Episode 149 Transcript: Emily Bailey
On this episode of The Brad and Taylor Show, we sat down with Emily Bailey from The Danberry Co.
To watch the full episode, check it out on YouTube below. To listen, head over to Apple Podcasts. In the meantime, check out the transcript of the conversation below…
Taylor
Hey Emily!
Emily
Hi guys, how are you?
Brad
Doing good, doing good. Well, let’s get this started! Tell us a little bit about you, like what do you actually do?
Emily
My name is Emily Bailey, and I am a residential real estate agent. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t just show pretty houses all day. We work through a lot of negotiations, inspections, appraisals, working with lenders, and working with title companies.
I like to think that I’m almost like a wedding coordinator. You fall in love with the house and we make it all happen! We’re working behind the scenes and if we’re doing our job well, then you hardly notice us most of the time.
Brad
That’s awesome! So when you were younger, is this what you had planned for your future? What’d you do before real estate?
Emily
You know the funny story is, I always did want to get into real estate. I remember my parents sold their house when I was 16, and I asked them if I could go to the closing because I was just fascinated with the whole process. I remember sitting in the closing and thinking, “You know this would be a cool thing to do someday.”
But in between that thought and getting into real estate, there is a good amount of time where I got married and had kids.
Initially, I was in business administration. I took a break from that when the kids were little and did some waitressing on the side. I also worked in customer service and sales. All these ended up working together when real estate came back into the picture. When our youngest headed off to preschool, I finally was like, “Well what do I want to do with my time now?”
Brad
Yeah, that’s awesome! So when you said your little one went to preschool, did you jump right into real estate full time? Or did you do it part-time? What did you do for the real estate side?
Emily
Yeah, so the plan was just to start it part-time. He was in a half-day preschool, I figured I’d get my classes done. We were actually purchasing a home at the time we had sold through somebody else.
Then, I actually moved in with my family for a couple of months over the summer, which I don’t know if it’s rougher for them or for us but not everybody can take on five people at the drop of a hat. However, they were very gracious. I got through my coursework and we were actually our own first clients and I had planned to continue working at the job.
At the time, I just kind of wanted to see what would happen. To try it on the side, see if I could actually make money at it. Then, the job I had closed down, I actually lost my job in the process. So we were kind of at this crossroads, you know? Are we just gonna jump in and put all of our eggs in this basket and just see if it works out? Or look for something else?
We decided to just kind of set a timeline like okay, we’re gonna give this like two months and see how it goes. In the first three months, I sold I think three houses. In the next three months, I sold another three, and we’re like, “Okay, I think we can make this work.”
Taylor
Yeah for sure. When you first joined real estate, did you join on a team, or were you by yourself?
Emily
So, I was on my own. I am still technically on my own. Although this summer, my husband became licensed. We haven’t officially formed a team yet, but we do work some deals together. So, that’s been fun! A new adventure to start working with the husband in real estate.
Taylor
Oh yeah, definitely. I see a lot of people who do that, the husband and wife team. The more and more we talk to people I’m like, “Oh okay yeah, I didn’t realize you guys were married!” But that’s awesome, I think it helps with home life too. So, you guys can be home more and then split it if needed, especially with younger kids.
Emily
Yeah. So my husband is still teaching full-time in the school. But the nice thing is, when we’re crazy in the summers in real estate, he’s off work! So the idea was if you get licensed, I don’t have to be like, “See you in three months!” We can kind of split it up, and it worked out really well.
Taylor
Awesome! Did you get any advice when you first started out that kind of just stuck with you?
Emily
Yeah, I had a lot of good advice! I was very blessed that I joined a great brokerage and had a lot of awesome mentors, people who just really believed in me and were invested in my success.
Some of the best advice I got was: “Know that you’re not in charge of the decisions, you’re just in charge of the process.” I’m sure you’ve heard other people say that, but that always sticks with me. It’s something I talk with my clients a lot about, ultimately at the end of the day, it’s 100% their decision. I’ll support them in whatever they decide and I’m just here to help and make that decision into the accomplished goal.
Taylor
What do you think is the worst home that you’ve been to? Or, the worst property showing?
Emily
Yeah. This is tricky. I’ve seen a lot of different things. I do live in a city but I know a lot of people in rural areas. I show a lot in rural areas as well. Once, I went to a house in a small town. It was like an old farmhouse and it was definitely infested with rats. There were dead rats and poop on traps everywhere!
Then the really interesting thing was, I’m assuming they did it for an elderly person. Right in the living room, they cut a hole in the wall and just placed a toilet right between two walls! It wasn’t even like a closet or anything, so you could be sitting in your living room watching tv and there was just like a toilet right there…
Taylor
Were there no doors closing it in?
Emily
No, no, no. It was just the toilet!
Taylor
Open concept!
Brad
Yeah, open concept bathroom!
Emily
Yeah, maybe not the open concept that we’re going for.
[Laughter]
Taylor
Oh boy! Yeah, I haven’t heard of that one yet. That’s a new one.
Emily
I will never forget that one. That was very unique.
Taylor
Do you have any goals you want to accomplish for the rest of this year and going into next year?
Emily
You know, we always have volume goals, award goals, and stuff like that in Ohio. We do our Million-Dollar Club and I was fortunate enough to make it into the 5-Million Club. This year actually represents about 10 million dollars in sales so that was a big one. I’m very grateful to have been able to achieve that one so far this year.
Next year looking forward, of course, everybody wants to grow their volume. However, I think as a wife and as a mom, the kids are growing up so fast and while I want to continue to focus on my business and grow my business, I also just am looking for more balance in life.
That work-life balance that everybody’s constantly chasing to just try to work a little smarter and not harder. Although we still work very hard for our clients. But yeah, I think just continue to grow and continue to be present in in the home life as well.
Taylor
Yeah, I know that work-life balance everyone talks about it and it’s hard to get there. Everyone has that dream to get there. Do you have anything in place to help you along that transition period into that balance with work and everything?
Emily
I found that I need to just schedule those trips and that family time because if you don’t schedule it, it never happens. It won’t happen automatically, you have to plan for it. So, we’re trying to be better about that.
Thankfully, through the brokerage, we have a lot of good connections with agents who can help out while we’re away or taking that time and I think it’s just important to make those priorities and to schedule those things.
Taylor
Yeah, absolutely! Especially if you have somebody there, it’s kind of like a backup so you don’t have to answer your phone while you’re on vacation. Maybe even the whole time right? But I know it’s hard to put it down.
Emily
Yeah, yeah, yeah! I think the idea of never having to check your phone or emailing on vacation is a pipe dream. You’ll be like, “Okay they’ve got this. They’re in good hands, I’ll follow up later.”
Taylor
Awesome! if you could start over today, is there anything that you would do differently?
Emily
I think that I would just sweat the small stuff a lot less. When you’re new and when you’re just learning, any little bump is just like oh my god it’s the end of the world!
The longer you do it the more you begin to realize that if it’s meant to be, things have a way of working themselves out. Yes, we still work really hard, we make those calls, and we’re advocating for our people.
I think of the mental stress that you tend to put on yourself and take home, worry, and even lose sleep for. I’d remind myself, it’s all gonna work out how it’s supposed to be. I’ve done everything I can do.
So yeah, worry less.
Brad
Yeah, that’s awesome! What’s a book you’ve read and loved or any podcasts that you listen to? What do you usually go for?
Emily
So Danbury partners with somebody out of Fort Collins, that does Ninja training and that’s been really really influential. It’s like a sales training that they call Ninja, but it has a lot to do with mindset. I’ve really enjoyed that and I listen to their podcasts every week.
I read Atomic Habits and it has been a really influential one for me. We tend to set all these big lofty goals or like starting tomorrow, “I’m never gonna eat junk food again!” and when we don’t achieve these great big goals, we’re like crushed, you know?
I just really like the idea of small changes in little things that we can do every day. To work towards those bigger goals and not beat ourselves up when we aren’t perfect.
Taylor
Yeah, that’s a perfect one. So how do you like to market right now? What’s your favorite way to market?
Emily
I use Facebook and Instagram a lot. It’s some of the best free marketing out there. I love the community that I’ve been able to grow, the people who like and share my posts. They don’t hate me for sharing homes all the time, but I try to mix it up.
I think just connecting with people that way and in person is very helpful. It’s really nice that we’ve been able to get out this year and see people. Go back to events and make those connections. Just being present and intentional is some of the best ways to market. The connections happen naturally.
Taylor
Yeah, especially, you mentioned being genuine and connecting. Those genuine relationships will drive those people to reach out to you years from now when they’re ready to sell their second home or anything like that down the line, so that’s huge!
Emily
Yeah, that’s my hope! To not just be there for the transaction, I want to be a relational person who’s there. One of my favorite things is when you get invited to the wedding, the baby’s birthday, then buy the second home because they need something bigger, that’s the kind of referral business and connections that I really enjoy.
Brad
That’s awesome! How can people get a hold of you?
Emily
Email is always a great way. I’m [email protected] and I also have my website: emilybailey.danbury.com! You can reach out through a contact form on there.
You can shoot me an email, I do check it all the time. I’m also on Facebook (Emily Bailey Realtor) and Instagram (@emilybaileyrealtor) you can message me there as well!
Brad
That’s awesome. Hey, thanks for coming and sharing your story with us today!
Emily
Yeah, thanks so much for having me!
Check out Emily Bailey:
THE DANBERRY CO.
https://emilybailey.danberry.com/
Facebook: @Lhttps://www.facebook.com/ebaileyrealtor/
Instagram @https://www.instagram.com/emilybaileyrealtor/
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