hey there!

I'm Dawn

2001 "Honey, you should find another career." 

Yep, that's exactly what the first broker told me. She said I wasn't from here, I didn't know anybody and I didn't know anything about real estate.

 I walked out swearing I would have her job one day and I would give everybody a chance.

Starting from the VERY bottom:  In the meantime. I had to find my own way so I went down to the broker I purchased my first foreclosure from (yes, I bought a tiny foreclosure to repair after my husband found a Carleton Sheets cassette on how to flip homes. Ignorance was bliss) and offered to mow yards and detrash foreclosures along with being her buyer's agent. I don't think there is a real estate bottom lower than the task of scraping dead cats out of carpets.

Real Estate investors were purchasing hot and heavy so I went to every networking event with listings in hand. Every email was harvested to continue marketing.  This led to a process to keep investors up to date of new opportunities and kept contracts rolling in so I left my job as a social worker and began to sell real estate full time while I raised our new baby. Six months into that adventure, my husband was diagnosed with cancer. He was a contractor and if he didn't work, he didn't get paid so the home finances completely fell on my shoulders. (Enter panic attack and endless worry) I had no choice but to pull it off. 

2005 Investor financing started to become a struggle. Foreclosures started to increase so I became curious how to build relationships with REO companies. After a year of negotiating with 3 other agents, a succession plan was in place to take over three of the largest REO asset holders in the country. My personal real estate team was forming and it grew to 6 staff members and 12 agents. The systems and processes were the key to my success in selling thousands of these homes.

 2013 Then the market turned again. I had been working long hours and burn out was raging.  I took some time off and reflected on my successes and failures. My true love was in building culture through compassionate leadership and teaching others how to build a real estate business that fosters freedom which led me to managing an office of over 100+ agents that I called my tribe. 

2021 I loved that gig tremendously; however, the pandemic that swept the world crept into my family in the form of isolation and depression in my young, teenage son. My office was an hour from our home which kept my son unaccompanied for 10 hours a day. I had to find a way to be more present for my family. I made the decision to step away from the large office and to start real estate coaching with compassionate accountability online. It's what I loved the most. Now I'm able to work from home with my son. And he's in the next room. He's on his computer. He comes out, we have lunch. I'm able to pick up my calls. I'm able to continue to encourage agents AND my family. This is truly an intentional life while I humbly follow the path God has given all of us.  He has brought us together for a reason.

hey there!

I'm Kathy

Ever wake up one morning and not know who you are?

That was me turning 30.  Up till then I had always defined myself in terms of other people.  Someone's daughter, sister, wife, mother, part of a large extended family but never in terms of myself.  You might call it an identity crisis.  I just knew I needed to do something on my own.  I needed to show myself that I was more than the rolls I played and that I could do and be more.  

Growing up I always felt like a square peg in a round whole.  I never really fit.  At 19 I married a wonderful husband and friend.  We had 33 years and 2 children together.  He gave me the space and love that allowed me to find ME and a career I feel passionate about.  Unfortunately he also had an illness that ultimately took his life.  

As sad as that sounds, my story isn’t a sad one.  It is about overcoming fear, self doubt and the occasional anxiety attack.  It is about finding who you are, what you are passionate about and building the life you want.  You don’t find harmony and happiness by maintaining the status quo.  Sometimes you have to make some uncomfortable changes to get there.

30 years old and I was stepping out into the unknown.  

 It was the first of many  turning points!  What next?

Neither one of my college degrees had a career path that excited me. I had been a stay at home mom and  corporate wife. I needed adults!  My husband suggested real estate and it rocked my world!  I enrolled in real estate classes and was shocked to learn I would have to place my license with a broker...who knew??

Filled with excitement I started telling family and friends about my new path, thinking everyone would be excited and happy for me.  However, rather than encouragement all I got was, “Why are you doing this?”, “So and so tried real estate and if they couldn’t do it, what makes you think you can?” and “you just need to be happy with what you have.” 

Some people would start doubting themselves after that but they didn’t understand me.  This was just the catalyst I needed to succeed.  I was going to prove them wrong!  I also learned not to share my dreams with negative people.

After receiving my license and finding a broker (the husband of a friend whose office was in an adjoining town), I was shocked to find there was no training or mentoring for new agents.   When they said you are an independent contractor they really meant it!  

Nothing was going to stop me.  I spent hours learning the town, the market, watching successful agents and doing every open house and following every training class offered.  It wasn’t easy but at the end of my first year I was  the company rookie of the year.  Growing from there I received multiple awards from both my company and board. Eventually becoming one of the top agents in my metropolitan area.  I was finally a peg in the whole that fit me!

Was it all sunshine and roses?  No.  Along the way there were family issues, burnout,  difficult people, changing companies, deals that fell through and times when I questioned myself and my choices.  Trust me, I have been there and done that!  Through it all I learned how to turn adversity into triumph and how to fall forward.  How to stay  mentally healthy, happy and positive. 

I learned to pivot when my husband needed daily care and again when my father and husband both died the same year.  Along the way I found that I had a passion for helping others build their business, career and life.  This led me to a corporate training position for about 20 years and becoming an instructor for certification and designation classes through NAR.  

When the corporate job no longer fit I took a step back to redesign my life.  Another happy pivot into starting a coaching company with longtime friends who share my values.

Life has taught me many lessons I feel called to share with people at a pivot point in their lives.  I want to share how to stay mentally strong and in line with your beliefs and values.  How to build and run a business that not only funds your dream life but reflects who you truly are.

hey there!

I'm Mark Leader

My Love for Sales Began at a Very Young Age

My sales career started at the age of 9, working in my father's jean shop.  After school, if I wasn’t doing homework, or getting ready to play hockey, I had to be down at his store on the main street of Midland.  The store's name was “Moody Blues,” My father not only believed that everyone in the family should work, but he also thought that when a person truly understood how to sell, they would never be out of work and so, it was. I worked at either my father's clothing store or my mother's pizza parlor until after I graduated high school.

After graduating high school and not knowing what I was going to take in college, my older brother came to me, who was already on his way to being considered a top producer in the real estate industry and said, "until you figure out what you want to do, why don't you come sell some houses with me?" This was the start of my 35-year career in the real estate business.

The first year was not easy and I often considered throwing in the towel. The older agents in the office called me the” driver.”  They nicknamed me this because I would put people in the back of my car and drive them around and around looking at houses but never buying. After a year of this, I knew something had to change and change quickly. 

One day my broker, Al Reed, who I privately called the terminator, called me into his office and gave me an ultimatum. I had a choice, take a box, and clean out my desk or go with him to Toronto to see a speaker and real estate sales trainer that would teach me how to make more money in real estate in less time and have more fun doing it.  I reluctantly agreed to go and thank God I did go. This was the turning point not only for my career but for my life too.

The speaker made a statement that fundamentally changed the way I think even up to today. He said, "the teacher will appear when the student is ready to learn." At the end of the event, I immediately signed up for the training and dove into a journey of educating myself on how to succeed in the real estate business and how successful salespeople think.

The following year I earned over $100,000; this was in 1985.  Five years later I was inducted into the Century 21 Hall of Fame and was told at the age of 25 I was the youngest person ever.

During the next ten years, I listed over 1000 properties for sale and averaged 93 closings a year for eight years consecutively without the help of a personal assistant. I also owned an award-winning office that I built from 3 salespeople to 50 salespeople and as a group, we collectively held a 33% market share.

At the age of 31, I stepped out again; this time I shifted from being a Realtor to becoming a speaker and trainer in the real estate industry.  Over the next 24 years, I performed over 2300 paid speaking engagements, working for every major real estate franchise and 90 of the top 100 independent brokers in the world. My training programs have been taken by thousands of salespeople worldwide, many commenting “it was the most valuable training they ever participated in.”  I have authored and co-authored four books with such significant influencers as Bob Proctor from the Secret, Deepak Chopra, Steven Covey and Mark Victor Hansen.

So, did the statement, “when the student is ready to learn, the teacher will appear” change my life? It sure did!

Today, at 55 and 35 years in the rearview mirror, I am ready for my next challenge, and it feels as natural to me as watching the sunset.  I want to share this knowledge I have gained with as many Realtors as possible.

I am proud to team up with Kathy McCarty and Dawn Dunavant, two of the most knowledgeable, successful, and caring people I have ever met.  Together we have over a century of sales and management experience in the real estate industry.

Now I ask you this question, are you ready to learn and take your career and life to the next level?  If you are, the teacher is about to appear, you have come to the right place, and I am so happy you have arrived.

Welcome to Leaders Elite coaching and welcome to the beginning of the new you!