's,
yeah, I'm not sure it always applies, but I think, I think it's sure your network goes so far. I even know that with my husband, when he took the job that brought us to Indiana, it was his network, and he wasn't even looking for a job. It was a former partner at a firm that he worked at who topped him on the shoulder and said, Come out here. And it was great opportunity, and he wouldn't have had that opportunity if he hadn't been stacking the deck from from college just through his career. So yeah, I am on her same wavelength.
So as we wrap up, what in the woman that's listening that is maybe in some path that isn't fulfilling, doesn't feel like it's you said earlier. I think you said it was like trying to fit a round peg in a square hole, or something along those lines. That's how you felt before. What advice? What message would you share with her to find the round hole? How do you find that? Yeah, I honestly feel like this year, maybe it's been the first year that I've really found my purpose. And I'm a mom of three, and I've realized that my main purpose in life is to be the best mom that I can be, and also to be the best person to others, to be a blessing to others, any any interaction that I have with people, if it's this or if it's, you know, the checker at the grocery store, to bring a smile and just be someone Who's compassionate and loving to those around me. And I didn't really figure that out until this year, and it's a lot for me. It's been a lot of reading these books, listening to these books, talking about the purpose of life and for and you know my story, I had
somebody, I had an incident with death, like, indirectly, somebody in my circle. So having a brush in with death has really pushed me to figure out what my purpose is and what matters to me. And so I have gone to whether it's the Bible, whether it's these different books that I've talked about, and really tried to find what's most.
Important to me, and then taking that into my career. And for me it was, it was really filling my mind and my heart with inspiration and wisdom from others about what other people have viewed the purpose of life and and then how to bring that to your work world. Yeah, and I really feel like purpose isn't just wrapped up in what we do for work. It's in how we show up in the world. It's in all the ways that we show up in the world. How are we as a mom? How are we as a wife? Can I ask who it was that passed or was it? Yeah, so it was one of my best friends. Her brother committed suicide. It was one of my best girlfriends.
Gosh, I still remember getting the call.
So
anyways,
it was a moment in my life, or a period
where I really
just had to find
strength somewhere
and really come to terms with what my belief system was and
cut out all the noise,
realize, and somebody said it last night, of this rich this yoga retreat that we had, sometimes you have to have get close to death to value life. And so that's that is what Ha, what I feel through this experience, I value life more. I value people more,
and that's why my number one goal is to be the best mom that I can be and to be the best person to those around me that I can be. And
I'm not there. You know, there's so many days that I'm like, I read my my self help books in the morning, and then I yell at my kids, and then I'm like, gosh, that did resonate. Or I mean, it did, but then I didn't put it into practice. And so it's a work in progress, but it has, it's just given me purpose. And
now that I have purpose, I realize I maybe didn't have it before. So do you feel like before his passing? You like? What? What did you feel like was missing?
I think that it was the understanding of the value of life,
how close we all could be to death and and then once you lose somebody, not and you know, honestly, I wasn't even that close with him. It's it's watching the impact and the fallout from his parents, who I was close with, with his sister, with the community, and it's just, it is devastating, but it does. It just shows you how valuable our relationships and the people are around us, and mental health and all the things, right? So I guess I care less. I feel like sometimes you
you get in this hustle of,
you know, doing all the things for your business, even sometimes I feel like I cut my kids off because I got all these things on my to do list, and I'm not patient with them, and I'm I don't show up as a mom I need to be for them, because I've got this huge to do list, and
something like this just really makes me
remember to, at bedtime, sit with them, cuddle with him, don't Like, rush him into the crib, like, take the time
and enjoy that I have him, and then I can hug him. And
yeah, so
I really feel, I feel thankful that I have found a little more perspective and a little more purpose. And, like I said when I was rushing around before I could be short with people. I could not be patient with the teller at the grocery store. I could be annoyed like they're taking so long, you know, like, stuff like that, where, like, you know, whatever I have to do, wherever I'm going. It does not matter,
in relation to being a kind person like that at the end of the day is the most important thing. Like, everybody should feel love from you, as opposed to annoyed by you. So, yeah, oh my gosh. Do you know my story that my dad, just to summarize super fast, he attempted suicide when I was 12 and died when I was 13. So do you remember when Erica Martinez, when her dad died? He was a teacher, I think, at one of the schools, Okay, anyways, and it was suicide. No, he had a heart attack, if I remember, right? He had had a heart attack right when the school year started and we.
Went back to school we're in, I think, was like Home Ec, and everyone in the classroom was like, Oh my gosh, Eric, I'm so sorry. Your dad died. And the teacher knew, everyone in the class knew, and my dad had died, and no one knew, no one, because my family wasn't connected to anyone in the community, like it wasn't. We were very we just weren't connected, and so no one knew. And I remember sitting there thinking like my dad died too, and I felt invisible, and no and nobody knew that I was going through the same pain. It was such an interesting thing. And obviously this is like 20 years ago now, so I can feel when you were talking about it. That was a year ago for you, um, it'll be two years in February too. Okay, so yeah, um, yeah, for me, it's been so long, um, but he so he attempted suicide. He actually shot himself in his stomach with a shotgun in our yard, and then survived. He was an alcoholic, and he, um,
spent, I think, two weeks in Harborview, and they said he was more likely to die of the alcohol withdrawals than the Gunja wound to his
intestines a shotgun.
He was a severe alcoholic anyways, and then he died seven months later, and it's on, it was ruled accidental, but it's we still have our own kind of
I don't know what happened, but anyways, so suicide is something that I have talked about a lot over the years, and I have a dear, dear friend that passed in 2018 of suicide.
Mental health is so so so important people. It is very under
um discussed, and it's, I think, that death
puts life in an entirely different perspective. It completely puts everything into a different perspective. So had was that the first death that you had experienced? Well, you know, I've had elderly grandparents pass and things like that, but I think for whatever reason, this one hit me harder,
maybe because I'm a mom, so I really put myself in his parents shoes. I just couldn't
I still can't.
Well, do you feel like there was some part of you that obviously like what I hear is that it changed the way you viewed motherhood and the way you relate to your kids, and what a gift,
what a gift.
Yeah, you know, I forgot to mention I also have a girlfriend who I taught with, who was in my wedding. I was in her wedding.
She had a little her little two and a half year old
passed away in his sleep.
He and so that also happened, like around the same time. It's probably that one's probably been almost a year,
so yeah, just realizing
just how close we offer to it has been impactful for sure, like a very impactful couple years in that regard, and shaping who I am. And it's definitely changed me and
and I also those the people who are impacted by those just trying to show up for them,
which also just shows me, you know, you there's so many people that we interact with that we don't know what they're going through. We don't know and so that's why I'm trying to just be compassionate for people and to be better to people. Because
I don't know, with with him, was it something where no one knew he was struggling to that degree, right?
You know he, Yeah, that one's just tough. He was like a really good looking guy. He had a little daughter, he had a girlfriend.
I think that, I think, from my perspective, alcohol
maybe played a part. But again, that's somebody who I don't know. That's someone from outside, from the outside, looking in, no one knew that he was struggling, like he was struggling. And so now you see that in every person, like the checker, you know, the the person that is frustrating, maybe at the grocery store or at the teller line or wherever, there's a part of you that's like, this person might really be struggling. Yeah,
yeah. And even if they're not just
having that be who I am, like, just just owning compassion and just being compassionate, as opposed to not letting myself get annoyed, which, you know, like I feel like we all can do, but I could definitely be like, Okay, I.
Like, really late. Could you just hurry up a little bit and stuff like that, just not caring about that other person and just caring about my agenda, um, just trying to let that go a little bit. Do you? So the other thing that I'm super curious about, as far as, like, you're a mom of three, I'm a mom of three, and our purpose, like I said earlier, is so much more job. You're the thing that you do to create an income or to maintain a home, because that's a job. Just that's that's work, just the same. But our purpose on earth, our purpose in this life, is all encompassing, and how we are shaping our children is probably the number one.
How we are showing up as mothers is and how we relate to our children is very deeply connected to our purpose here and the lives that they will go on to live based on how our parenting and how our relationship has is shaping them. Yeah, do you feel like you see that more now because of that death, I do for sure, and 100%
I also I don't know if you feel this way, and I reflect a lot on how I was parented and and then there, if there's things that I don't like trying to address those and but it's hard. I find it very difficult. I feel like
easy to parent the way that you were parented. It's more challenging to to do things differently if, even if you feel like maybe it wasn't the right way, I have it in me to do it the way I was trained to do it. So there's stuff like that, just in trying to become a better mom that I'm always working against and trying to to change or grow to be better. Yeah, have you heard the saying it ran in my family until it ran into me? No, better. Yeah. I can see it. Yeah, it's interesting. And I think that there's something about our our particular
generation, that is, I don't necessarily love the this like mass we're breaking generational curses, like that seems kind of extreme, but we're breaking cycles. We're breaking patterns. We're breaking through the things that, like our parents, I believe, raised us the way they were raised, right? So much of how our parents maybe raised us was rooted in every all they knew, all they knew was to do with they how they were trained to parent, and for whatever reason, if it's social media, if it's the internet, if it's just this, like wave of educational information that's everywhere now, like we have therapy or education around mental health all around us that our parents did not have. They did not have access to what we have access our parents are, I think, confused by our need to do things differently, for sure, for sure. I definitely experienced that with my mom. I would say more my dad just is less involved. That's why it's with my mom, because she's more she's always been more involved and more hands on, but she did it differently. You know, example, a she spanked. We try not to. And
there are things when she comes over, she may not think I'm disciplining well enough, and this is how she did it. But like, sometimes when I hear her say that, I come from the kids perspective in my head, and I don't say this, but I'm like, Well, maybe there were some reasons why X, Y and Z happened, and like, okay, maybe we could choose that, or we can try something else. So yes, I do. There's a disconnect between what their philosophy is was and what mine and the newer generation. Maybe a lot of us, not all of us, have with the education that we've grown up with. Yeah, and I think there's a lot of parents that are taking it very personally that we're not doing it the exact same way, that we want to do it differently. And it's it's nothing to be offended by. I don't think like it seems some are, yeah. You know, I have thought about this a lot because, I mean, I definitely would consider my mom feeling that way, um, and I as a mom, it would be hard for my kids to constantly be reflecting on what I didn't do correctly as a mom, because, you know, as a mom, your whole world is giving up yourself for the kids. Mm, hmm. And do that right in every aspect is really hard, and so I see that now, um, obviously you also see the the ways that it wasn't done correctly. But I also, I'm not a perfect mom, so it would be hard for me, I think too for my kids, too. Um.
Judge me, which I do for my mom, she gets it from a lot of our kids. So that's a two edged sword of
whether it's right to feel hurt when your kids are doing it differently, or I think it's not that they're doing it differently, maybe if it's the vocalization that they didn't like the way you did it, and that's why they're doing it differently?
Yeah, for sure, and maybe that we're just as a generation like I haven't personally been vocal. I don't feel but as a generation, we have been a lot. You see it on social media all the time, where we're a lot more vocal about all of these things being different than they used to be. But it's interesting. Do you know Shailene Johnson? I'm sure you do.
She's just someone I follow, and she's hysterical. She does a lot of content around how to run a business and how to use social media. But anyways, she always jokes that she obviously like I'm sure her kids had a college fund, but they also had a therapy fund for how she was messing up her kids. And I think we're all messing up our kids in totally different ways, right? We're probably messing up our kids in different ways than our parents, you know, messed us up like I don't think our parents messed us up. I think everybody is doing the best they can with what they have and what they know in the moment that they're doing it. It's true. But, yeah, I also feel a little bit of empathy for our parents generation and and I don't speak to this like from so much of a personal I think I see it online everywhere that they just didn't we have changed a lot, and they did not even have the opportunity to To learn about these patterns to that to break them. So it's not a we're doing it better. It's just we have better resources, and we're making different choices, and whether or not those are better, we that's to be determined. Yeah, right. Might not be better.
And I'm Yeah, I'm sure our kids are going to have, you know, their own critiques for us. Yeah, for sure,
I've already been critiqued by my oldest. My oldest is 17, and he has absolutely told me, you don't parent me like you parented them. There's a six and a half year age difference between my oldest and my next two. And I'm like, I'm sorry. You're right. I don't I'm not gonna argue or deny or defend. You're absolutely right. I do not parent Now the way I did 10 years ago.
Sorry,
we've learned we've loosened up, we've gotten older. There's a lot of things we're like that does not matter.
So I think the biggest thing is like when your kids tell you something that they feel you did wrong or that they didn't approve of, just listen and hear that and accept it as their truth, regardless of what your intentions were, because, like my intentions were never to parent him drastically different, Right, but that his reality is that I did.
So,
okay, yeah, space.
So anyways, I like that, yeah, well, I've really enjoyed visiting with you. I would love to probably chat with you about this stuff all day long. Um, I just am thankful for your time and your story, just for hearing your heart and anything you want to share before we hop off. No, well, thank you for having me. This was enjoyable, and
watching you is inspiring. You are good at what you do, and you're good at connecting with people, and even this podcast was really cool to watch you work. So this is fun. Thanks, awesome. Well, have an awesome day, and I will talk to you very
soon, your dream, your voice, your way of showing up in the world, and the impact that you are meant to make to serve others matters more than you'll likely ever realize. Keep taking those brave steps forward. The world needs exactly what only you can give thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a part of our community. Until next time, stay true to yourself, stay purposeful and as always, let no one clip your wings