Tessa

I met with Tessa yesterday. She is the designated broker/owner of the real estate company that helped Marty and I buy our house. The meeting was inevitable. She told me last November she wanted me to come to her brokerage and become her Designated Broker. 

Before I met with her, I was convinced there was no way I would go back into real estate. I am now not as convinced. But I'm not willing to run over to the Texas Department of Real Estate and figure out how to be licensed yet, either. 

What Tessa truly needs is to get a handle on what's going on in her brokerage. She's so busy selling, she's not paying attention to her office. She has a CFO (why, she's a small business??) who is also the office manager. She has a Director of Marketing. These are fancy titles for two people who handle all of her money and her corporate messaging. And, from what I understand, this CFO/office manager is also building a bit of an empire  as well. The Director of Marketing is taking direction from the CFO Chick and Tessa is feeling uncomfortable. However, Tessa's let this situation fester for too long and these two women have too much power. Tessa knows this. Tessa isn't sure what exactly to do.  

Telling me all of this didn't make me want to jump right into the hornet's nest, clean house and then deal with the aftermath. However, I told Tessa--after talking for 30 minutes--"I don't know your CFO Chick as well as you do, but even I know you need to immediately have an audit done on your books." Tessa had been thinking about it, but she was afraid of making CFO Chick, "mad." 

"But it's your business! Your future. Your reputation and livelihood!" I said, ignoring all sorts of societal boundaries. 

It is safe to say, I am totally not interested in jumping into that mess and becoming her Designated Broker. But I do have a few issues I need to take care of. The main one being I am becoming too much of a hermit. I need to get out once in a while. Polly and Buck could also use some space from me. 

I offered Tessa to be her transaction coordinator as long as there was a clear understanding of what it entailed. And, given I was creating the position, I was more than willing to tell her. I don't work nights and weekends. I don't call clients, nor do I hunt down this and that. I don't run errands. I don't take phone calls. I handle paperwork and I will help her put systems in place for the agents so that the paperwork is handled consistently (with whatever process I come up with). I want to be paid by the transaction. Plus, I want to start with one transaction and go from there. That way, if I don't like it, or being a hermit is more appealing, I can bow out gracefully. 

Tessa agreed to all of this, but asked if I wasn't interested in being her new Designated Broker, might I possibly be interested in an office manager job down the line. "No. But I will help you find one when the time comes," was the best I would give her.