KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Starting Over at 55 How Faith, Resilience & AI Built a Global Real Estate Empire

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

Summary:Is it ever too late to build a legacy? This episode tells the extraordinary story of a real estate visionary who reinvented themselves at age 55, proving that experience combined with modern technology is an unstoppable force. We explore the "Second Act" mindset, the role of unwavering faith in navigating professional collapse, and the tactical integration of AI and Automation to scale a local business into a global empire. This is a masterclass in resilience for anyone looking to pivot, scale, or start over regardless of their age.

I just ask God, open my Red Sea and help me get out of the situation I'm in, walk away, clean, and start fresh, and I'll be the woman that I was destined to be. During that moment or that stage, was there a moment where you realize that it isn't a setback, but maybe a redirect? That was exactly what I saw, but I knew that was the mission. today we're doing something special we're flipping the mic you've heard kathy burns bring countless success stories to life here on real estate riches but this time it's her turn to share her own story from starting over at 55 with nothing but faith and a few collectibles to building a thriving

global real estate business kathy's journey is one of pure courage growth and empowerment Kathy, I've been so excited for this one. Are you ready to flip the script and share your story? I am. I'm excited. Amazing. So let's start right at the beginning because your story isn't just about real estate, right? It's about reinvention.

You made a huge move from Michigan to North Carolina at 55, leaving behind a big lifestyle and starting from scratch. That takes a lot of guts. What was going through your mind at that point? You know, were you scared or more excited for what was next? I was living in a lifestyle, although it was luxurious, and I had cool cars and a beautiful home, traveled all over the world. It wasn't a good life.

It was the relationship wasn't good. A lot of things were, I didn't like who I was, mostly. And I thought, well, I'm going to start life over. My daughter had recently moved to North Carolina, and I called her up and I said, I, if I come, if I leave my guy, can I come and stay with you? I've got no money. And I don't know what I'll do, but I'd really like to start over. And she goes, come on down, girl. And that's what I did. And I was giddy. I had no idea what I was going to do. I had no, I had $600, a little over. And I had no idea what I was going to do. But I knew that I would do it. I was a recent born-again Christian for the second time.

And I just ask God, open my Red Sea and help me get out of the situation I'm in, walk away, clean, and start fresh, and I'll be the woman that I was destined to be. And that's what he did. That's amazing. And, you know, you just mentioned now, you said you were giddy to start over. And it's such a powerful mindset to have. Yeah. What gave you that excitement when most people would have felt fear?

Well, I've started over a couple of times before. I was a single mom for most of the time that I raised my kids by choice. And I'd had businesses before. I also did estate planning for 23 years, but I really didn't do it strong toward the end. And I thought I could use the skills. And I didn't do it strong toward the end because I was living the, this large lifestyle, I didn't need to work. So I didn't. And what I did is I trapped myself. And I recognized the trappings that I did to myself. I'm not making any blames on anybody else

other than taking responsibility for the choices that I made. And I'm not really mad at myself for those choices. I'm saying they were lessons learned. And so I knew that I could start over again. I knew I could figure something out. I didn't know what I would do, but I knew I could do something. I love that. And let's talk about those first few months living with your daughter. How did that shape the person you became next? Well, I think it more shaped my daughter who was very stressed because she had had, she just started in the mortgage industry, which was straight commission. So she had a home to pay for and I brought no money. Well, I was getting unemployment and minimal. And I was used to living large.

So I would go like to the local loz and I would redecorate her closet or I would get bird seed and she would be going, girl, you got to get out there and get a job. So our roles really flipped and I was just so happy to be starting over and it didn't really do much. But I actually started, I got my insurance license because I had done that before in Michigan and I worked for this company helping them with insurance policies and they did trust. it turned out that they were bad people. And so I recognized that fairly early on. And so I called the state commission and I said, you know, these guys are really hurting older people throughout the

state. And they said, is it illegal? And I said, no, I said, but it's immoral. And they said, we don't handle that. I said, who does? They said, the attorney general. So I took it to the attorney general of our state and I said, you need to shut them down in all seven states that they're in. I have tons of ammunition where I can give you in deposition. And we did that. So once we did that, my daughter said, okay, that's it. You got to go to work because you are not making any money and the bills are piling up and I am stressed.

So I got my real estate license and started with Kolo Banker. Amazing. So, you know, it sounds like that chapter really grounded your purpose before everything else began, right? Yes. So from there, as you mentioned, you jumped into real estate in 2006, right? as the market was climbing, what drew you to the second home in lakefront market in particular? Well, I think my financial planning and just, I'd had another business even prior to that.

I knew how to figure out a niche. I knew how to figure out my target market within that niche, the price point and everything. I'm from Michigan, which is the state of a thousand lakes, and we are on a man-made lake, which is very different here. And I thought, well, lake people, Lake people have typically some extra money. Either it's a cottage that they're buying on the lake as a second house. And so I would target the lake properties because I wanted to be on the lake myself,

right off the bat. Of course, I didn't have any money. But I figured out, I figured out how to get a rental. Once I started to get my sales going, I was really excited because I got a rental property on the water, but remember the market, now the market had turned. So there were short sales like crazy and there was this little rehabbed garage turned apartment on the water for $1,200 a month.

And I'm like, yay, I didn't have that $1,200 at that point. But I had a big deal that was about to happen. It was a $700,000 sale. And when 2007 hit, that whole deal blew up and I had already signed the lease that I was going to move in there. And I negotiated that it was a short sale, meaning the guy was either going to go into foreclosure or they're going to try and sell it short. And I knew that I was going to have to be kicked out at that point. But they took about a year at that time. And so I negotiated in the lease.

I said, if you sell this as a short sale, and now I have to, we're going to break the lease. You have to pay me $2,000 so that I can go get my next place. And they agreed. And when it got sold, I got that $2,000. and I moved into another little cottage. It gave me proximity to the waterfronts, which is where I wanted to be. And because it's a man-made lake, there's a million rules here. So I had to learn the rules.

And I thought, well, I want to be in proximity to where the people are. And I will just make that my mission. Amazing. And let's build more on that, right? At what point did you realize you were becoming known as the waterfront specialist in your area? Well, that took a while. For one thing, I had to become knowledgeable in it. And there weren't a lot of, there were more people selling those second homes because a second home in that economy was frivolous and they needed to get money out. So by me having proximity to those cottages, and typically they were cottages, because my target market was the $400,000 to $900,000 at that time, those were typically the beater home. the little cottages, not the big mega mansions that are all over there. And so I knew that that would be a good target.

And so I studied the rules of the lake, so I understood it. There's setbacks. There's all these different requirements. And I did my social media based on that. And we didn't have social media to the level that we do. But 2007, you know, you had a Facebook account. And I think Facebook business pages were just starting. And so I did get on there.

I did, because I'm a techie, and I decided to work those Facebook accounts. But also I did postcards. And at one point, I got a golf cart when I lived on the water. And I had it wrapped with my information on, and I would drive all around the area. I love that. I love that. And you've mentioned there's also another great story about classic cars and waterfront buyers.

Well, yes. And that's one too good not to ask about. Can you share more about that? Yes. Well, I'm from Michigan, the Detroit area. I lived in a Gross Point, if anyone's heard of that on here. And Gross Point is where a lot of the automotive executives lived, and it was near the water, lots of parks and stuff.

And so my father was a car nut, so we had cool cars all the time. And so I just grew up loving. cars and when i moved to north carolina the first town i moved to was morseville north car which is known as race city for nascar and so all these nascar guys have classic cars and so i had now moved over to remax and i all these people were losing their homes and the listings that they were trying to sell would stay in the market for a long long time they would go through multiple agents before it would finally sell and so I had a business partner at that time, and I said to her name was Patty.

And I said, Patty, we need to focus in on the one street that we both now live on, which was waterfront. She had a little waterfront cottage that she owned, I rented. And we lived on a street that was a beautiful peninsula that had all these little fingers of waterfront homes with lots of cottages. And I said, we need to every Saturday morning go through all these listings that are expired on that street. And you would think, well, what was that?

one or two? No, it could be like eight. And so we would go, the peninsula was shoot long, very long, hundreds and hundreds of homes were on this peninsula and they would have all these little feathered off. So I said, we're going to create a system. So I created the system that had the property name, the previous agent's name, the original price they started on, what they were at right now. I looked at their pictures. I looked at their property description. I analyzed it and we would write a little thing down at the bottom of my notes so I would know what I could talk about. And we would go call on these homes. We'd go up one side of the peninsula and down the other. And we were just driving in her little car that she had. I can't even remember what it was.

And we would have clipboards that had the realtor symbol on the back and we would go knock on the doors. And many people just ignored us. But our agenda was to go get their contact information. nothing else but an appointment. Well, one day, Patty pulls in in a 65 fully restored vet with side pipes and headers, loud and convertible. I said, oh my gosh, this is the Holy Grail of marketing. Are you kidding me? In this town? So we took off and we went down our first thing. We got our first $1.7 million listing because of that car, because people heard the noise and they came running out their door to see us instead of us begging them to lurking in the windows. Like, come on.

You know, it was great. And from then on, once you get one, you start to get another because now you're starting to get the reputation. And that car was the defining moment. And at the end of the summer, she pulls up in a brand new vet. I go, what the heck's this? She goes, isn't it cool? I go, it's cool, but it's not effective. Now we look like we make too much money, girl.

we're so that and she'd sold it darn it but we built our reputation so that was good I love that and I think that story really resembles who you are right not just connecting people with lifestyle or rather connecting people with lifestyle and not just property yes and let's talk about more about the ups and downs and your turning points you know your path hasn't been a straight line. You've worked with Coldwell banker, remax, smaller franchises, Keller Williams, and now you're with EXP. Yes. And through all those transitions, especially being let go, even while you were a top listing agent, what did that teach you about resilience and knowing your worth? Well, I'm going to start back with God. Remember I said I'd ask God to open that Red Sea? Well, another thing had happened to me back in the

90s where I was personally sued. And it was devastating. It was by our best friend and I had to go through depositions with attorneys for seven hours. And it beat me down where I didn't believe in myself anymore. And I ended up going to a personal development path that got me on a personal development path, which changed my life forever. So that lawsuit was one of the greatest gifts I ever got. And what I learned from that, when I recognized that that was a great gift, that every one of the sucker punches in life, there's a gift in all those sucker punches. And you can get knocked down, but the reality is how quickly can you get back up? Find the gift, learn from it, and go to the next step because they are gifts. And so I started out with Kola Banker. I felt a great company,

but it just didn't give me enough. So I searched out Remax because I'd heard that, you know, leaders were there. I went there. It was a great company for me for seven years. However, No one collaborated. That was the missing piece that I was looking for. So at one point I said to my partner, I said, we could have made $25,000 each more at this brand new little franchise down the street. And a friend of ours was one of the new owners. And so we went over there and we liked it for a minute.

But one of the partners was not a realtor. So he was a businessman versus an entrepreneur. That's a whole different mindset. And so he ran it very different. And him and I, we really clashed. Well, at one point, my business partner decided to go another way. And so now I'm alone with my buyer's agent, who is also our thing. And the owners of the company would leave periodically, and people would lean on me for all their answers to all their questions within the office.

And I said, I'm not a BIC. I can't be doing that for you. And it's not the way it's supposed to be done. I want to do it the legal way. And so I called their integrity and I was quickly let go. And I was one of their top listing agents and I'm like, oh, okay, all right. And they gave me like 48 hours to find a new spot. Well, before I went to that company, I researched all the companies to see where's the best place.

If we're going to leave Remax, where's the best place to go? And I didn't like anything I saw out there. So now I'm really stumped like, what am I going to do? So I called some friends of mine that were very successful. in the industry within this area, Craig Lepage and Shelly Johnson. And they had a team called Lepage Johnson. And I said, I don't know what to do. And they said, well, just come over to KW because that's where they were and just sit by us,

get settled, because also the same time I had gone to get my mother from Georgia who had dementia and bring her to the area and try and address that scenario. So there was a lot going on personally. And so it was challenging. And KW actually offered me a coaching position over there for their new agents. And I took a look at it and I didn't feel that it offered very much to the agents. I saw that their net was going to be around 38% after they paid me. They took their splits.

And these new agents weren't going to get valuable information in that coaching because I was going to be following their program. And their technology was really weak. and as I said, I'm a techie. So that bothered me. And from an ethical perspective, I thought, I can't do this, even though I needed the money. And so I told him, no, thank you. I didn't tell them that degree of why. And I ran into my buddy, Craig LaPage and Shelley Johnson at lunch.

And they said, will you join our team and be a mentor on our team? And I go, well, let's talk numbers, people. And so we did. And it was great. and I went over with them, which I respected them. I wanted that connection. And two weeks later, they said, we're going to EXP. I go, well, I never heard of it.

I got enough going on in my life. If you guys believe in it, I'm going. And so I did. And it was the greatest real estate business decision I've ever made by going over. And the collaboration that I didn't have at any of those other places was suddenly there on steroids. And that was just the beginning. I love that.

during that moment or that stage, was there a moment where you realize that it isn't a setback, but maybe a redirect? Yes. Well, and that's, that was exactly what I saw. You know, and I recognized it right away. Remember, I had a background in financial planning. So I saw the stock that EXP had. Now, they weren't publicly traded yet, but I knew that was the mission.

And the collaboration was so strong of people that were in this company, sharing their wealth that I felt, man, they're going to help level me up in my business, things that I don't know what to do, and I can help them with tech if they don't know tech. And then I saw the RevShare, which was the residual income part. Now, at this point, I think I was 67. So I'm 67 years old. I still see myself putting signs in the yard until I'm in well into my 80s, because my nest egg has never had a chance to really grow.

And I'm like, ha, this is a bit concerning, right? So I'm 67. We join EXP. And I'm like, I'm thinking, what is this residual income all about? Well, it was about sharing what you just, sharing the company with other agents that you thought might benefit from it. And I recognize that this was very similar to network marketing that I had been in before where I'm trying to pitch a product of like magnets or skincare or. or whatever nutrition that I failed miserably at. And because they always had to keep rebuying it,

I'm thinking, wait a minute, if everybody's selling real estate and we're all just sharing something that's really good, they're going to stay, many of them well. And I could build a residual income and I can get stock for bringing people over and I can get the stock at a discounted price on my commission. So if I had to pay my taxes because they were due and I didn't have the cash, but I could liquidate the stock. I just been developing, man, I thought I'd just sound paradise.

And my first thought was, I have hope. I have hope. I may not be in the yard at 80 years old. It was so exciting. And you've called XP your endgame. Yes. So as you mentioned, you know, stock, revenue share, and global opportunities all rolled into one. What does that look like for you now?

And what's the bigger vision you're chasing through the model. Oh, boy. It's so big. So when they started going into all these other countries, I thought, well, I'd like to go into other countries. This is a way for me to travel and write it off. And if I could build an organization globally, because I was already in, at that point, I think I was in around seven states that I had brought people to EXP, which is interesting. Remember, I'm on a team, but I could build my own business. That was big. And that's what I saw too. I could build my own business, being on a team, still be in production. And I thought, boy, I really like Portugal. I want to, I'm going to go to Portugal. And so I just started, they just launched

in Portugal. It was brand new. I went on LinkedIn and I said to somebody, I don't know what I said other than I'm looking for a realtor in Portugal. And this particular woman who turned out had a luxury firm over there responded with, I can help you. And we started talking. She said, well, I'm coming to the states and I'm going to do a road show all about Portugal. I said, when? And it was like in a couple weeks. And I said, where? And it was in West Palm, which was a quick flight from North Carolina. And I thought I could use my points. Drop down there, spend the night. Maybe it'll cost me a hundred bucks. I'm interested in this. So I went online and I did all kinds of marketing locally, I said, anybody want to know about buying in Portugal? I said, I'm going to go meet a lady

that's going to tell me everything. So give me your name, your phone number, and your email, so I can give them to her, and you guys can connect. So when I flew down there and met her, first of all, she was blown away that I would do that. Then I gave her 22 leads, which really knocked her socks off. So she took me to lunch. And we talked about all that stuff. I said, I have no idea how good these leads are. But they're an opportunity for your people to call. And we started talking about AI, because AI was pretty new for me. I started it about two and a half years ago, and she didn't even know what I was talking about. And then we started talking about virtual assistance because she was saying she was overwhelmed with all the extra work that her team had to do.

And I said, I can teach you how to hire a VA. I'm trained in that. I hire them myself. I teach other agents how to hire VAs out of the Philippines. And I said, and I could teach your whole office all about AI. I could do a Zoom call. Would you like me to do that? She said yes. So we were becoming fast friends. And my goal was to hopefully introduce her to EXP. Not that she would necessarily come. This was a testing ground. But I'll tell you, she came very close. And actually her general manager decided to come over and he is in my organization and he is the country leader for Portugal. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. So now you're doing this globally, you in 11 states and two countries, while literally traveling the world as well as you mentioned. How does that kind of freedom

feel after everything that you've been through? Oh, I can't tell you. Well, first of all, I went to Lisbon and I invited her to come to and JM, her general manager, So she got to meet all these people, but I got to meet all the different people that were already in EXP internationally. So I started making connections. And one of the first things that they said at that event was think bigger. And I thought, I thought I thought big, but I'm not thinking big enough. So I'm going to start thinking bigger. And remember, I'm getting a year older all these times as this is happening.

And I'm more invigorated and on fire in my life because of what I'm able to do. And so for me, I have two missions. One is to find high net worth individuals in the United States who want to purchase property globally where I can connect them because I've become an incredible connector globally. I have lots of people all over the world that aren't just agents. I've got money exchangers. I've got attorneys for visas and all the different things. Movers, dogs, you name it.

Designers, you name it. I've got them in all the kinds of different things. countries. And so now I changed up my marketing. So in LinkedIn, it would talk about things like that. And the way I weave AI into everything is a big piece. But what it really did for me by thinking bigger was it helped me see how I could empower those people. So that mission of finding places for these different agents also allowed me to find agents who are luxury agents in these different countries who may not know about DxP and I could expose them to that and bring them DXP, expand my organization, have win-win for everybody and it's been amazing.

I love that and it sounds like you know you've built a career that serves your life now, not the other way around. Yes. And what would you say to agents who think that kind of balance is impossible? Oh, here I am at 75 people. Hello, wake up. It's everything is mindset. It always starts with mindset. Remember, I was giddy when I drove away in a beater car when I was used to a really nice cars. And I was excited because when you change your mindset of what your opportunities can be, first of all, you attract opportunities to you. Your subconscious is a powerful thing. If you don't believe you will, you won't. But if you believe you will, you will. And I was clueless. I also never wanted to be a realtor because my mother was one. And I'm

I saw how busy she was. I did not want to do that. And I have been possessed with real estate ever since I got into it. And it has changed my life. Also, remember I'm a car girl? One of my vision cars on my vision board, which I do every year in December for the new year, has always been a 65 Shelby Cobra. For car people, you'll know what I'm talking about with side pipes, stick shift, great stereo in there. I got her four years ago. I got my baby. And I, that car charges me and I use it as a marketing tool, not because I'm like showing off my car. I'm saying dreams can come true when you put your mind to it, when you pursue it, change your attitude. I didn't know how I was going to get that car.

I always knew I'd get it. I waited 20 years. And when I said, let's do it. It was so exciting. And I'll be driving her today because it's a beautiful sunny day. I love that. And I love the inspiring, the inspiring mindset you've had. throughout this, no matter what life's thrown your way.

And you've also stepped into a new chapter as an AI coach. You've written an e-book. And you've also focusing on empowering others. What inspired you to start giving back in this way? I got that word. First of all, I got a word back when I was sued and I was going through that personal development startup. And the word was Kaizen, which is a Japanese word basically that means little improvements.

every day. And somewhere along the path, I have that in everything that I do, because I'm a believer in lifelong learning in every aspect. And it just charges me. But the other thing is empowered, I want to be empowered, but I am so much in love with empowering other people. So when I first moved here, my very first license plate is empowered. And I still have it on one of my cars. and I taught an AI class last Friday. It was an hour long. It was meant to be. But they still had questions.

I ended up going two hours because I loved it. I loved it. And it just stayed in there. And what I know for a fact is there's too many agents out there that have no clue what they can do with their business. And I know I feel like just this much. And yet I know so much compared to so many. and I want to share that.

I want to empower them. I want agents to succeed, especially agents that I've brought into EXP because I want them to be successful and feel what I feel. I want them to have bigger than me, which would be great. And that's the beauty of what you can at EXP.

Everybody can surpass the other guy. It's not like a pyramid scheme that somebody believes it might be. It is so powerful to just grow, grow. All of us can do it. And you just mentioned now one of your car's license plates is empowered. And that really says it all. What does being empowered mean to you today?

For me, I am charged up about all the opportunities. Like we just went to EXPCon in Miami, EXP's convention there. And they announced something like six new things that they were doing. and EXP is the most agent-centric company I've ever experienced, but they're also the number one tech company. Well, first of all, we were the first meta company in the cloud. And because it happened, especially when COVID hit, we were so far ahead of the game with our business.

It was incredible. So it is, for me, EXP empowers me with all the new technology, with all the training, with all the collaboration. I love going to the events. I won't miss them because you just get connected on steroids with people. It's just like that woman I was telling you that I met in, I can't remember if I told you or the last one I was on, but there was a woman I met in Barcelona at this year's international one.

She is from Atlanta. No, Austin, Texas. Anyway, point being is you just make connections all over the world. this business as in anything is about connections. I had a woman call me from France yesterday who heard me on a summit that I was invited onto to be a speaker about AI and how I use it to build my LinkedIn. So I was really honored to be on there

and she reached out and booked an appointment with me in my calendar and I thought, oh, are you trying to solicit something? Who are you, lady? And so I looked her up and she was a really impressive attorney out of France, only works with ultra-high net worth people, and she was giddy to speak to me. And I said, are you talking about me? She saw my story, a little brief story that I put on LinkedIn about the path of starting

over at 56, you know, 55-56. And she said, I am that age right now, and I want to start over. And so she wants to come to bring her book of business that she already has to EXP with me in North Carolina and with our co-sponsor thing, I said, I can get a boots on the ground with you in Rome. And so we're coordinating that right now. But how about that? That's empowerment. I love that. And it just shows, you know, with people seeing your story, the content that you're putting out there and, you know, ultimately reaching out you and wanting to connect, just proves how you've inspired so many people. What advice would you give to any

listening who might feel stuck, you know, starting over later in life or even afraid to make a change. I get, I guess I get that and yet I don't. It's hard for me because I just, I'm a bull and a China just, you know, I just charge after whatever I'm going after. So when someone says that I, I have to really step back and put it into perspective for me, because I do know that lawsuit, like I was saying, beat me down so low that I might, my income back in the 90s was 60,000 I was making a year, dropped to 10. I was a single mom trying to raise my kids. They were both in private schools. I was about to lose my house and about to lose my car because of my attitude.

Because I lost all belief in me. And I managed to get down to this personal development place that started to change how my mindset was. And it wasn't woo-woo stuff. It was about self-talk. because I let those attorneys get into my head that I was garbage. I wasn't garbage. It was the client that was actually the one who pulled the thing up, but I let them beat me up. And I think so many of us get beat up by other people, by circumstances, and we need to just step back and start paying attention to our own self-talk.

One thing that they, this was the McRane Self-esteem Institute, and it was William McRane was the founder, and he's passed on. but he had a yo-yo and he'd say now do that yo-yo and you'll see that it can stay down low spinning spin in and all you have to do is one tweak and it'll come back up and goes you can let it spin for a little while but it's you better do that tweak pretty sooner it's going to spin out and i i love anchors like that so i surround myself with anchors and i every time i see a yo-yo i'm like okay can't stay down here too long and i have lots of them i have a little pewter train that's got Kathy with a little engine and a caboose on the end, and it's meant to represent the little engine that could.

And so they gave us a book about the little engine that could, and I bought a train that had Kathy with a little engine, and I keep that in my bedroom. So things like that, surround yourself. Do a vision board of what you see. Put your picture in that vision board. This is the perfect time of year to do it. 2026 is going to be the year,

but lay it out in balance. So all the things, not just your work, your family, your community, your health, your faith. I have Jesus in the center of mine, and it's right above my desk, and that is how I empower me. That's really powerful, Kathy. And it's like you're reminding people that is never too late to rewrite their story. No. You've gone from restarting your life at 55 to leading a global network and empowering agents all over the world.

What's next for you right now personally or professionally that has you, feeling really excited? Because I am on that mission to get these high net worth clients connected to me, I am doing a lot of marketing on that path. And I'm using AI a lot in this. I went, I created a GPT. For those of you don't know what that is, that's in chat GPT, where you create a specific prompt with a specific set of goals. And this woman, Carrie Sovey, who speaks about AI all over the world, especially to realtors. I saw her in Barcelona and I know her and she got off stage. I'm in the front row because I always like the front row. I like that energy. And she says to me, I just build a board of directors GPT. I go, what? That sounds interesting. So I knew how to build a GPT. I'd taken a class on it.

And I'm on the plane home. I'm building my GPT. And I have 11 people on my board. It starts with Jesus. but I've got Steve Jobs, Tony Robbins. I've got Richard Branson. I thought for fun, but he turned out to be my marketing guy within my board of directors, which was amazing. I've got 11 different people, again, with that balance, personal development, all those different things. And so I went to it a couple weeks back, and I said, all right, board, here's my challenge.

I said, I've got these two missions, outgoing. high net worth referrals and attracting agents for those high net worth referrals so that I can build a global organization, right? I said, and I want to do this LinkedIn newsletter, and I've got four of the things to do. I don't know where to begin, which one should take priority. And they said, okay, Steve Jobs is stepping up. I go, what? All right. What Steve got to say? And so it said, you've got too many things on your play, Kathy. You're too messed up. Well, I have ADD, and that's why I went for help. And so he said, no, of those projects, tell me what is the importance of each one. So I'm responding back.

And he goes, okay, we're going for the LinkedIn newsletter. I said, okay. I love marketing, but I don't know how strong I am. It was, okay, we're bringing up Richard Branson now. I said, Richard Branson, I thought of him for fun, but he goes, but then I realized, what am I talking about? He's a maniac in marketing. So they brought him in.

So now we started to build our very first newsletter, which, I don't know if you know about newsletters on LinkedIn. Your very first one goes to every single one of your connections. I have over 12,000 connections, many of which are realtors and high net worth people. And I'm thinking, okay, so I said, Richard, man, we're going to have to really be strong here because I got to nail it on the first time around, right from the name of my newsletter, the subheading, the topics, the whole thing. So we spent two days back and forth, back and for it. I uploaded all kinds of stuff about LinkedIn so it would know the what LinkedIn likes, what are the traits. And by the time I was done, I launched that first newsletter. And I had

360 some people subscribe within a couple hours, which percent wise was astronomical. And so then it just started to grow. And my plan was to do one a month within four little posts afterward. So I asked chat to keep working with me, and we created eight posts Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning, which is your ideal day on LinkedIn. And they were smaller posts. And then I said, well, we need pictures for every single thing that you just did. So I said, I need you to create the prompts. It creates the prompts.

I go over to Mid Journey, gave the size, and it created the prompts. I reviewed. We were going back and forth. We created all the marketing for the whole month. And I put that on Buffer, I think it was, where we put those out to go out those different days. And man, now I have over, I think it's 1,300 people that have subscribed, which is very exciting. Wow, that's amazing. And I have a feeling that whatever's, whatever's next to come will have the word empowered written all over it. Kathy, it's amazing how your journey keeps evolving.

You know, every chapter you write seems to open a door for someone else. Thank you for sharing so openly today, Kathy. I think so many listeners are going to see themselves in your story and feel a spark to start their own reinvention. I hope so. Let's keep that energy going because I have a feeling that there's still so much more to come. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. It's been fun.