Voices of Women

My mom spent a lot of time with me when I was young. She impressed on me how important education is. My dad spent a lot of time with me but my mom started having problems when I was five and that forced me to become independent at a young age. I was doing all the grocery shopping by the time I was eight years old. I had a lot of responsibility early on; but learning came very easily for me and I liked the attention of being the smartest one in class.

I loved school. Being academically oriented really helped, plus I joined many of the campus clubs. My Dad fell ill my senior year. He had surgery, but there were complications. The doctor told me he wasn't going to live through the night. The doctor continued to prepare me for the worst possibility throughout the next six weeks.  Dad  recovered, but still continued to have serious health problems. He surprised everyone when he lived to be 83.

At the time of his illness, I didn't know if he was going to make it, so I channeled my energies and fast tracked through school. I graduated from UCLA in three years. I received my Masters Degree when I was 22 and completed my Doctorate by 27. I landed my first teaching job at UCLA when I was 22, as well as my first community college job. By 23, I was teaching full time in the community college district system.

Yes. I was always driven and competitive, but when Dad got so sick, I was worried about Mom, who couldn't work. I figured it was going to fall on me to support the family, so I pursued my education as fast as I could.

In 1978 I bought my first condo by borrowing every dime I could to make the down payment. I was counting on teaching summer session to make the payments. When Proposition 13 passed, the District cancelled summer session so that meant no income for three months. I could have checked groceries, which is how I paid my way through college, or I thought of trying real estate. After receiving my license, I became a Century 21 agent. I quickly proved I was very good at selling housing. I sold two houses my first month in business and eight the next month. I began wondering why I bothered getting a doctorate.

I began training for Jon Douglas Company in 1989 and became Executive Director of Training for their 4000 agents in 1993.  In 1994, my home had about $100,000 damage from the Northridge Earthquake. It took three years to settle my claim. After the quake, you could no longer get adequate insurance. Another quake could have wiped us out financially. That’s when I decided to move to Texas and launch RealEstateCoach.com

I gave notice at Jon Douglas Company in April that I would be leaving at the end of 1997. That fall, the company was bought by Coldwell Banker. I took a leave from my teaching job at Pierce College. While I was on leave,  I wrote the Concierge Service program for Coldwell Banker. We delivered the training to over 600 Coldwell Banker offices across the United States via teleclass and in person.

I met Byron during a teleclass. He was leading one of the coaching training classes. I really liked the way he led the classes, so I asked him to mentor me.

Byron and I kept bumping into each other during these classes, but I was married at the time. My husband and I found we didn't share any common interests and that our marriage lacked serious communication. The turning point of my marriage was when I attended a coach mentor meeting to hear the speaker discuss the relationship she had with her life partner. She pointed out the importance of sharing your business and private lives together. It was then that I realized what I wanted in my life.

In the meantime, Byron and I became friends. He was very helpful and responsive to me. I finally asked my husband for a divorce. I still hadn't met Byron in person at this point, only through the teleclasses. We finally met in person in September of 1997 at a coaching conference. When we met the energy just wasn't there. Several weeks later, I visited Austin and fell in love with it. That's really when Byron and I developed a strong friendship and working relationship. We were married in 1998.

Byron and I came into the relationship with the idea that we wanted someone special to partner with. Byron is my best friend. He does so much to support me and we take care of each other.

Yes, Waging War on Real Estate’s Discounters, was very well received. I’ve just completed a new book called, Going Where Ancient Wisdom Put People Today. It is a coaching self-help book. The idea stemmed from my friend Marilyn Naylor who has worked with Native American medicine as a tool to help people have better lives. She does metaphysical counseling.  The approach Marilyn uses is based upon an agricultural wheel that suggests that one’s birth season influences their life. There are four components: the mental, the spiritual, the emotional, and the physical.  Each component represents a different season. 

There are hundreds of studies that report one’s birth season affects myriad factors in life. One of the most interesting chapters in my book is called, “My Husband Burned Down Our House.”  I study what occurs when you make decisions using all four components of your being.  Byron and I documented stunning breakthroughs when we began using it in our classes.

Being a 23 year old female professor in a department that had 21 men and only three other women was definitely a challenge. I let a lot of sexist comments roll off of my back. It was never an issue in terms of fitting in.

Focus on your strengths and do something you care about. For me, I'm passionate about giving back. One of the great lessons Byron has taught me is that helping others is where you find real satisfaction.

My greatest strength is my passion. I love writing, meeting people and speaking. My goal is to help agents and brokers do a better job for the people they serve. If they do a good job, then I've made a difference to a lot of people that I'll never have an opportunity to meet.

I like writing and love to read, especially a great murder mystery. I also love cruising and hope to do more.

I am loyal, passionate, dedicated, hardworking, intelligent, and service oriented. I guess that's more than three...

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