The Kindness of Others

One of the awesome things that happened when I started the ol'e brokerage last month were the people who offered to help me.

• My loan officer of 12 years (who is back in good standing) is willing to partner on any advertising. 
• El Jefe keeps tabs on me, and is letting me advertise his listings. 
• Mrs. Hufflepuff has stayed in touch (I saw her today, actually) and has given me a lot of useful guidance. 
• My other loan officer, the Bulldog, has a vacant home to rent and gave me the listing so I could advertise. (I need a better nickname for her, as she is a delicate thing, but Dang! if you need a loan officer who is willing to do what is tough, the Bulldog is your gal).
• A property manager friend just sent me a bunch of documentation that I will need for my rental listing. I had no idea I needed this stuff until I saw it. 
• Scott, the Graphic Artist, charged me nominally for my logo, telling me he will charge me more when I make it to the Bigs. 
• Randy, my local mailbox store owner, has been printing color flyers for me and said the same as Scott. We will talk about him charging when I am no longer a new small business owner. 

Sixteen years ago, the first real estate company I worked a had zero cooperation or motivation to help others. (Sans El Jefe and Ronnie, who both took me under their wings). It was frowned upon by management to work together. My former broker, back when I was new, after calling her because I had trouble, said, "Do what you want. Don't call me." That cost me $400. El Jefe never once treated me this way. In fact, he has told me to call any time. One time when I worked for him, El Jefe wanted to do some sort of sales contest, but Ronnie, Senora and I were against it. We didn't want to compete against each other. We were already motivated and we wanted to help each other be the best we could be.

When I left El Jefe, one of my greatest fears was I was going to just float along without direction. This hasn't been the case. I am so grateful for the kindness and generosity I have gotten from so many people. My goal is to pay this forward when it is my turn to mentor.