KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Elizabeth Riley on Relationships, Resilience, and the True Return on Life

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

Welcome back to the show. This is Rangy Dick on the Return on Life podcast where it's not about the R.O.I, but about the return on life. And today I've got another fantastic guest. I mean, I really adore this person. And you're going to get so much value out of who I call Queen Elizabeth. We've got Elizabeth Riley joining us today out of Austin, Texas, a powerhouse in the market in Austin in the luxury division of the powerhouse world. And she is a nine-time icon agent, which is phenomenal. We're going to talk a little bit about the icon agent and what that means. But she's just a person that gives back in so many ways.

She just recently was up here in my neck of the woods at a rally that we had going on and just brought so much value to our event. she's done many, many things, including being on HGTV's house hunters, like get a load of that. And, of course, she's got four amazing children and an amazing husband and just has it all together. So welcome, welcome here, Elizabeth. Thank you for being on the Return of Life podcast. Oh, my gosh. I'm so honored to be here.

Thank you for having me. This will be fun. Ah, yes. Well, let's talk about a few things, but first of all, we need people to say, I am a subscriber. So click that button below and subscribe to the Return on Life podcast. You get so much value out of this podcast. But we're going to dance around some things about business. We're going to talk about the underdog, a little bit about mindset,

and then, of course, we finish off with return on life. So let's dig into some business stuff. Tell me a little bit about your journey into real estate. Sure. So my husband and I were investors for a number of years, and we were in Atlanta, Georgia. And I remember I was actually in events and marketing. That was my background.

And I was working for a famous tennis player named Stan Smith. And we did major corporate events around major sporting events. And so I actually was working on the Greece Olympics at the time when my husband and I were sitting in our CPA's office. And he said, one of you have to get your license. And I just ignored the comment. And my husband looked at me, he goes, that's you. Because I have the corporate job and I have the benefits.

and I have all the things. And so I was like, I don't have any interest in being in real estate, right? So it was something I had to do just kind of for our portfolio and what we were doing on the investment side. But what I recognized is I started working with people that I liked and that knew me. And it wasn't really a job. I actually treated my business like a hobby during those years. But I was fortunate in the fact that I had a husband that had a job and had a stability.

So that's a little unique. Not everybody's like that. I get that. But I started building my business in Georgia. And then in 2008, I know the U.S. market completely tanked. I don't know if Canadian markets were the same, but it was definitely challenging. And so 2008, my husband was transferred with his company to Austin, Texas. And so I had to start all over.

So I knew real estate. I didn't know Texas. I didn't know how to get around. But I knew it was a better market than what I was coming from. So people thought I was crazy. the market's horrible. I'm like, Atlanta was really tough. And so I just, it was noise

to me, right? So other people's you know, insecurity and fear and all that other stuff, I could not let that creep into what I was doing. And so I just focused on my path and what was important for my family and built my business at Keller Williams. So I was at Keller Williams for the first 10 years of my business. Grateful for my time there.

And then in 2014, we had a, 650 agents, I was number one, and I realized I'm just on a hamster wheel. It's not about the transactions for me. I'm not impacting people. I'm not impacting my life. I'm not creating legacy. And so I had to, I had to make a change. And so I made a change that completely changed my business, my life, my world, my relationships. And I've been there. I've been at EXP Realty for about nine and a half years now, and it's been incredible. So what started as a necessity for our portfolio has turned into certainly a business that is flourishing that that I'm passionate about and 20 years later I'm still here.

Wow. Well, incredible. By the way, I have a pair of Stan Smith in the closet. Do you? Yeah. Pretty cool guy. He's an amazing, an amazing human being. I can tell you one of the most humble, gracious people that you will ever meet in your life.

and so I was blessed to get to work under him for a number of years. That's very cool. I want to go back a little bit about limiting beliefs. And this is something that I'm working through with my coaching clients and my team right now about next year, like planning for 2025. And so many of us have limiting beliefs. And you talked about that. The market was so challenging.

Why would anybody want to sell? Why would anybody want to work with me? And then also tie in that limiting belief about EXP, because when you joined the XP, it was what? Where are you going? So how did you push through that? Because a lot of people get stuck in their limiting beliefs. Yeah, I think what I've recognized, and this is over time,

is a lot of times we'll make decisions that's to please other people, and we're not really looking introspectively at what's important to us. And I think we are in first. by outside influences all the time. Social media, no matter what other people's opinions. And you have to really understand, what do I want to do? What do I need to do to get to the next level?

And so, yeah, I mean, EXP, we had 400 agents when I joined the company. It was smaller than the market center I was in. So it's a very different company than it is now. But the reason I did it is not for the reason that people think or the reason people think that they should go to EXP. The reason I did it is I was bored.

I was uninspired. I hated the industry that I loved for so long, and I had to get back to the basics. And what really did it for me is when I won number one, and I got off the stage, I sat down and my broker said, that was great. Like, let's talk next week about doubling your numbers. And I was just like, you're missing it for me.

It's not about the numbers. The transactions don't drive me. The money doesn't drive. me. Serving people and helping people and being better is what drives me. And so I came home and I told my husband, I'm getting out of the business. He goes, why? I said for all these reasons. He goes, well, go start your own brokerage. No, go to another company. And I was like, that's all lateral boots. And so the people that I had a relationship with in Georgia that were my friends, my colleagues, my peers that are respected, had all gone to this little tiny company called EXE and they said,

we could all work together. And I said, okay, sorry, the dog is a little bit. sometimes. I said, let's all work together. So I actually went to EFP because of the stock and because of what that could do for me long term because I was a producer. I'm still a producer. And what can I do if, I mean, we were called the Amazon.com of real estate. And I thought, huh, what if? Like, what if we had all bought books, I mean, bought stock in Amazon when they were trying to buy and sell books online? Remember we all thought they were crazy? Yes. Right? I mean, think of how our lives would be different.

And so I thought, huh, well, that could be interesting. What if that worked? And then the other side of me was like, well, what if that doesn't work? What's the worst that could happen? The worst that could happen is I could go back to any other company because they need me more than I need them. So the risk for me, I've had people say, well, you took a huge risk leaving KW where you're number one over to this company, this known name company. I said, no, the risk for me was staying where I was because I wasn't growing. And if you're not growing and you're stagnant, you're dying on the vine.

And so I had to do something to change that. And so for me, it wasn't really what everybody else thought. I came for the stock. I came because I was a producer. I had a baseball cap every year that said capper that does not pay their bills. But stock could change my life. And the icon award is really why I came. And also to get back into the relationship with my friends and colleagues that are respected so much.

So if you drown out the noise and you get really clear on what's important for you, sometimes, you know, you just have to kind of step away and look at it from a different lens. I don't have it all together. You mentioned that earlier. I don't have it all together. I'm failing forward every single day when I don't always make the right decisions, but I learn from every single decision or every single experience that I've been a part of, right? I wouldn't people say, what would you change in your background if you were to change your path?

I wouldn't because every step led me to where I am, so I'm grateful for that. So I just don't listen to the noise. and I don't look at what everybody else is doing. Comparison kills joy. If I look at some of these other producers and I'm saying, oh my gosh, what are they doing? Look at the shiny objects. Then I'm not focused on what I'm good at

and what's authentic to me. At KW is the big fish. Over here, I'm a little fish in some rooms, but I'm a big fish in other rooms. And I want to be a small fish. I want to be the small fish where I'm growing and I'm learning from others all the time. And, you know, I was looking at my numbers earlier

for something else, but I'll probably close around $25 million in this year. And that's better than a lot of years I've had, and it's less than other years I've had. But this market, this housing market, has been the worst since the 35 years. And so when I'm closing $25 million, just from relationships, just from referrals, just from being in a relationship and building my relationship with people, the business comes. So if I'm listening to the naysayers and what everybody else is saying about the market and how horrible it is and all the things,

then I'm not, that's not helping anybody. People are buying and selling. They're always going to buy and sell. The industry that we're in is really amazing because people need housing. They need security. They need safety. They need shelter.

Like, this is their family. What's most important to them. I can be a part of that. I don't care what the market's doing. So for me, I just don't listen to the noise. So good, yes. You know, and so many of us have that limiting belief. We already talked a little bit about that, but limiting belief that the market is this or the market's that, and I can't do this, can't do that.

Even the limiting belief that you moved to a new company called DXP, which had 400 agents at the time. And I, I mean, I went through that same process. And I thought, gosh, if this is really a bag of poop, you know, what's the worst thing that happened? I throw the purse in the garbage. I go back to my own brokerage and I say, listen, I made a mistake. Yeah. He says, welcome back, Randy. Which office do you want?

And so we get so caught up in overthinking and making things more difficult than they seem. So really appreciate you sharing that. When you did join EXP, did you see that as a trend that was going to be coming or it just seemed like a good decision? Like, was there something bigger? Did you see something that was one, three, five, ten years out that you did see at KW? Wish I could say yes. The reality is no, because I always joke, I take one hour at a time, right? And so I don't usually look if, like, for example, I don't set goals, financial goals every year

because I figure if I say I'm going to do 20 or 25 million, then I'm focusing on that. I'm not focusing on being present. I'm not focused on what I need to do. If I do what I'm supposed to do on a daily basis, I'm going to hit those goals. So I don't usually look at one, three, five, ten goals. When I joined EXP, you know, I had four little ones. I had no, I mean, I was in the weeds with four babies. My husband traveled internationally all the time.

I couldn't even see past, you know, that week, much less three, five years, ten years down the road. And it was so unique and knew what EXP was doing. Nobody had ever heard of it. people said we were crazy. And it really actually got to me because some of the things people were saying, like, why aren't you supportive? Why aren't you excited? I mean, I'm just finding a space for me.

I'm finding what works for me. So it was a 400 agent company nationally. You know, we had independent brokerages in my market that had bigger, you know, agent count than that. And so for me, it wasn't that. But I also know that people follow people and people would follow me no matter where I went. And I will take a risk because, again, I'm in a unique situation where I had, my husband and I, when we got married, we always agreed that we were going to live below our means and live under one salary because when we had kids, the goal was for me to be a stay-at-home mom. And I was a stay-at-home mom for the first six months of my first child. And I was like, oh, my gosh, I am not stay-at-home mom material.

I'm a better mom because I work, right? And so we just have always adapted that mindset. And so we've just been able to make decisions because we weren't stretched so thin. But I didn't see us as a trend. I just was like, this is something different. It works for me. I just, my clients are coming to me because of me anyway. And if I have tools and resources and training and I'm collaborating with people doing

bigger things and different things, then I'm going to be a better agent serving my clients in a better way. But people follow me. And I didn't want people to take a risk and take a jump that could put them in jeopardy. I didn't know what everybody's situation is. And we're also good at putting that facade up, right? So you don't really know all the backstory that I didn't want people to blindly follow me when I didn't know what we were doing.

And so I seek wife counsel. I believe that in anything I do. And so I went to people who had done bigger things than me, people who had owned other market centers, who had been at other companies because I'd only been at one company my whole career. So the wise counsel is what I relied on and leaned on. And then I pulled those people in and that's when I made the decision. I think those people saw what EXP could be because I just didn't have that history. And I had to rely on them and support them and we're like, okay, well, this is cool.

We all own this. We all have stocks. So we'll just build together. I never thought we would do what we've done. It's been a pleasant surprise for sure. And it's been a whole lot of fun. and I'm having more fun the last nine and a half years than I have my whole career. I want our listeners to really listen to what Elizabeth just shared.

She talked about influence. Really, that's what she's talking about, is influence. Incredible, positive, outgoing influence. And that's so important today. I know when we hear influence, we think social media, but influence is so much deeper than social media. And that's really what you did. You built your entire life on,

being an incredible influencer, and this is why people follow you. Yeah. Okay, let's move on to another topic. And again, I just want to remind listeners, if you like what you're hearing, you need to subscribe to that button at the bottom of your screen. Let's talk a little bit about the underdog, the underdog, and of course, I believe everyone is an underdog.

Do you have an underdog moment or a story, or can you relate to the underdog DNA? Elizabeth and totally relate to it in so many different ways and I and it feeds into your insecurity and feeds into your less than and it's a little negative voice that you just have to quiet some time and and and you have to put yourself in rooms and situations where sometimes people other people have to believe in you more than you believe in yourself and that's where I've been fortunate and so people have done that for me all my career and I want to do that for others as

well because I can see potential people see potential and us when we have our limiting beliefs and we have our blinders on sometimes we don't. I mean, EXP is a brilliant example. We've got, what, almost 90,000 agents worldwide in 27 countries, which is unbelievable. I'm the number six growth leader in this company. And for the longest time, I didn't feel like I should be in that role or I should be in that position. And others allowed me to feel that way, right?

because I didn't earn it. That's interesting that you didn't feel that you should be in that position. Well, because people, and I listened to it, people didn't think I deserved to be there. I had earned that position or I got lucky, right? People love to see if you have success in any way, you were lucky. And I let that, I let that seep in a little bit. But what I realized the last year or two, and by the way, I'm one of two females in the top 10 of this company.

So I'm already a little bit of an underdog, right? There's only two of us. And I let that quiet me for a little bit until I realize, no, my voice is important. I am a strong female. I love to empower other people. I'm a producer. I'm the only one with nine icons in five transactions, Randy. I'll have my 10th.

Wow. And my transactions are under contract. I just have to wait for them all to close. So by Q1, I'll have my 10th. Nobody's done what I've done. And so I was comparing myself to others, and this is why I say, comparison kills joy, because it's a reminder of others, but it's also a reminder to myself. And people kept telling me for the longest time, oh, you were lucky, you were lucky,

you got in early. It was like getting in early wasn't necessarily lucky. It was hard when we were building this company. It was hard when we were putting tracks in front of the train, not knowing what any of us were doing, and just trying to have faith. And like Glenn says, you know, if it's not broke, break it and fix it and figure it out. And it was fun doing that. But not everybody can have that stamina, right?

Or has that desire to do those kind of things. And it was exciting for me. But for so many years, I kept hearing, you're lucky, you're lucky, you're lucky. And I finally believed I was lucky. And then I realized, no, I'm not lucky. If I hadn't built my reputation and built my business in the way that I had all those years, if I hadn't taken the paths I had taken, I would have never had the opportunity to be put in a position where I could make the decision to come to this company, where I could make the decision to go talk to people who helped build and grow this company.

Gene Sprederick was my team leader. He was retired when I approached him, but I approached him not to recruit him. I approached him because I believed in what he had done in the past, and I needed, again, wise counsel. If I hadn't been a top producer in his market center, built the business I'd built, if I hadn't done any of those different things, I would have never earned the right to sit down with him for him to listen to me. So I realized I'm not lucky. I've just made a lot of mistakes over my career, and I've learned from them.

And instead of letting that define who I am, it's fueling me forward to make different decisions to find the results and the outcomes that I want. So for the longest time, I was the underdog. I was less than. And other people might not have felt that way, but I felt that about myself, and I had to get past that. Well, I got goosebumps, you sharing that with me. And the underdog theme is so strong in my life. I've been a serial underdog my entire life.

But here's the cool thing that you shared with us is that a lot of people say I'm not an underdog, but they just haven't put themselves in a room, in a room where they are the underdog. You've got to challenge yourself. You've got to put yourself in rooms that you don't know if you should be in that room because that's when the underdog DNA spirit comes out and makes you that person that can fight through the challenges,

the hardship, the adversity. So I really appreciate you sharing that. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate you asking because it's sometimes, When we're on podcasts or being interviewed and things like that, we talk about, I don't want to say the fluff, but the high level thing, right? And, you know, you don't really get vulnerable and you don't really get questions where it's like, okay, where have you failed? I mean, so many times people just talk about the successes and we're so good at showing off the successes.

I was on a training with about 80 people earlier today, and I was speaking on that about something. And I got a message afterwards, and she's like, oh, my gosh, thank you for sharing all you shared because I always see you a superwoman and you have it all together. And I'm like, okay, why do we feel like we have to make it look like we have it all together? Right. So I think there's lessons in everything we do, and we just have to listen for the lessons, and you have to put yourself in different rooms, and you have to get uncomfortable, because on the other side of being uncomfortable is the growth. Yeah.

Vulnerability is such an incredible gift when used correctly. And so he just shared that, you know, being vulnerable, like sharing that, I've made mistakes. didn't do it this way. I should have done it that way. And so thinking about vulnerability, if you could go back to your younger self, is there anything that you would have done differently or that you appreciate that it ended up being like that? So I've got a few of those crucible moments in my life that I would never change, but people go, why wouldn't you change that? You almost lost your life or you did this or you did that. No, no, those were what shaped and formed who I am today. Anything that you want to share about that? Yeah, I mean, I can,

there's so many things we could. I mean, that could be a whole other series, right, for all of us. I had an interesting upbringing. My parents were divorced. My dad was military, but my parents were divorced, and my mom and my stepdad, we were in Wyoming at the time. I was born in California, lived Texas, anyway. It's a whole thing, but my parents got divorced and we moved to Wyoming. And when we were there, my mom took in, I remember still, his name was Gentry, their first foster child, because there was a need for foster child. children in in central Wyoming. And over the years, in 20 years, my parents had 140 foster children.

And in the moment when our first foster child, Gentry showed up when I was in second grade. And I still remember this to our day. And it was fun, right? You've got a new playmate. You've got a new brother, blah, blah, blah. But over the years, when you get all of these foster children in and out of your home and you get the high risk cases and you get these things and you're still growing up and you still need your mom and you're still trying to figure it.

out and preteen and all the awkward years, but you don't feel like you have the right to raise your hand and say, hey, I'm here too because these children have so many needs. And I know I was bitter for a long time. I didn't feel like I had any value. I was like, okay, I get it. And I felt very selfish for feeling that way. But over, and then I moved to live with my dad for a year when I was in high school and I ended up staying in and going to college and things like that. But as I grew up and as I was an adult and especially as I was a parent. I looked back and all those years for so many times so many years I would say oh my gosh I wish I had just a normal childhood but I recognized my family had a lot of love to give we didn't have a lot financially or I mean true story

I cannot eat spaghetti or pancakes to save my life because that's what we kind of lived on right or peanut butter and jelly no thank you but we had a lot of love to give and looking back my mom was a servant leader. And I didn't realize what that was. I didn't know what a servant leader was until I recognized that looking back. And I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful for those hard times. I mean, it was hard. We didn't have anything like all the things, but I'm grateful for that because I see a lot of how I am and how I approach my business and my agents and my community from those lessons growing up. I was homeschooled, right? And I hated that. until I recognize the lessons that I learned from that.

And so I wouldn't change any of that because I think if I would have changed that, how would that have changed who I am today? Right? I don't know. So I just, instead of saying, well, I wish this could have been different, I wish this could have been different. No, I'm just figuring out, okay, what was the lesson in that moment? What did I take away from that?

And how can I be better? Or how can I impact others in a positive manner because of it? Wow. You know, the underdog spirit is alive and well, and it's well deserved. I would say you have a noble dog spirit, not an underdog spirit. Well, thanks. Oh, I love that. Thanks for sharing that. So powerful, so powerful. So let's move on to the next section of the podcast. And again, subscribers, like, gosh, that was worth just the weight of just coming, that one segment. So please subscribe. Let's talk a little bit about.

sales mindset. And I mean, you've touched on that through your upbringing because I'm sure that all played into who you are, the mindset you have today, the strength that you have within. Real estate is a mindset game. It's really challenging at times. How do you tap into that or pull up, pull that from the past and bring it into your day-to-day work today? I just treat people the way I want to be treated. I think if you treat anybody, people just want to be heard and seen and valued. And I think that's really the fundamental of real estate.

Actually, anything we do, or sales. If you listen to people, you don't see them as a transaction, you don't see them as a commission, you don't see them as anything else but a relationship. And you build the relationship the business is going to come. And that's really how I approach it.

I treat each one of my clients, or my goal is, I should say, because sometimes I fail at that too, but my goal is to treat each one of my clients like my one and only client. I want to be responsive. I want to be there. I want to be a resource. I want to be supportive

in whatever they need. Because when you do that, the business is going to come. When you do that, they're going to tell everybody. If you do a bad job, they're going to tell everybody about you. If you do a really good job, they're going to tell everybody about you. I want to be on that end, right?

And that's how I built a relationship referral-based business and everybody's like, well, you've been in the business for 20 years. Yeah, but it's being consistent. I started doing this day once. Yeah, you have to be consistent in what it. Yes, you've got to be consistent in anything you do. So I don't care if you love to knock on doors. Go knock on doors, but be consistent about it.

I don't care if you want to cold call people. Be consistent about it. I don't care if you want to, you know, go and get into the community. I want to be the mayor of my community. I'm really involved in supporting nonprofits and youth and all these other things. Again, probably because of my upbringing. But you just build the relationship and you just be authentic. Don't try to be somebody that you're not.

Don't try to be somebody else's business that you're not. People are going to see right through it. Everybody wants to buy, but nobody wants to be sold. So I just treat, I mean, we all have those people. I see them calling me and I don't answer the phone because they're just going to sell me. Hey, Elizabeth, and you only hear from them when they want something. I talk to my clients or we go to coffee or whatever. I never talk about business.

That doesn't matter. Listen up, people. we're going on a client coffee, but we're not talking about business. It's about building a relationship. That's all it is. If the relationships there, the business follows. And people are always watching you. I mean, that is key. I closed probably in 20 years one of my top three most challenging transactions yesterday. I mean, it was a doozy. And my lender on the deal, he's been the business 20, 25 years. He even said that was the most challenging he's ever done.

So you know when your lender says it's the most challenging one. You know it was something. But what was interesting is they were people that I knew. He's head of a school. My kids are all in their schools, and there's 50 million real estate agents in this school. We all know that many people. He's never been in my database. He's never been in my sphere.

He's in my sphere as a relationship. But I've never ever said anything about, real estate or marketed to him or done anything. Because limiting belief, I assumed, oh, well, he's got a million agents. Like, I know how he interacts with them. Oh, they're a bigger donor to the school. Like, you tell yourself these stories. Why do we do that?

And it was interesting because he sent me a message with his wife. He's like, hey, Elizabeth, my wife and I are looking at selling our house and there's a house we want to buy. We want to meet with you. Okay. So I sat down with them and I said, well, I'm so excited that you. you know, what made you want to meet with me? He's like, oh, we watch you.

We know you're one of the best in the industry and in the city, and we want to work with you. Never crossed my mind. So people are watching you no matter what you're doing, right? And so they recognize when you're serving people at a higher level. They're recognizing when you're showing up just for a transaction or if you're showing up for the relationship. I don't have to talk about business. They all see me. I don't want to say they all, but my goal is, I don't ever want anybody to say,

oh, my gosh, there's Elizabeth Run. She's going to talk about real estate. But I want them all to say, hey, there's my friend Elizabeth. She's also in real estate. You need to talk to her. It's just an easier conversation that way. And that's just my personality. Yeah.

You know, the conversation that I want about myself, and I think this is something we all want is, what's the conversation when you leave the room? what are people saying about Elizabeth when Elizabeth leaves the room? That's the conversation we need to concentrate on. Yeah. And when we can make, I want them to feel better after they met with me than when before I walked in the room. Yeah, absolutely.

And oh gosh, I'm sure glad Elizabeth left the room. No, no. Right. Some of them might say that, Randy. Some of them might say that. My children probably would say that for a minute. Yeah, that's true. Our children do say that.

Yes. Yes. Hey, can you walk us through what a daily routine looks like for you? Because there's many people here that, gosh, I would like to be a 10-time icon agent. By the way, I've been with a company just six years, and I do have six icons as well. So I'm trying to catch up to you, but you just keep going and going and going. You're the Energizer Bunny. I mean, it's actually fun.

And it's just, we're rewarded. And this company is amazing because of that. And so I'm just so incredible. I was doing transactions in my other company. I just got a baseball cap. I mean, this is just so much more fun, and I get to help more people. And I realize, you know, the more money I make in whatever I'm doing, whether it's stock or whatever, the more money I can give away and more people I can bless.

So why not, right? My daily routine, it's a hot mess. It's a hot mess. I mean, I'm going to be, if we're being honest for your listeners right now, it's a hot mess. I mean, I have four children and I have two dogs that I don't really want. that they just kind of brought home. And I have a husband, and I have all these things. And so not every day is consistent for me.

I have to make sure it's on my calendar, though. If it's not on my calendar, it does not happen. I live by my calendar. And one of my friends, my partners, one of my, I would even call him my mentor. He's one of my favorite people in the world. He had an independent brokerage, and he partnered with me a few years ago. And it's been amazing to see what he's done with his business. but Terrence Murphy, if you don't know who he is, he's amazing.

But Terrence was, for a long time, he's like, you've got to time block everything. Time block your time with your kids. Time block, you know, in the afternoons, time block every single thing. I was like, okay, okay, okay, okay. But he's really right. I mean, if I time block things, then I can say, okay, nope, this is where I need to focus because I will do a million things all at once. And I'll get pulled in different directions and people will call me and I want to help them, right?

Oh, Elizabeth, do you have a minute? And that minute turns into 30. And I just have to be more structured. So when you time block, it just makes a whole big difference. My husband helps me quite a bit in the morning. That was a big change. This company allowed me to retire him from corporate America. So he was retired four years ago.

And so now the agreement is in the mornings we get up, get the kids already. But he takes them to school now because I was trying to run them around and do all these other things. But he takes them to school. And that gives me an hour before my day starts to kind of sit down. you know, if I shower that morning or whatever, or go to the gym if I want to go the gym, but sit down and get through emails and everything else before the rest of the day starts. So him stepping in helping me do that has been great. But having to just time block everything, and then after 6 o'clock, I block it.

So that because what was happening is my family was becoming secondary because we do that in real estate. But now instead of that, I can say, hey, guys, they know they're a priority because they're blocked after the family's blocked. But now I can say, hey, guys, I've got this deal I'm dealing with right now. Can I have a little grace and go work in my office? Then they're like, yeah, Mom, because they know they're the priority, right? I had to flip it back around. So now it just is a lot more seamless. It's not perfect.

But, you know, I just take, I joke and say I take each hour as it comes one hour at a time, but really, that's kind of what I do. Well, thanks for being honest, because so many people, you know, they give us the canned approach sure the can answer. And, you know, often real estate is just a big hot mess. It's a hot mess. But I appreciate that you put everything in your calendar and it's so important to block off our family time as an appointment. Something that I've done for years and years is in December, I sit down and I plan out our entire family schedule. Yeah. I pay for the holidays. I pay for them because if you don't pay for them and you're getting close to that holiday moment and you haven't

paid for it while you bail on the holiday you bail on your family so that's just that's smart that's actually smart i've never thought to do that but that is smart because then you find every other excuse or you're too busy or whatever and if you've already paid for it you're committed you're committed all in yeah so i'd really encourage our listeners to do that plan out your holidays however many they are with your family pay for it before uh before the end of the year and now you're committed and what happens is you those are your big rocks those are the things that you just can't wait to get to. And you work so much harder leading up to those big moments because you know you're committed. So anyways, just a little bit of a hack there. Again,

thank you for being here, everyone. And thank you for you being here, Elizabeth. Please subscribe to this great podcast. Well, let's move on to the fun thing, the return on life, which is really what we're all about here. We're about getting more out of life. And of course, we need the return on investment. We need the ROI, but return on life. What does that mean to you, Elizabeth, when you hear that saying? Well, gosh, it means it's allowing me to be more present and create memories and create experiences and just have my people around me and blessing others bigger than I can even imagine bigger than I've been blessed. And so that's why I do this.

But I am huge in bringing people together. I'm a huge connector. Yes, in my business, but like I have a lot of love with my family and having them all come together. But then being able to, you know, just the decisions I've made less other people in a big way, that's what it's about for me. The transactions, I had a hard time with it. Again, growing up with not a lot, when I started seeing success and making it. making money and whatever that means to each person, I had a hard time with that. I didn't know what to do with that.

And I was like, no, no, no, no. I had a hard time with the words. I had a hard time with all of it. I felt like I felt like I was greedy. I felt like, I don't know. It just wasn't a good feeling until I had a mindset. We were talking about mindset earlier. Mindset shift going, hey, the more successful I am, the more people can be successful

because I can bless them in whatever ways that are. that is. So that's why I do it. I love that. I love that. You know, because a lot of people do have that mindset, that limiting belief that they don't deserve it. I just don't deserve this. But listen, look at all the people that you're supporting when you see yourself deserving it and you do accept those opportunities and you do well. Now you can bless others. And I know that you've just recently had an incredible charity event with Matthew McConae. Share a little bit about that. that that was probably pretty incredible and that's all about return on life. Oh my gosh.

Okay, I have this problem. I will admit, I have this problem with live auctions with charities because it's, you know, it's for the kids. It's for the community. It's like monopoly money. And then I'm not competitive, but then I'm competitive, right? Especially in a live auction. Then I'm like, well, I'm not going to let you beat me.

I don't know. I have this. It's a problem. Although I did go to one last weekend and my husband made me sit on my hands. So we did do that. But I won earlier this. year I won this package where Matthew Montconehe would come in and he would talk about his, you know, some of his movies and his, you know, background and all the things.

And I didn't really expect a lot. I'm not going to lie. I didn't really expect a lot. And I read his book or I listened to his book because I was like, what am I getting myself into? And his book is really, really good. If you haven't listened to it, you can read it, but listening to it in his voice is pretty fun.

It's called Greenlights. But so it was just this, I didn't know what I was going to do. with it. I won this thing with Matthew for, you know, three or four hours, and I said, you know what? I'm going to turn this into a celebration and appreciation on that. So I had about 125 clients, some of my agents, some of my community, and we, Austin is the live music capital of the world. And so we have moody theaters and we have all these really cool venues. And so we had it at this cool venue and I had, you know, drinks and food and Jack Ingram is a famous Texas musician. And Jack is really involved in this charity.

It's called MJM Mack Jack and McConaughey. And so I'm like, it serves five different charities. It's so amazing for the community. I was like, Jack, would you come in if I do this event? Would you come in and play some music? He's like, yeah. And so it was a brilliant, beautiful evening. And Matthew just sat up there and talked about some things.

And then he started filling questions from everybody. And so then he was talking about parenting advice and giving back to the community, all these big things. And it was just this huge, full circle, beautiful event that served five different charities in our community. It showed gratitude to all these people who have surrounded me with love and success and support for all these years. And it just, it filled my soul.

And it was funny because one of my agents was like, of course, you would do something like this and turn it around to bless other people. And I'm like, well, that's kind of my world. I'm a connector. So that was a lot of fun, but it served a lot of good for a lot of kids in the Austin area. And you've got four kids of your own. So you must really know what return on life is like with having four active and busy kids. And I mean, I've seen a few of them on social and they're active, busy. and gifted and gifted.

So that must mean that you're having a lot of fun with them. They're busy, yes. And not all of them drive. And so, you know, that's where my husband comes in handy too, because we've got kids in basketball and kids in lacrosse and kids here, there, and everywhere. And I didn't have those opportunities growing up, right? And so I don't want to say no to opportunities.

So I'm like, yes, let's try everything. So if you want to try three sports, we'll figure it out. So I kind of create that. I create that chaos myself, but it's just, it's kind of making up for what I didn't have. Yeah. You know, my wife, Jolene, incredible individual, and she really runs the house. And the return of life I get from that is incredible. Like I've just, we've been together for 40 years, married 38 on it.

Wow. That's amazing. That ROL is just full circle, full circle for me. But can I ask a personal question? on this. Of course. So your husband, of course, being very active internationally working and this and that. Now he's the, you know, Mr. Mom, so to speak, in the household. How, was that a tough transition?

I love that question, actually. Yes. So he was a sales director, executive sales director and international, global for Dell Computer for 25 years. Wow. So, you know, he was doing a lot of big things. And when COVID hit, so three of my colleagues, mentors, very good friends, Mitch Rybeck, Hank Avink, Rich Tomensini, we would mastermind every week. And Hank had talked about a book.

We'd seen him pull back a little bit and he's getting more involved with kids and his family and things like that. We're like, what's going on with Hank? And he's like, I read this book that changed my life. And we're like, okay, great. And he goes, I want you all to read it. We're like, okay, great. And then he's like, no, you guys aren't hearing me. If you don't read it, you're dead to me.

We're like, okay, so we're going to all read this book on Monday. And it was called Die Was Zero by Bill Perkins. And if you haven't read it, Randy, I'm telling you it changed my world. So we read this book, and I came home, and this was COVID. So my husband's working international, but he's not because he's not traveling, right? So he's still up in the middle of the night on the calls, all the things, and he's miserable. Right. COVID was hard for people, but he's in this office and he's miserable.

And I walked in and I said, why are we doing this? And he said, what do you mean? I said, you are miserable. He goes, what's my other option? I said, what if we retire you? Because I read this book. And he goes, I have the benefits. I said, well, EXP has health care.

What if we compare the two? Would you be open to that? He's like, sure. So we compare the two. We meet with the reps and the insurance with EXP was actually better than what Dell is providing. And I said, what if I retire you? And he goes, what would I do?

I said, you'd find your passion. you'd find a relationship with your kid because to be fair he'd been traveling all their years so he didn't really have a relationship with them wow and i said then you'd figure it out so for him it was a hard time because he was like i'm supposed to be the head of the household like you are the head of the household that doesn't mean you have to financially you know bury you know carry that burden i said be the dad to your kids that they haven't had and he struggled with it for a long time um and it was hard having him home all sudden when he was traveling all the time and now he's here all the time but COVID kind of I think

bridge that gap but now I mean he's crazy involved in the schools and the booster club he's on the search committee for the new football coach he's getting to do things that he didn't get to do and my oldest is a freshman in college um I've got boy girl boy girl so my oldest of freshman in college and then I've got my daughter who's a 10th grader I have a 13 year old who's eighth grade and then I have a 6th grade 11 year old my 13 year old when he was in second grade, first second grade was diagnosed with being dyslexic. And so we've struggled all these years trying to help him and give him all these resources. And one of the things we thought would be to get him in Boy Scouts and an Eagle Scout.

Because if you have your Eagle Scout, like that's leadership and all these different things. So we're approaching him a little bit differently. And my oldest son, it broke my heart. Tripp said, hey, dad, if you had been home more when I was younger, do you think we could have done those things too? and we were both like so yeah it was hard but then when you recognize the most important thing is right here at home that he was replaced i mean he retired but he was easily replaced adele like they don't care that didn't change anybody's life so while it was hard in the moment it's been a blessing

and being able to look back going wow why don't we do this sooner and you know it wasn't the time for it. But he had a harder time, I think, mentally until he realized that he had a bigger purpose. Yeah. Wow. That is an incredible share. And the benefits that your children have received from that and your husband. I mean, what incredible benefit, like legacy, legacy benefit. Yeah. It's been a blessing for sure. And one of my biggest, great, you know, one of the biggest things I'm grateful for this company for sure. Yeah. And, you know, real estate can be really, really challenging on families. You know, it's a family killer. If we don't understand it and treat our families with as much respect as we treat our clients and the

business. So we have to really be mindful of that. So thanks. What a great share with that. Hey, thank you for joining me on the Return of Life podcast. I'm excited that you're here. I need you to hit the subscribe button on the YouTube channel and follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, comments, reviews, guests that you think should be on this would be so important for us. So we want to hear from you as well. And of course, we're on all the social platforms where we are always discussing everything that is about.org.R.O.R.L. Return on life.