Call 702-604-7739 to BUY a home, Call 702-482-7739 to SELL a home. YES - We are Las Vegas Short Sale Specialists. http://www.ballengrouphomes.com

A STORY ABOUT AN EYE OPENING EXPERIENCE AND HOW IT CHANGED MY LIFE

~ So this week marks the one year anniversary of our move to Keller Williams Realty Las Vegas. What a year it has been. I'm still baffled when I look back on it.

BACK STORY
My husband and I owned a very successful catering and entertainment company which included company picnics for 10,000 guests at a time. We had 35 employees and held 3-4 events per week not including our wedding facility. We grew that business from a mom & pop shop (literally cooking in our own kitchen the first year), to a multi million dollar producing business that we sold several years back.

After selling our company, we thought we could retire. Long story short, the nation fell into a recession, our business payments from the new buyers ceased, and we realized retirment was NOT an option. After taking a couple years off, and dabbling in some "hobby style" business ventures from home, we realized it was time to get back at it.

My husband suggested becoming Las Vegas Real Estate Agents and I wanted NOTHING to do with it. He found a Nevada Real Estate School close to our home and joined. This was a Coldwell Banker Affiliated school.  Upon graduation, by default, he joined the Coldwell Banker Office. After 7 months, I followed. I realized that there was no other business venture that I could do that would allow me to use my marketing abilities, make as much money as I wanted without the start up time and costs. I was IN and I was in ALL The way!

Our first Year at Coldwell Banker, My husband and I were rookies of the year, and top agents in our office, 2nd in the company to a top REO agent. So we had "arrived" - so I thought. Starting our second year, I realized that we had more leads than we could possibly handle, and we needed LEVERAGE. Coldwell Banker frowned on that heavily. They did not have a problem with hiring an assitant, but teams cost them money and they did not enourage it. In fact, our experience showed us we were penalized. They simply did not have the set up in their model that allowed for teams and team members to make money and be productive.

With all that said though, we were VERY Loyal - to a fault. We never "shopped" other brokerages. We were regularly found on the doorstep talking agents OUT of leaving, singing the praise of Coldwell Banker. We had NO idea. 

Suddenly, a political situation at Coldwell Banker forced us to either make a move to another Banker office which was significantlly far away from our home, or find another brokerage. We chose the latter.

We were told, in order to avoid a huge following of agents walking out with us, that we had 24 hours to find a brokerage and arrange for our license transfer. Can you Imagine?

We met with 9 brokerages over the next 24 hours. Everything from the so -called "100% companies (which NEVER are 100% by the way), to brokerages that offered us a WING of office suites. With our production, we could have gone anywhere and negotiated a deal that worked. For me, it was not about the money. 

My experience at Coldwell Banker in Las Vegas showed me that I needed a brokerage that understood teams. A brokerage that understood that the Rainmaker, The Lead Generator, is actually the one in charge, not the one who gets the contracts signs. 

I knew without a doubt where I needed to be - Keller Williams Realty. I had Read MREA (The Millionaire Real Estate Agent) when I was in that real estate school in Nevada. I knew that Gary Keller GOT me. He UNDERSTOOD that the true accomplishment is creating a business that would allow us freedom when we reached a certain level of leverage and production. Gary Keller taught us about Creating Businesses worth having and lives worth living. I had NEVER heard of this at Coldwell Banker.

But the BIGGEST eye opener for me is finding out that I HAD NOT ARRIVED. Not even close!! It's funny to think now that I thought I was "The Cat's Meow" doing 7 million dollars in production my rookie year. We did not have big icons at Coldwell to look up to , to learn from, to aspire to be like. Keller had THEM.

So now, I know that what I didn't know DID hurt me. Now I know 100 transactions in year is good, especially in our market, but does not hold a CANDLE to what they are doing on a national level. It is not unheard of for agents to do 300 transactions, 600 transaction, 900 transaction, 1268 transactions IN ONE YEAR. 

Debbie Zois and Dave Jenks, who own our market center at Keller Williams Realty Las Vegas have personally invested their time and energy into building productive teams. Teams that support the Mega Agent (who is the leader) but also support the agents ON the team with special benefits and equality for them. 

I'm grateful for the situation that caused me to open my eyes.

I'm grateful for seeing that my business could go so much further - and it has!

I'm grateful for surrounding myself with positive energy and people that SERIOUSLY care!

I'm grateful for a culture that says "It does not matter where you rank, I'm here for you in a big way"

I'm grateful for being a survivor!

I'm grateful for a business worth owning and a life worth living!

I'm grateful that I GET to be a Licensed Nevada Real estate Agent.

I'm grateful for now knowing what I didn't know before.

I'm grateful for Keller Williams Realty!

****HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE BALLEN GROUP AND KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY LAS VEGAS**********