KGCI: Real Estate on Air - From Grief to Growth Real Estate Journeys and Triumphs Revealed DeAnn Dillard Episode

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Morning Primer is your weekday boost from Mindset & Motivation Monday—quick, focused, and made for agents by KGCI Real Estate On Air. Give yourself a daily mindset reset for the daily direction you need to show up sharp and ready to win.Start your morning ahead of the market and ahead of your competition every day with KGCI Real Estate On Air. SummaryThis episode features an inspiring conversation with real estate leader and coach DeAnn Dillard. She shares her deeply personal journey of overcoming unimaginable hardships—including the loss of a child and divorce—to build a multi-award-winning real estate group. The discussion reveals that true success is not just measured in deals, but in resilience, and that the biggest challenges in life can be the most powerful catalysts for professional and personal growth.Key TakeawaysResilience as Your Superpower: DeAnn emphasizes that in a challenging industry, the ability to bounce back from setbacks is your most valuable asset. The episode highlights how she used her personal struggles to cultivate a mindset of unwavering grit and perseverance.Building a Business from Nothing: Learn how DeAnn went from being a single mom with no real estate experience to becoming a top producer. The discussion reveals her no-excuses approach to building a business by leveraging her hunger to succeed and her commitment to helping her family.The Importance of a Supportive Community: Discover how surrounding yourself with mentors and a supportive community can accelerate your growth. DeAnn explains that she intentionally sought out "big dogs" in the industry, and that she now gives back by coaching and mentoring agents across the country.Turning Adversity into Opportunity: Understand that your greatest struggles can become your most compelling story. The episode highlights how DeAnn's authentic journey resonates with clients and helps her build deep, trusting relationships by showing that she can handle any challenge.Topics:DeAnn DillardGrief to growthReal estate resilienceBusiness mindsetReal estate coachingCall-to-ActionReady to turn your struggles into strengths? Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform and start your journey from grief to growth! Ready for more? Subscribe now and tap into our Always Free Real Estate On Air Mobile App for iPhone and Android, where you’ll find our complete archive and 24/7 stream of proven real estate business-building strategies and tactics. 

Morning Primer, picking up where mindset and motivation Monday left off. No hype, just strategy mindset and direction from KGCI, Real Estate on Air. It's Marguerite, Chris Pillow, and it is time for Real Estate Real World, where we get to talk to all the cool people. And this gal we have today is absolutely no exception. I met her a couple years ago in the pool, I think, when we were at an event, and we instantly started connecting and chit-chatting about life and work and all that great stuff. And I really enjoyed her company.

And so we've been trying to get her on this podcast because I know she has such a great story. So everybody, please welcome Deanne Dillard, a licensed agent since 2009. She began her real estate journey as a single mall at Starbucks, later moving to a new city where she achieved rookie of the year in her first year. Doubling her production in the second year, she consistently earned top selling and top listing agent awards. In 2019, tragedy struck with the loss of her daughter, prompting her to move to San Diego. Joining EXP in February of 2020 under Kyle Whistle, Deanne navigated lockdown challenges with EXP's support, rebuilding her career. She is now a certified mentor and coach, and she leads a local

team in San Diego and a national downline at EXP. Welcome, welcome, my friend, Ian. Hey, Marguerite, thanks for having me. How are you? I'm doing fantastic. How are you doing? Good. Good. Is it a sunny, beautiful day in San Diego today? It actually is. I'm looking out my windows here at the palm trees, swaying a little bit, and it's probably 70 outside. Fantastic. Luckily, I'm in Northern California, and I'm only about an hour and a half, I guess, from Tahoe. But we have beautiful weather in the next couple days, although it's projected to have crazy stuff next week. But that's okay. I'll take it. I know. We're fortunate. I was just talking to my son, who lives down in San Diego, down there. Yep. And we're in the middle of renovating his house because we had water issues, which is from all crazy rains we just had. Yeah. What's funny is he had two incidents happen in the same

week. He had a leak in his house that caused significant damage. We're having to gut the kitchen, master bathroom and all that. And then he took his car to go to the gym the day that they had the massive rains. And he thought he was going through a mud puddle and his car went, whoop, and sunk. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So thankfully, thank God. There was a tow truck driver driving past who hooked the chain to his car and pulled him out because there was water all the way to the windows. It was scary.

That's crazy. Thank God. Someone was watching out for him. The tow truck driver pulled him out. And, of course, they totaled his car because all the electronics and cars now when they flood. They're like, yeah, it was crazy. So, yeah, he's like major adulting right now. And not because he wants to.

No, no. He's like, Mom, oh, my gosh, how do you deal with all this stuff? I said, welcome to adulthood. Yes, what we do. Yep, we get paid in direct proportion to our ability to figure shit out. That would be true. So tell me this. So you got into real estate in 2009.

What actually made you go down that path? My grandpa was in real estate and I was always fascinated with that and I had asked when I was in my 20s like about getting into real estate. He was actually, I have, he passed away, but I have a plaque here that says he was a realtor of the year in 1977. Yeah, but he was like, don't do it. It's too hard. It's too much work and you don't want to get into that. So I didn't. But when back in 2008, I ended up going through a divorce and I had four kids.

And I was a stay-home mom. And I had a friend who said, you should get in real estate. And all you've got to do is just put your picture on a sign and you'll do fine. And he was a mortgage broker. So he was like, well, work together. It'll be great. And I was like, you know what? This is a sign.

I need to do this. I actually reached out to him recently and thanked him for that because we had disconnected after a few years. But I was like, hey, thanks for saying that because that's the reason I did it. And I didn't know what to do. So I hadn't gotten a part-time job at Starbucks. and actually they asked me to be the manager there after just a week. But that's why I was getting my real estate license.

I didn't know how I was going to support my kids. Yeah. And I did a lot of that on my own, but it's been an amazing career. I was able to put all four of my girls through college as a single mom, saw in real estate. That's amazing. That's actually one thing that I love about real estate so much is that you have the freedom.

You could be as successful as you want to be right now, you know? Yeah. And the truth is today, we're recording today, which this won't air today, but we're recording today where it's International Women's Day. Yes, I know. And I love that. I'm like, I need to interviews a lot more women. But that's fun. I love how real estate has given that opportunity to someone like you who was an at-home mom. And maybe I don't know, did you have a whole lot of work experience prior to being an at-home mom?

I had. When I was 18, I had a real person's job. I didn't go to college. I ended up going to a trade school. But I actually dropped out of high school. And then I end up going to trade school and becoming the Valley Victorian of that. But then I just went to work for the county. My parents had worked for the county.

I went to have a real job of the county. But after I was having all these babies, I just couldn't do it all. So I ended up staying at home. And so it had been a long span before I had worked. That's amazing. And so you've now been in real estate since 2009. And you had been at a few different companies before EXP or? I had. Yeah, I started an independent brokerage and honestly, I didn't know what I was doing whatsoever.

And they were the number one in the area. But at that time, there was no mentorship or training or coaching. I didn't know anything. I had a really nice gentleman who helped me learn how to write contracts. And he's like, write a letter and send it out to people like a farm. I was farming land. And that's about all the help I got. So I googled my way through how to do this thing.

And interestingly enough, you started like literally at the bottom of the market. Yeah. I didn't even know. In history, you started in the worst market in history, which honestly, I feel like the people who did start during that time actually learned how to work, right? Like you had to hustle. You had to figure it out. You had to do things differently because it wasn't like this insanity market.

had the last few years where all you had to do was blink and you had transactions. Like, you really had to, you had to figure stuff out. 100%. And I feel fortunate for that because I didn't know it was a bad market. I didn't even realize what was going on because I was so new. I was like, this is how it is. And if I would have gone in, it would have been like the super easy thing. You know, you don't survive. You don't have all that experience having to work really hard. It's just hand it to you. I sold 12 houses that first year. I thought, I can sell one a month. that shouldn't be too hard. And I didn't realize at the time that was really good for what was going on at the time.

Yeah, it's interesting because I think a lot of these people over the last few years, they don't have any concept of what it's like. And I've said this many times on my show. I said, we right now have an entire generation of real estate agents and, frankly, consumers who for the last 14 years have not seen a challenging market or a down market. So you can say I've been in business 10 years, but you still have never lived through the challenging times, the times where you really have to figure stuff out and you really have to hustle. So I know that we're seeing a big exodus of agents leaving the market. And a lot of those are ones who never learned the basics, right?

Yes. So what are some of those basics that you have done and that you do now to build and grow your business? it's funny you ask that because I talk to agents every day a lot of them and I have a lot of newer agents in my organization and they're struggling right now. This is a very difficult time again and there's so many new people and they're like wow, this is really hard. Yeah, it really is. But if you can establish a business right now and stick it out, you're going to be golden in a year or so when things turn around. But now, You have to get in there and build a foundation.

Right? You can't just go and say, I have all these buyers and I'm going to go write all these offers. Like they were two years ago, they have to build a business and not just be a real estate agent. Yeah. Yeah. They have to treat it like a business, like they're an entrepreneur, establish the foundations of what it looks like to build a business. How am I going to get clients? How I have to be super consistent with my follow up and have a strategy and a system put together for your buyers and your sellers.

I think people were just winging it for so long and you just can't do that anymore. For sure. I think back, because I've been doing this, like who's it? Glenda Baker says since Jesus was a baby. But I think back when I first started in real estate and back then we had HUD homes we could sell. They had a program out there where you could buy a home for $500 down, HUD homes. Back then we didn't have the internet and the computers and all that kind of stuff. and we used to literally get a faxed list every three weeks.

And we would take that faxed list and we would cut it all up, put it on paper and copy it. And I'm laughing because yesterday, because we're dealing with all this stuff with our San Diego house right now and the insurance. And I had to call the mortgage lender because I have to send them the insurance checks or whatever. She goes, well, you can fax us the letter. I go, fax. Like, who has a fax machine? I go, do you guys seriously have a fax machine? Like, she goes, yes, that's why I go, you have an outbound fax machine?

Like, you literally put something on a machine and faxed somebody? How are you supposed to fact? Like, where do you go to the fact machine? I don't know. I guess that UPS stores or FedEx or something. Yeah, it has to have. But I'm like, fax system. I'm like, who has a fax?

Give them your pager number? What's so. funny to me is how things have changed so dramatically in the last 30 years back then we figured out how to get these huddless out to people and how to sell homes to people without all the internet and that's going on so everything is figure outable yeah i love that quote she did a whole book on that called everything is figure outable and it's fascinating to me how people just get paralyzed they get stuck they're like i don't know what to do i'm like number one get out of your house. Get out of your pajamas.

I even actually have pants on today because I'm... I do, too. I do too. This is amazing. I don't have just pajamas on. So what are some things that you're doing right now to get business? I'm so glad you asked that because going back to what you're saying about everything being figureoutable is what I tell my agents is you have to learn to pivot all the time because we have no idea what is going to happen. in the market and I've seen that over the last 15 years and you've seen over 30 right like

fax machines like everything is changing all the time so I built my business on farming and open houses and just being the community neighborhood first and when I moved markets and started all over COVID happened and I had to pivot big time I couldn't meet people I didn't know anybody so I started do some community stop and get known the community but it was so slow but because of We are at EXP and we have this great collaboration. I started to build out agent relationships and build a group of people supporting each other with agent-to-agent referrals. So that really sustained me in my second year at EXP, I made more money than I ever made in 10 years previously just through establishing agent-to-agent referrals. So that's a huge part of my business right now is agents all over the country because move up and move-down buyers isn't happening here.

live in a vacation town and no one wants to sell their $2 million house and go and buy something else when they have a 2% mortgage. Exactly. But the move out and move in California people is still hot. Like that happens every day. So I had to figure out what was a new thing that I could do that I hadn't done in the past to keep my business going. And so it just happened to be the referrals that have been working for me since I've been here at EMP.

So what caused you to relocate and what brought you to EXP? So back in 2019, I had always wanted to move to the coast and I was in the desert and it was not the nice desert. But I had a great business there. I had become number one of my and my daughter passed away. So in November 23rd, 2019, she was in a car accident in Palm Springs and she was coming. coming to visit myself and my other daughters for one of my daughter's birthday. Yeah, it was her birthday. And she had just texted me before that she would be there in a few minutes.

And I had kept looking at her location and she wasn't moving. Then I got a call from the hospital that she had been in a crack accident. She was on her phone. So if anybody has kids that get on their phone, it's a huge warning. But she rolled and then she was on life support for about a week. and then she passed away December 1st. And we had always wanted to move to the coast. And my younger daughter finishes high school will think about moving.

And my younger daughter never went back to school after her sister passed away. And it was too hard for her to go back. They were really popular girls. Everybody knew them. And she just couldn't face going back and talking to everybody. So they actually let her graduate because she had enough credits and everything. And they're very compassionate, but it was just too hard for us to be. And yeah, it really was.

And I'm like, we're moving. We're going to do that move that we always wanted to. And I didn't figure out like how I was going to start over. But I'm like, hey, I'm a business person. I can do that. I literally left 28 listings when I left that company. And so I moved San Diego and I was searching out, who's the number one here? Who do I want to partner with?

I don't know this market. And I just need to get with somebody who I can really plug into. And I done my research and I found Kyle Whistle was here. And I had saw him speak at a Tom Ferry event a couple years earlier. And I thought, if I ever get to San Diego, I'm going to reach out to that guy. And so he did. And he was, of course, very welcome and very helpful. I'll support you.

And I joined the XP. I didn't really understand the whole thing. I just saw a lot of people moving there. And this was like four years ago. But what he had shared with me about the collaboration and helping me build a new business is why I vote. First, let me say how incredibly. sorry I'm about your daughter and we've talked at length about that and I'm grateful that we've been

able to have that connection you know that suddenly passed away at 10 but a little different circumstances but it there's no part of it ever changes or is ever easy right like everyone thinks that you know someday you'll get over it or something that I don't think you ever get over it you just you're always going to be different you just learn you learn a new normal right yeah so I wanted to to say that. But the second thing is, Kyle is extraordinary. He's a great mentor and great guy. Yeah. And so I've been here now at EXP eight years. So it's hard to believe. The time has flown. It's really crazy. So in your four years since you've been here, you've now started to focus some energy on building a tribe and building an organization within EXP.

And how has EXP helped you? How has that changed your life? Because the The crazy thing to me that I hear, and I only hear it with EXP, is how EXP has changed people's lives. I don't hear that about other companies. So what are your thoughts on that? It's 100% changed my life. And I don't ever say never, but I'll never leave because of what this company has done for me and what it's still doing for me. But it's just changed my whole look at real estate. And like I said, the number one reason I joined the company was because of the collaboration.

And I had been at several companies before, and I've never, ever had the help that I've had at any other company. Because previously, you meet friends and you have an office camaraderie and all of that, but nobody wants to give you their secrets and nobody wants to give you their time. You are their competition, no matter if they're your best friend in that company, you're their competition. So they don't want to give you their secrets. And it takes time. And there's no incentive for them to give you your time. Right. So it's just a lot different culture. I have friends like you, right? And I have friends on the East Coast all over the country who are my really good friends of this company that I can pick up the phone and call them and say, I'm having this issue. What do you think I should do? And they'll take the time to help me, whether they're in my group organization or not. So that support that I've had here is like none of them. So it takes you from just going into business and trying to figure it out. to fast forwarding, to skyrocketing as fast as you want to go,

because everybody's already giving you the playbook. They're already handing you all the answers here. Take everything I've already worked hard to figure out and do it. Just do exactly what I did. So you don't have to reinvent the wheel. That's number one. And number two, the revenue share in the stock is changing my life and my family's life. And because of going through losing a child,

Like my why is to always be able to support my kids, whatever that looks like. One of my daughters is licensed and they're very much involved in what I do so they see how hard I'm working. I'm like, this is for us. This is for all of us. This is for our legacy. And they'll be able to reap the benefits of what I'm doing today for the rest of their life. So that's my huge why. And I don't see that being an opportunity anywhere else but this company.

I love that aspect of it because. For me as well, having lost a son at a young age, it becomes even more important that you create and leave a legacy for your children that are still here on earth and be able to help support them. And I also love the collaboration within this company and the ability to reach out and talk to anybody. Like this morning, I was on a Zoom call with Tina Call and another like 60 other women. Have you gotten a book worthy yet? I am in the middle of Riniat. So good.

You know, she's a friend of mine that I connect with that events that lives, you know, on other side. You should get in that book club. She has a book club and we meet every Friday at 7 a.m. I'll send you the link. Okay. And it's early for us because it's West Coast. Yeah. I know. I'm like, okay, if I'm going to be on a call at 7 a.m., I'm definitely going to be in my pajamas. So I'm not doing video. So, but it was great to be on that call with women all around the world. and we're a couple guys on there too. And really listening to what they're working on and where things are going. And I just love that.

Like I don't know that I would have had that opportunity somewhere else. Maybe I guess there's other companies out there that do, but not to the level that I've seen. Me either. Like you just mentioned Tina and we've only connected at events, but it's like my long-loss sister, right? And we have these relationships with people everywhere in all. all these states, right? And it's there like your family. Yeah. Yeah. So what's next for you? What are you working on the most right now with EXP and just in your life? I'm hugely focused on building out my organization with other agents and I just have a great passion for that. It's actually becoming more

on the forefront than my production because although the production pays the basic bills, it's so rewarding. I talk to agents all day, every day. And to be able to coach the them through whatever it is, their goals are, we're coaching to what they want to do and being able to see the blind spots like that because I've been doing this for so long and say, we should do these things and see them like life, I'll go off, go, oh my gosh, no one's ever told me this before. I've been struggling.

And now I'm with someone who's going to take the time to help me and to help me reach my goals and the production that I want to be in. So that's been huge for me. That is where I spend a lot of my time is. sharing the opportunity with agents and just looking for those who are looking for an opportunity. And we're in an accountability group, right? Which is a lot of fun. And I love being in that group because I love to see the successes of others and the collaboration and kind of the back and forth on what is working, what's not working.

And what I love about that accountability group is none of us are really in each other's organizations. Some of us are some aren't, but most of them are not in the same organization, but they're all willing to help and grow because we all benefit as a company when we do that. It's a different vibe, right? Have you ever been involved in something prior where everybody wants to help you and they're not holding back, even though they're not actually incentivized? It's just if the company wins, we all win. We're all owners in the company. And it's just an amazing thing. And I love that group so much. Yeah, I do too. As we wrap up today, any final thoughts? Anything you want to chat about else before we wrap up? I'm just really thankful that we met in the pool in Vegas, I think. I think it was Vegas. Yeah. And I definitely need another pool weekend. So I'm actually trying to get down to San Diego in the next month or so because I need to go down and see what my son is doing to the house in San Diego.

Let me know because we definitely need to have a date. Yes, I definitely want to do that. My only dilemma you laugh and people on air can laugh at me or not, send me comments, hate or whatever. I have a electric comer. And so the dilemma is it's a nine-hour drive from where I live to San Diego. And I would love to just fly down except my son is like begging me to bring the Hummer down so we can take it, you know, drive it around. And I said, okay, but I got to figure out where I can charge it. Right.

Where I can find a supercharger so I can stop along the next. It's really like you have to plan that trip pretty in detail, right? Exactly. I can't just hop off and go. So I know that my other son is coming down the end of March because they're, so both my boys are DJs. I think we talked about this before. Yes.

Both my boys are DJs. And so they're doing a show, I think March 22nd or 23rd or something like that. They're doing a show down there. And so I wanted to go down for that. But there also, it's the EDM music, which is really loud and headbanger. so I know all about it. I'm not sure. I'm going to actually go to the show.

I go, I'm going to have to get really good headphones. You just go for a minute. You can go for a little bit. Yeah. But I'll be coming down in the next month or so. Yeah, I'm just really thankful to connect here and that we connected in Vegas. And then we keep connecting in these other groups. And then it's just like a big family that I'm meant to be.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate your time and love your story and I look forward to seeing you soon. All right. Thanks, Margaret. So thank you again for joining us on Real Estate, Real World. Go out and make it an amazing day.