Jane

Jane and I have been friends since we were six. She is 9 days older than me, which means she turns fifty before I do (Ha!). Her mother was my girl scout leader starting in first grade. We both moved away our freshman years and reunited at the high school we should have both started at when we were in our Junior year (she went to two high schools, I went to three). She married young and became a career military wife. She had two children and moved twenty times in eighteen years. She was a teacher, then an office manager for a tax accounting office and now a real estate agent.

Last year, her mother died after a horrific battle with cancer. When my bonus mother died in July, Jane was there, as she had gone through what I was going through eleven months earlier. I will always be grateful for her support. Her kindness and generosity was the crutch I needed in some pretty dark times.

Before she got her license, to my knowledge, Jane's only experience in sales came in the form of hocking girl scout cookies 30+ years earlier. Instead, her working life was filled with the bureaucracy that comes with the public school system and the IRS. Additionally, being an officer's wife, meant she and her children also had other social conventions and rules they followed.

Sales in general, is an outside-the-box kind of discipline. Real estate, though it has a structure all of its own, does to a large degree require a bit of imagination and innovation at times. When Jane got her license, I wondered if she would be able to truly embrace what it took to do sales. And perhaps if she had gone to work for one of the big names, (such as Weller Killiams, Max/Re, 19th Century) she would have had the ample training new agents need. Instead, she met El Jefe, was instantly charmed by him--because that's what El Jefe does--and because I was already working for him, chose to hang her license there. The true problem is El Jefe doesn't really provide training. So, it has been left to me to teach Jane what I know.

Now, I certainly don't mind mentoring Jane. We have a lot of fun adventures. But only one of us is selling. And because one really isn't a prophet in their own family, I am relatively certain I am not sufficiently motivating her. Jane doesn't feel a level of accountability towards me as a mentor she really needs if she wishes to be successful. This has been a frustration for me--and I would guess her too--for the past few months. Essentially, I am not doing her any favors. I know this and I wonder if she does. In fact, it would be a tremendous relief if she did feel this way and was just being too kind to say anything.

In addition to all of the above, I am moving on. If Jane hadn't come aboard or if I hadn't had a bankruptcy this past year, I would have moved sooner. But the above happened. Jane joined the El Jefe team because I was there (and El Jefe is a smooth talker). When I leave, she will be left out to fend for herself. This upsets me greatly.

I haven't told her I am opening up my brokerage. First, she has been laid up this month, so I haven't seen her (I still have no car) and second, I have to tell her what I am dreading: I am not inviting Jane to the new brokerage. Ronnie was welcome to come--with open arms. But, the cost of my malpractice insurance to bring on ONE new agent is more than double of what it was going to cost for Ronnie and me. It isn't just the money (I could insist Jane pay the difference), I am not up for the level of liability that comes with Jane being so green.

Perhaps with me (and Ronnie--who isn't joining me) gone, El Jefe and Senora will step up and do what they should have done all along. But I doubt it. I am happy even after I leave to continue to work with her, but truly, Jane needs more than I can give. When I met with Broker 1 a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Jane might come with me and HE needed to be the one to mentor her and explained precisely why it would be him. He was very much in favor of that. I originally wanted to talk with Mrs. Hufflepuff because I know they have a new agent training program so there would be space for Jane if she chose to come. I actually think Jane would be a good fit with Mrs. Hufflepuff.

I am dreading the inevitable heart-to-heart Jane and I are going to have. I would like to tell her soon, but I am not exactly sure what to say. "Hey, I am dumping you with El Jefe" or "I am going out on my own and you can't come". Of course there are fancier and flowerier version of that, but it will be the same message. A mutual friend pointed out that yea, it might be weird for a while, but Jane and I are reasonable people. Our friendship is built on more than just real estate. What I would prefer is if our friendship was built on right now is psychic vibes and potential forgiveness so that I don't have to do much explaining.