Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Today on the Lady Boss Podcast, we are so lucky to hear from Dawn McKenna of the Dawn McKenna Group. She is a global brand in real estate and is amassed $3 billion in real estate transactions in Illinois and southern Florida. I can't wait for you to hear her story. Well don our p people in for a tree today. Thanks for being here. Um,
Speaker 2 00:00:42 It's my pleasure.
Speaker 0 00:00:43 You're my, uh, absolute, uh, sales legendary idol. Um, you have grown an incredible company and I wanna hear all about it. 'cause honestly, from where you're from, this is pretty unexpected. Yes. So, uh, tell me, you know, everybody wants to start a business when they're kind of bred like us, but how'd you pick real estate?
Speaker 2 00:01:03 Well, it's kind of funny because I'm from the south side of Chicago and I think you knew that my dad was a, uh, a school teacher. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and my mom always said like, why are you going to college? It's just such a waste of money. You have to take a loan out. 'cause I, I had to take a loan for four years of college and she's like, whatever you turn is gonna turn to gold. Just get a loan and start selling. And it's, it's, it's kind of sad 'cause my mom passed away when she was 52. So she never saw the career I built, but it was kind of true. I did wind up going to U of I to follow my husband, who was my then high school sweetheart, which, which is a lot of the reason I've been so successful.
Speaker 2 00:01:39 I believe that, um, that, that you really need a team. And I, my whole life I had people next to me, you know, whether it was my mom or dad or my sister pushing me to the front of the line or when I was down, picking me back up. And I think a lot of what, uh, the secret to my success is that I counted on others around me. Um, I focused on one thing that I'm really good at. I'm really good at engaging people. I, I enjoy it. It's not a job for me when I'm on the phone or crunching a deal with people. Like, oh my God, you work 24 hours a day. I don't know why I don't feel like that now. Yes, 20% of this job is absolute hell. Okay, for sure. But most of the time it's about engagement. And that's what I do naturally and I just like it. So I think the secret, the one thing that I did that a lot of people don't do is I stuck in my own lane or didn't try to do it all. And Hmm,
Speaker 0 00:02:31 Okay.
Speaker 2 00:02:31 I'm just telling you I did
Speaker 0 00:02:32 It. Start in your own line and not do it all. So I think we have, um, a lot of things in common. One is, um, we have our business partner and love partner and husband of multiple decades for both of us. Um, you know, is really in our corner and working with us along the way in some capacity. And I think that, I know for me for sure, that has been a hundred percent the reason for a lot of my success because all the things I'm bad at Larry handles <laugh>. And, um, I think you've got somewhat of a similar situation and obviously with your staff. But, um, when you decided you were gonna sell stuff, 'cause that was really engaging people selling stuff, um, was real estate, you know, low barrier to entry financially at that time, you know, you had AMAs, which you'd amassed or was it passion for the home? What really drew you to that specific place to start getting in your lane?
Speaker 2 00:03:25 Well, I remember as a young girl going to open houses with my mom, she loved it. So we would go to open houses, never ever intending to buy anything, but we'd go home and like redo the house. And I really loved that. So, uh, outta college, I was, um, in trust administration at the Northern Trust and it was great. I got married, I had kids, but my real passion was design and fashion. So I decided to become a decorator. I I was an English major at U of I, I don't have a license in decorating, but, or design. But I just have a good eye and I learned a lot of that from my mom. A lot of it's natural too. But so what happened was I kind of got into this routine of buying houses and flipping them. So I would like do a number on my own house and flip it.
Speaker 2 00:04:11 So I knew a lot of the real estate community and I understood what it was like to get your house prepped, show your house, run out for showings. When the kids are in the tub, it's never coming at a good time. So I had a very relatable sense about me because I had experienced it. So we moved into this large house at the time, and my husband's a lawyer, so my husband doesn't work with me or for me, if he sees this, he's gonna be like pro bono. What the heck? Because I go on my 20 minute walks with him every day and he like, downloads what I should be doing or have you thought about this? Or scalability, he's a general counsel. He was the c e o of companies and he's done a lot of, um, selling companies. Promoting companies. And so he helped me understand like the business of real estate more than anything else.
Speaker 2 00:04:56 But when we bought this big house, he was going downtown every day. He was a partner in a law firm and he was like, yo, like this is a big house. We are taking one room at a time. Like we can't do the whole thing at one time. And I was like, oh wait a minute. There was this $22,000 studio h couch at Holly Hunt. 'cause remember I was a decorator at the time, so I was going a lot, um, to the mart meeting people at the mart. Yeah, meet. That's how I met Lo uh, O'Brien Harris, Laura O'Brien through the mart. And I was doing like three to four jobs a year. So I could buy a handbag at the end of the year. But <laugh>, it really taught me a lot actually. Yeah, it really, I mean, talk about, you know, what is that the saying?
Speaker 2 00:05:38 Uh, you know, uh, luck favors the prepared. I prepared through that whole endeavor of being a decorator. And so I saw this couch and my husband was like, 22,000. Are you crazy? And it is crazy. I mean, like, it's ridiculous. I wouldn't do that even today. But at the time it was like what I thought would like anchor our family room. So I was like, wait a minute, if I get my license and sell one house a year, it's a million dollars. I get two and a half percent. That's 25 grand. Like I could buy this couch. This, this is what I thought. So I got my license in five days. So there was this accelerated program that, that, and remember, mind, mind you, like, I had four kids at home that I hadn't talked to you about, but this was when they were 8, 6, 4, and two.
Speaker 2 00:06:25 I didn't even have a babysitter. Okay? So my husband took the week off and I'm like, I just wanna get my license. So I like ate Taco Bell every day, stayed in the same sweats, went to school nine to five, and then studied five to midnight every night. And then took the test on Friday. And I mean, you guys, I was biting my nails, counting my, you know, net gross, uh, I mean commission. I mean, you name it, it was, I was a basket case, but I got it. And we all went to dinner and we're like, mom got her license. This is so great. And I'm like, now what? So the next day I was thinking at the time I used a realtor. That was awesome. She was great. She found us, uh, many good deals. I think I bought seven houses through her.
Speaker 2 00:07:04 And, um, I phoned her, I got my license and I phoned her up. And this is a true story. Uh, I obviously won't mention her name 'cause it's, it's not a very favorable, favorable way to react, but it kind of fueled me. And I called her up and I said, listen, um, is this on cut? Can I swear on this? Maybe not. Okay. So I was like, listen, I will be your, you know what, and I'll go turn on lights for you. I can bring people to you. I'll be your assistant. I don't care. Like I really wanna get into real estate. And she said, and I quote, lots of luck to you. And she hung up on me. Huh, okay. And, um, I was like, wow. I'd given her so much business personally, but also I'm just the kind of person that if I see something I'm like, oh my God, you should get these Fendi shoes.
Speaker 2 00:07:51 They're $280 in home goods. Like, I would call you to tell you that that's just me. And it really bothered me. 'cause I thought, wow, alright, well I guess I gotta do this by myself. This is how this is gonna be. So at the time, everything was like boutique, like boutique firms and the market. This was in 2003. So the market wasn't awesome. That's what people don't realize. Yeah. It didn't get awesome for a little bit. And then it was like a two year awesomeness and then it went down. And I thought, God, if I were selling my house right now, what would I want? I would want a national brand, a worldwide brand. I'd want a broad stroke. The most exposure I can get, I'm not gonna do this boutique firm thing. No one knows what the heck so-and-so is when they're coming from Greenwich or they're coming from New York, but they do know Coldwell Banker.
Speaker 2 00:08:43 So I walked in there with four kids with no babysitter. I'll never forget it. And um, well, like, let me go backwards. I went to church the day before. Okay. I, I went to Coldwell Banker and uh, a friend of a friend said, Hey, I heard you got your license. I said, I did and I don't have any way to put it yet. And she said, why don't you come to Coldwell Banker? You are gonna be so good. I had no idea she made money off that. I didn't care. She was at Calwell Banker. She was so nice. And upon the heels of somebody not being that open, I was like, yeah, I'll come to Coldwell Banker. So I moseyed on in there with my four kids and I'm like, I'm not taking this job that seriously. I really wanna buy a couch. She looked at me like at eight heads, she's like, okay, it's $3,200 to join 'cause you got all these fees. I was like, oh, okay, now I gotta buy two,
Speaker 0 00:09:32 Two couches and two houses. Now
Speaker 2 00:09:33 We gotta sell two. Now we gotta sell two houses. So anyway, what happened was I had so much experience being a buyer and a seller that I just sat and brainstorm of like what I would wanna do and I went crazy. And so when I would be at my kids' ball games, you know, there's so much, I had a baseball player, so there's so much downtime. I would like, like when they weren't pitching or weren't catching or whatever, I'd go to open houses and I'd come back and then people would be like, like if you and I were at a ball game and like say there was a rain out, there's a two hour, I'd be like, all I'm outta here. I really wanna see these two houses. They're awesome. I gotta have a buyer for that. And you would say, I'll go with you.
Speaker 0 00:10:12 How many houses did you sell in the first year?
Speaker 2 00:10:16 From May to December 12? <laugh> and I had done, I think it was 28 million. This is funny. I had no babysitter. So I am not kidding when I say I would be pulling up and they're like, you guys don't get out of the car. Don't get outta the car. Unless somebody is bleeding, I'll be right back. 'cause by then they were getting older and I was like looking out the window, running in the house, showing the house coming back out. I mean, it was, it, it was
Speaker 0 00:10:44 So
Speaker 2 00:10:44 You a circus,
Speaker 0 00:10:45 So you were able to get your 28 couches that year. Yeah. Um, and you knew you were onto something 'cause you obviously had exceeded your goal, right? 28. Um, what, and then when did it happen where you started realizing you could scale it and hire people under you and become what I call as a boutique firm inside of Coldwell Banker? So you're the Don McKenna group inside of a big company, you know, businesses like mine, we don't have a house, so to speak. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we are the house. But you have a holding company that you work as part of. When did you go from Don McKenna selling 28 houses 52 to having this entire team?
Speaker 2 00:11:23 That's a good question. So, uh, five years ago. Okay. That's what's crazy. Okay. This, this has become a, like basically a conglomerate in five years. Um, what I did when I joined in 2003, um, is I hired an assistant. I brought an assistant before I even brought on a consistent babysitter. I didn't even have a computer. And I still don't, I don't know how to send an attachment. I can figure it out, Courtney. Okay. But at the end of the day, I'm about engaging. So what I did was I picked my battles instead of trying to figure out like how to take the pictures, how to put the listing into the computer, how to do ads. I just said, no, no, no, no. I, I am not gonna do that because it's just gonna bog me down. It's like minutiae. And I think a lot of people are too cheap.
Speaker 2 00:12:17 If you think about it. I spent money, I spent a bunch of money before I made my first, you know, real money. Yeah. And I invested in me and I didn't even realize it. I invested. It wasn't, I invested in my business and I wasn't looking at it like, oh, if I invest in this, I'll get that money back or make more. I just said, what will make me better? What will make me more powerful and me better to serve you? Yeah. And so that was it. And so my first ad, my first assistant, so I started I think May 13th, and I had assistant by May 30th. Oh wow. Because I had had three people like you that trusted me that said, I want you at my front door. I don't want anybody else. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I want you at my front door. And I was happy to do it.
Speaker 2 00:13:01 And I was the first person to do full page ads. I was the first person to do videos like in Illinois. Nobody was doing that because it's expensive. I mean, to do a full page ad is anywhere from 800 to $2,500. Yeah. I didn't care. I wanted, I hated when I saw one of my houses and I'm like, God, it's like this small and it looks like a, like a haunted house. Like, I didn't like the lighting. I was very particular about how things look. 'cause that's your first showing. Yeah. So I came in the office one day and my assistant, my, even still today, she's on my team. She's 82. Um, I brought her around when she was 62 and she was in the office really late. And I said, what are you doing? She said, oh, she was really upset. Someone had mistreated her or something. And, and she was everybody's assistant. She's like, I just wanna work for one person. I don't ever wanna sell. I don't want my name in a marque. I just love, like the computer. I love. I was an accountant. I'm like, huh, <laugh>, you're, you're my girl. So I brought her on. So I've never signed a contract, ever. I've never signed a seller's contract, listing contract. I've never put a listing into the computer. I've never, never done any of that. Put a listing in the open house. Never done anything.
Speaker 0 00:14:12 I know personally that, um, I've often, in retrospect, you know, first business I started, I sold in six years and I was, I felt like I could have gone even faster had I not invested incrementally. So you invested without even sales. I would always sell something, invest, sell more, invest, sell, more, invest. So that's just a totally different strategy. And when you took your thing to like this global powerhouse that you are, which I'm blown away to know, was only five years ago. And I think is so powerful for our listeners, because I write constantly in those, those five journals and people are like, oh, five years. What can you do in five years? A hell of a lot, gosh, is what you can do in five years. Oh my gosh. So what happened at the this mark five years ago? So we were in, you know, 2018 where I think the market was decent, but not off the charts. Like it was just right after that. What made you say, okay, I've gotta have people in Florida and people in Lake Forest and people in Winnetka and all these outposts that you have today.
Speaker 2 00:15:15 My clients. So what happened was I gave my clients a different experience than they had ever had with any realtor they had ever worked with. Not just in Illinois, just like whether they were in Arizona or Florida, wherever they were. And so they were constantly calling me to ask me my advice, do you like this house? I mean, someone flew me out to Phoenix. I wasn't even licensed. Like it was a constant where I was constantly being brought into this. Then my kids were then, you know, uh, yesterday was my son's 29th birthday. So they, they, they, they're seven years apart from top to Bo bottom. So they're like 28 to 21 now. And so they, they started graduating from college and their friends started calling me saying, Hey Mrs. McKenna, can you find me an apartment or whatever? It, it just got, it was like, timing was great.
Speaker 2 00:16:00 I did not know. I was just a housewife selling houses. And I still am just a housewife selling h a house. And I'm proud of it. I, I mean, my kids made me the person I am today, which is kind of interesting. 'cause here we are on this earth thinking that we are mothering our kids, but you cannot believe how much I've learned from them. I mean, down to Instagram, they're like, mom, you have to do Instagram. I'm like, I'm not doing that now. I'm like, get that on Instagram. Are we going to do a reel? I mean, it's a joke. I'm 53 years old. It's a joke. But, so what happened was, uh, in Florida, we bought a house about nine years ago in, in Naples, Florida. And I, when you, when you're a realtor, say you said, okay, I wanna, I wanna a house in Naples, I would say, Hey, I've got a, a guy.
Speaker 2 00:16:43 So my people were always like the top three agents that I had relationships with that I knew were powerful, that had access for you. That that had experience and knowledge, not just a one hit wonder. And so I was giving all of these people in Naples, these referrals, because I was getting so many through Chicago, through my own clients, and they were coming up short and I was getting, they were calling me back, you know, he or she didn't respond. I don't trust, they're not giving me the advice I need. You know, I, I've got some assistant showing up at the house that has never been in the house. I mean, it was just constant. And usually you get a referral when you, when you refer somebody. Yeah. And then you usually, like, if, if a realtor refers me something, I keep them updated. I say, oh, Courtney and your husband really liked this house and their checks in the mail.
Speaker 2 00:17:32 They get 25% on my commission and we're done. This was so much involvement from on my part. I thought, this is crazy. Yeah. So I had somebody that had five, um, new constructions in Naples five years ago that I gave her two people and they just fell short. And she's like, well, you just please get a team here. I trust you and I I under, I love your marketing. You have this huge powerful network. I just know with your fairy dust, this is gonna sell. And I swear to God, I was taking that Florida test. My brother-in-law, Ardell was like stomping our sign in the ground. At the same time, uh, one of my daughter's, very good friends from grade school called me and said, Hey, I really wanna be a realtor. I said, get your license. Oh, I already did. Okay. She went to Miami of Ohio.
Speaker 2 00:18:19 I said, get a job at Miami of Ohio, um, while you're there. Internship. Yeah. I already did that for a year. I'm like, okay, forget it. Come on, <laugh>. And we just stepped on the gas. And what I did that I think really, um, helped in terms of authenticity, authenticity and just sheer passion was I didn't look at what anybody else did, ever. I never looked at someone else's paper or I never looked in the newspaper and said, okay, what kind of Ed is doing? What kind of ed is she doing? I I kind of wanna copy that. I never did that. I just put blinders on and said, what do I think I would want if I were on any of these sides? And that's what happened. And, and it exploded. So we started in Naples with $38 million of product. Okay. And, and for, for, for that client, I'm forever grateful. I really am. Because they have faith in us. And when you do that, the rest comes. That's
Speaker 0 00:19:16 Right. I mean, it is the classic business story that if you are really engaged with your clients, they take you where you're supposed to go. Exactly. I mean, it might've been Naples, it might've been Arizona, it might've been San Francisco. They told you it was Naples and you built around it. And I've had so many awesome opportunities over the years. But you know, you, if you would've just picked Charleston and they wanted Naples, it doesn't work.
Speaker 2 00:19:38 It doesn't work. But this is crazy, you know, here you're in Monka and that was our last, um, region that we acquired that, uh, uh, because of Naples. So we had so many relationships that we had built through that the first two years of Naples, and most of them were from the North shore. Yeah. So they started saying, oh my gosh, we, we loved the D mg experience. We, you know, it's, it's all about how you feel when you're with us and how much education we can give you. And we talk a lot of people out of a lot of things. If it's not the right thing, we don't want you to buy it. Because if we want you to sell it again, and we want you to make money so you can go to the next one, we, we don't want any unhappy customers.
Speaker 2 00:20:20 And so what happened was, you know, from, from Will not to Lake Forest just exploded because they had the Naples experience and they wanted that here. So it was just kind of interesting. And even in the city, what happened is we started the first rental program, and all my kids were having such a hard time renting in Chicago. I said, girls, why don't we just pitch to all the colleges my kids went to? And you, you guys went to, so we did Northwestern, university of Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami of Ohio, all these schools. And now we are the official rental company for these rising kids. So then I, my husband made me think, he's like, Don, you're getting them. You're seeing a full cycle of life. Look at it as a nest. You're, you're helping them with their first nest, like finding their first nest, filling their nest when they come out to the burbs and then emptying their nest when they go to Florida. It's, it's wild. So you would not believe how many stories and testimonies we had from rental all the way to the parents retiring.
Speaker 0 00:21:23 It's cool, it's awesome. I mean, the life lifecycle of a customer is so powerful. So what the question I have about your business model, um, is why do you need Calwell Banker?
Speaker 2 00:21:34 Oh, that's a, that's a great question. I'll tell you why. So what happens when you're a brokerage again, is there's a lot of minutia. There's a lot of money handling, there's a lot of paperwork, there's a lot of record keeping. So when you're at my level where you're doing, I don't know, 600 to a million in volume a year, that's a big paper trail. And that's a lot of
Speaker 0 00:22:02 Money. 600 million to a billion. Let's get those numbers right. Sorry.
Speaker 2 00:22:05 Sorry. A billion. You're right. You're right. You're right. What am I saying? Yeah. Um, there, that's a lot of transactions. Yeah. And, and frankly, um, at my level, it's a very little price I have to pay to get that back office support. So that's number one, that's an internal thing. Okay. But, well, that's actually not number one, but that's number one internally. Okay. It's easier. Um, but the biggest thing is I'm very close to Ryan Gorman, our c e o and Ryan Schneider, the c e o of Realogy and David Marine, the c m O of Coldwell Banker. I mean, these are very, very powerful players in the industry. Coldwell Banker is the number one. So is Realogy real estate holding company in the world. So what that has allowed me, because I've been the number one agent in Illinois for so long as a team and by myself, I built these amazing relationships with the top 1% in the country. So, like for instance, like Jade Mills, she's in LA or Beverly Hills, she's the number one agent and has been there for 30 years. Or the Jills in Miami or Corcoran, these people are become really good friends of mine. Yep. And our kids are friends. 'cause we're all about the same age, between like 50 and 65. And so it's been awesome to be able to network with the best of the best, share, best practices, but also have an unbelievable deal flow and referral system. Okay. So when
Speaker 0 00:23:34 You're That makes sense. Here's
Speaker 2 00:23:35 The other thing. You talk about data, everyone is data centric metrics, the metrics, the data, all these people that they, they, they lose use that word so loosely. I mean, in order to have big data, you have to have a company like Calwell Banker, some of these others. And I, I won't say who, but like, new people on the block or that you might think have big numbers, but when compared to Calwell Banker, it's like an an eighth of what they do. That's not big data. Mm-hmm. So when I'm seeing trends and understanding needs and wants of clients or how long they sit on a page or a a move meter of when they're about to move, you can't get those data sources unless they're huge, many, many, many billions and billions of transactions. Yeah. That's why I do it.
Speaker 0 00:24:25 Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I think it's, it's, it's not too dissimilar in a private business where you sell to private equity to kind of get yourselves into a bigger pond and have bigger resources. So I like, um, like hearing about that. Um, one thing. All right. So we get to the pandemic and I, the two places I just need you to tell me and fill me in are the pandemic, um, just changes in the market. And then I wanna talk about social media for a minute. What happened to your business in 2020?
Speaker 2 00:24:52 So it was interesting, um, all my kids quarantined in Naples. So my husband and I were at my lake house in Michigan because we have elderly parents. And I'll never forget March 17th, we were there and, you know, everybody was panicked. And, um, my husband, I said, is a big influence on me. And he was like, you know, you never lead in fear. This is an amazing opportunity. Just dive in. And he was right. And so I got on a Zoom with my whole team. This was before anybody even, I didn't even know what the hell zoom was before March 17th. I'm just saying that. And I don't, I I think if people are really looking at themselves in the mirror, not, not many of us did. And we got on and I said to you guys, all these people, you could see all these people canceling their listings or taking them temporarily off on the M l Ss.
Speaker 2 00:25:45 I'm like, we're not doing any of that. We are gonna lean into this. This is gonna be an amazing opportunity. Everybody scared to death. We are the only ones that have a major, major influence in the city. Major influence in the suburbs, both north and hi, you know, west, west and in Florida. We've got a democratic state here. We've got Republican there, we've got freezing cold here, we've got warm there, we've got this, we're gonna do this. We're gonna get a postcard to every single door front saying, this is what we're doing. We're gonna have pictures of all of us on Zoom. We can do this, we will get through this. And that's what we did. And we leaned into it. And I have to say like, what do you call that? Uh, high tide rises all boats. We did this in all of our communities and we kind of, any realtor that would, would listen and, and that would be, um, uh, let, let's say in it to win it with us.
Speaker 2 00:26:44 We carried them too. We were like, let's, we got this, let's have a thing. Let's do this. We can FaceTime people. We were running around. I never in my life worked so hard than I did in 2020 ever. Really? We were FaceTiming people. We sold so many houses off FaceTime. People were leaving California, coming back home. I had people that were in the city that were quarantining with their parents and they were like freaked out. They didn't wanna move to the suburbs. And all of a sudden they were like, oh my God, this is what the lifestyle is. And then I were, was doing trades with people my age to go to the city 'cause they wanted like a pettier here and then buy a place in Naples. So what was really crazy is I originally, my original strategy was to hedge. If the city was good, maybe the west, uh, the suburbs weren't that good, or if if things were going well in Florida, maybe they weren't going as well in Illinois, the truth is, in 2020 and 2021, every single thing, we touched every single territory we touched, we set records and hit jackpots.
Speaker 2 00:27:50 And so the rest was kind of history. So even today, they are all thriving, even though the market's cooled off a bit. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:27:58 So it's cooled off and we have, you know, very high inflation numbers. Yeah. Are you seeing that in the housing
Speaker 2 00:28:03 Market? This is interesting. So think about this. Yes. I mean, is this, is this the ideal economy? No, I mean, inflation, what, 9.1. We've got fuel prices at an all time high. Um, one thing I will tell you is we're still at an all time low in every market from the North Shore to the luxury suburban, western suburban market to the city market to Naples. One thing is the common denominator. We don't have any good inventory. And new construction is very low and not much in queue. Why? Because it's hard to acquire land and it's super expensive to build. So a lot of the speculative builders are in the waiting room. And a lot of the people like you that say, okay, maybe I wanna build a house, are so bill busy from two years of whatever the heck happened in your business that they don't wanna wait.
Speaker 2 00:28:56 So it's just really interesting. I think there's gonna be a huge trend for buying, um, vintage houses or houses that were built between 1995 and 2005 because they have the floor plans people are looking for. They have the tall ceilings and the good basements, but they just need a complete hit refresh. I'm doing that in Naples. I I did, I, you know, my team was yelling at me. Um, you, you have to capitalize on the market too. How could you know, you gotta put your best foot forward. You're telling everybody else to do it, but you're not doing it. So they convinced me to sell my house, and it was like a jackpot. I sold my house for a crazy number and I was like, this is so great. Until I had to buy <laugh>. And, uh, and so we stepped up in location, but I bought, uh, my last house in Naples was 1998. And this house that I just bought was 1998. And, and some if you, if you kind of clocked a hundred people, 90 would say it was a tear down, but it's not. Yeah. Just wait, just just wait on that. We'll get back
Speaker 0 00:29:56 On that. The design jeans are coming through. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So talk to me about, um, just, uh, touch on social media, how that really drives business for you more than I get it that it's the first showing and all that. How do you really get more customers through your social media?
Speaker 2 00:30:14 Okay, so when all this was going on, um, social media was like pretty much the only platform we could communicate with people besides Zoom. People were very Zoom by December. People were so Zoom fatigued in, in, in 2020. So we were doing Instagram lives we're video videoing on Instagram. We were get popping on and saying, Hey, I, I know you guys are worried. I just have to tell you, I know you, you're, you, you need homework rooms and the husband needs an office and the wife needs an office and this is the house for you. And sometimes you have to spoon feed people. And it's like the perfect venue to do that on. And I used to think that it was, um, so invasive. And, and the truth of the matter is like, if you're an authentic person and you just let things go, like I used to be like, oh my God, am I too shiny?
Speaker 2 00:31:09 I don't like my hair now. I'm like, whatever. I don't care. Filter. No filter. Just do it. It doesn't matter. And it's interesting 'cause my most liked posts are always when I look the scariest. Like, where I'm like, oh my God, if they could have saw like, my jeans are too tight. I, you know, things are sticking out and no one cares because it's real. People want approachability. People want authenticity in this world that we have where it's like in Instagram versus reality, and everybody's like, Hmm. You know, and post it. It, it sends a, it sends a message that's not real. Yeah. And that's what people hate. And so I think Instagram is probably like the best platform for anybody who's selling anything. And we get, um, we're doing these real talks now where we're like, Hey guys. Like they're, they're, I got on my kids were like, mom, you were yelling on Instagram because I was trying to explain to people, like, all these people that are using one hit one or their cousins twice removed best friend that they've never been here.
Speaker 2 00:32:15 That's why I have local experts. I don't sell in Winnetka. I've never lived in Winnetka. Katie lives in Winnetka. She reaches that 38 year old, all these young kids. And then we're getting all these people from the city. And, and while people don't realize is when you jump on a real talk and say, Hey people, we have no inventory. You're looking for a house right now and you only have two choices. Go with the person that has the most transactions under their belt. Not just here, everywhere. 'cause what happened through the pandemic is they weren't just saying, I'm gonna look in Winnet or I'm gonna look in Hinsdale. They just wanted to get a house with a pool that had space that had good school systems. So they were looking everywhere. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so what happened is we have learned to lean in and just talk to people and you know, yes, it's fun to see a pretty house, but it's also these kind of homes.
Speaker 2 00:33:10 It's rare that we come in a home that we don't touch that have to prep. It's just like us. I mean, this morning, I didn't look like this. Yeah, okay. You, you kind of have to work with what you've got and we know how to do that. So I think that Instagram is probably, um, something that I'm most proud of because it was a very authentic build. So I think we have almost 20,000 followers now, and they're all authentic. When everybody was like buying bots and buying things, I was like, God, that, that seems just such a fake thing. Yeah. Like, just so that likes, I, so I engage and it's funny because yes, I have my own marketing team and yes, am I posting every day? No. They tell me what to do. Or I say, Hey, you guys, I really wanna promote this house.
Speaker 2 00:33:53 Or Hey, there's event coming up, or a friend of mine is doing something, I wanna do this. Um, but I, I think that what's very important is organic. Organic. Not, there's no tea in organic <laugh> Organic. It's a new hot real estate tip. I I think we just heard. No, but guess what? Wait. And another thing, wait, I have to tell you a word that I think I tell me. It's a de definition. I don't even know if it's real world coopetition. That's another thing we learned. And this is for your, in your industry. And I think people really, we all are competitors, not you and me, but like all, all the brokers in this world we're competitors, but at the end of the day, we need each other. Yeah. High tide all rises, all boats. So I think at the end of the day on social media, I've been able to cooperate with my competitors.
Speaker 2 00:34:47 And I've called it like coopetition, and it's like frenemies. You know what I mean? You're like, Hey, I'll go out on your Instagram and talk about this house. You get on my Instagram and talk about this house. There's been a lot of like co-branding that has gone along with things. It's just sort of interesting. But I think, um, the dms are important. The engagement is important, and I do most of it. That's crazy thing. So when you dmm me, yes. They alert me, yo, Courtney, you right in the dmm. Got it. Okay. Oh, oh, hey, I think that's cool. Or whatever. I think that's very important. And I think people know me from social media, you cannot believe I, I am not that popular. I'm not like some movie star or anything like that. But you would not believe sometimes like I'm in an airport and they're like, oh my God, wait, I know you because their mom follows me. Or, you know, their kid is our, one of our rental people. And Oh, that's
Speaker 0 00:35:39 So good.
Speaker 2 00:35:40 Yeah. I mean, I, I think it'ss come a
Speaker 0 00:35:42 Long way. Oh, the exposure's unbelievable. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:35:44 Well, you have, um, given us so many lessons. I mean, I think the things I heard the most are authentic. And I think that is what is so appealing to me about you. You just, like, you've absolute amassed this crazy success story, but you're still like, you know, part south side from Chicago. Yeah. Um, albeit Justin Fendi now. Yeah. <laugh>. Um, and, uh, at the same time, you know, talking about the team, talking about growth, focus and staying in your lane, I think the successes that you've found something you are passionate and great at, passionate and great. I think that's the killer combo doesn't feel like work. It's your golf. You do it all the time, and you've just stuck in it for a couple decades and evolved. Um, it's an absolute, um, magic story. And, and I think you do have fairy dust and I can't wait to see what the next 10 years brings.
Speaker 2 00:36:30 I am so, thank you. You're so sweet. And right back at you. I mean, you're, you, you, you, you haven't been sitting eating no
Speaker 0 00:36:37 Duck, no grass going over here.
Speaker 2 00:36:39 <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. Macaroons hanging out with your long cigarette at your pool. I know. You're work. You're, you're fanning off. It's interesting. Um, I wanna leave you with something that I learned, um, from my kids and in my house. Uh, my husband's a real avid reader and so are my kids. And there's a book called Make Your Bed. Have you read it? No. Okay. You gotta read it. And for your listeners, they gotta get it. And, uh, that was in our Christmas stockings every year. Uh, my husband would put a book in there and it was, make Your Bed. And it's this Admiral McCraven. Oh yes, I have. He was a Navy Seal. Awesome. And
Speaker 0 00:37:13 He has good
Speaker 2 00:37:14 YouTube. Right. And um, it was interesting though, because at the end of the day, it's all about like, grab someone you wanna share your life with or your business with, and you can't do it alone. Yeah. You need people in your boat. And there's no way we would be this successful without each and every member of my team. And I'm not saying I'm, I'm dead serious. Like, I would be devastated if any of one of them left because they're like family to me and they share my vision and they wanna do things that I wanna do. And, you know, as I get, uh, as this gets bigger and bigger and bigger, it's not like I'm like the, you know, whatever Bart Simpson going like this into the, um, bush. It's, I I am more of a mentor. I'm more of a coach, and I get more excited. I'm like, yeah, you got that great. You, you sold that house on Indian Hill, or you sold that beachfront. Like great job. I'm excited because what the secret sauce is, they're actually like baking it and taking it out. And it's actually tasting better than what I did, which is the point. Yeah. It's called Scalability
Speaker 0 00:38:21 And Legacy. Yeah. Now on to my favorite part of the Lady Boss podcast where we hit our interviewees with five questions that really were the game changers in their career. And we hope that they can, you can use these to elevate your career. So Dawn, tell us, what is your favorite employee engagement tool?
Speaker 2 00:38:49 Um, I think live the life you want them to emulate.
Speaker 0 00:38:56 Love that. All right, bye. Fendi. In a gwa <laugh>. Okay, good. Um, what would you recommend is your favorite business book you've read?
Speaker 2 00:39:06 Make Your Bed. I read it all the time. Awesome.
Speaker 0 00:39:09 Great one. Um, give us the best advice that your mentor told you over and over.
Speaker 2 00:39:19 Embrace the word next. When something doesn't go your way, you turn the page and you say next and you move forward.
Speaker 0 00:39:25 That's powerful. And what would you say is your superpower?
Speaker 2 00:39:34 My energy?
Speaker 0 00:39:36 <laugh>? Yeah. You got four people's worth <laugh>. And if you had to tell the listeners one thing to do that would really move their business forward, what would it be?
Speaker 2 00:39:48 Focus on the process and the results were come. I think, um, too many of us just focus on the result and I think it seems very arduous and tedious and long. So I'd say focus on the process. Don't focus on the result.
Speaker 0 00:40:05 We all wanna grow up and be as successful as you. Um, you are absolutely fun to listen to. You've gone a great culture and I know this is only scratching the surface. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:40:16 Please. You know, me. I, I, I, I'm a sharer. I would love to do this again. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 0 00:40:20 Thanks for being on the Lead Boss podcast.
