Spend any time with Linda Aaron (Aka Skynnard - we FINALLY hear THAT story!) and you'll immediately fall in love with her generous spirit, her love of life and her commitment to her agents! Linda serves as the Training Director and Operations Coordinator for the very large and successful company Coldwell Banker Bain/Seal in Seattle, WA.

Linda has had to reinvent herself a few times over the years and it's always fascinating to hear how someone landed in real estate... Linda's story focuses on abundance; life transition and reinvention, photography (Check out her photography blog Skynnard's Lens to view her amazing photos) and the love of learning! (Probably why she makes such an awesome Trainer!)

Linda says on the topic of reinvention: "Even though we are an industry trying to attract young people there will always be older people coming into RE as a second career and we need them - they bring a life experience."  (TWEETABLE!) I couldn't agree more!

Here's one of the FEW pictures I have with Linda (with Anne Jones, in NYC for Inman Connect January 2014 - Thanks to Heather Ostrom for taking the pic!)

 

Hope you enjoy this CTM as much I did! And reach out to Linda on Twitter @Skynnard~ She's the bomb! :)

http://youtu.be/C2U9e4V6zJ4

 

 

Announcer:You are listening to "Conversations that Matter," with your host, Teri Conrad.

Teri: Welcome to Conversations that Matter. I'm Teri Conrad, and I am here with Linda "Skynard" Aaron, who works for CB Bain down in Seattle. You are Director of Training, I believe, is your title?

Linda: Yes.

Teri: For all of CB Vain: how many agents do you have?

Linda: We have, just over 1,000, about. I think we're at 1,046 right now. The number fluctuates, depending on what's happening with the market, of course.

Teri: Huge company. I have been a fan, and have done some contract work with your company over the years. Actually, I was just tracking back to when you and I met, and that goes back to Agent Reboot: I think 2010.

Linda: 2010.

Teri: That's four years ago now.

Linda: I know. We have a history. It's so funny to me how time goes so fast like that. You think back to, "When did I do that," and it's like, "Wow, four years." It was right about the time I went over to the corporate offices and was working in the training department with, at that time, Deborah Trappan, who since moved on. Then I raised my hand and said, "I want training." So – 

Teri:You got it.

Linda:They gave it to me. Yeah.

Teri:We're going to delve into that a lot, but let's start at the very beginning. First question I have to ask, right out of the gate, is: where did Skynnard come from? What is Skynnard?

Linda: Oh, my gosh. It's a silly story. A very close friend of mine, [1:40], who is an agent with our company – in Seattle we call them brokers, but for this conversation, I'll call them agents so people know what we're talking about.  She and I worked in the same office and became extremely good friends. We did some traveling together through the years, and we were fast and furiously trying to trim ourselves down for a European trip. We were going to go for two weeks, so we each had an alter ego named for our weight loss program that we were on, and our heavy duty power walking to get down so we could eat like fiends in Italy.

Teri: Brilliant.

Linda: Mine, because of the connection – I'm from the south and my southern roots, and a takeoff on my name was "Lynyrd," and so she started calling me "Lynyrd,

What motivated Heather Ostrom to close her design business and team up with her husband Steve, and then lose 96 lbs? You'll want to listen to this!!

Meet Heather O! Or as she refers to herself on her website as, (http://www.rosevilleandrocklin.com)

Ms. Bossy Pants!

LOVE THAT! And that's just a taste into the crazy, fun and hilarious side of Heather! One of the first things anyone learns about Heather is that she loves to make people laugh, and she does it VERY WELL!

But don't let that the fool you! Underneath all the humor Heather is a deeply committed mom, wife and saavy business lady! She GETS design and marketing and has cleverly crafted a strong brand for her and husband Steve in Roseville and Rocklin California and we had a GREAT time talking BRAND! Known for their love of the Color ORANGE (which she readily admits she shares with the ever funny and amazing Boston Realtor® Joe Schutt - something about orange attracts amazing funny people!!) to the point where her clients now give the Ostrom Team orange gifts!

Life balance, health and humor as well as 'OWNING your own stuff' and keeping it real were topics we dig right into. I know you'll enjoy this very REAL Conversation That Matters with Heather O! Follow her at:

Reach out to Heather on Twitter or FB: @RosevilleRockLn or atwww.Facebook.com/RosevilleAndRocklin

(We mention Brene Brown in the conversation who studies the power of vulnerability and you can learn more about her here: http://brenebrown.com/)

PS - Heather graciously shared how she's tackled her health health with this help:

For Northern California Folks: (will be expanding hopefully) http://www.kphealthyweight.com/  (program I took with Kaiser Permanente - Health Group)

MyFitnessPal App: game changing to monitor foods and create a "health tribe" of support with friends and folks on the health journey

FitBit - ways I monitor how much I move each day, plus a great social tool to make it more enjoyable and accountable

Podcast I listen to for continued health inspiration: Tips of The Scale (we subscribe on iTunes) and my husband Steve Ostrom was recently interviewed he's on Episode 94.  http://scale.fm/iTwwh

Important note:

Heather and Steve started their health journey late Oct 2013 - together after losing their nephew AF Pilot David "Dave-O" Ostrom to a rare cancer last September ('13). They actively raise money for Cancer research and you can support them here: http://mskcc.convio.net/site/TR/CycleforSurvival/AG_Cycle_Event?px=2943066&pg=personal&fr_id=2310

 

Teri:Welcome to Conversations that Matter! I am super-excited to have my very good friend, amazing rock star realtor to the world, Heather O., Heather Ostrom actually for people who don’t know her. 

Heather:You said it right! Thank you! It’s Ostrom!

Teri:Well, there you go! I said it right!

Heather:Whoo!

Teri:You are the better half of the Ostrom team down in Roseville and Rocklin, RosevilleRocklin.com.

Heather:It’s RosevilleandRocklin.com.

Teri:RosevilleandRocklin.com. You are Miss Marketing, Bossy Pants herself. 

Heather:I’m here!

Teri:This is what – there’s so many things. We might as well let people know. We actually tried to do this once before and we had internet issues out the wazoo!

Meet a young powerhouse who is so settled in her own skin and her own mind that she says what she thinks and happens to be extremely grounded and clear! Alyssa Hellman is possibly THE YOUNGEST office manager at Long and Foster in Washington DC and we dive deep into dropping industry jargon and focusing on getting real.

"I pride myself on cutting through the crap and telling to my clients, friends and family straight." ~ @AHellmanDC (TWEET THIS!)

You'll get a great sense of Alyssa and her progressive approach to business when you land on her website www.alyssahellman.com and you see THIS:

Scroll down a bit further and you'll see her professionally shot video and hear what Alyssa BELIEVES and her approach working with her clients.

We tackle some traditional beliefs about the RE business and I think you'll truly be inspired and love listening to Alyssa's perspective and I hope you take up her call to...

"Tell Your Truth"!

 

Teri:Hi, everybody. This is Teri Conrad. I am about to have a conversation that matters with a young rock star, Alyssa Hellman, who I have met through Inman Connect, who is uber-connected herself and is a licensed realtor. Also, one of the – if not the youngest office manager, I think you have a reputation for the youngest manager in an office at Long and Foster in DC, right?

Alyssa:Yes, that is right. 

Teri:That is right. I am that amazing! Welcome to the show. I hate to even call it a show. Let’s be honest, these are really about intimate conversations, and about diving in with people on purpose like yourself who I think are really real, coming through the crap, and having the balls to say what they really want to say; which brings me to why I’m wearing this lovely attire today. Let’s just go there really fast. I’m wearing a t-shirt, and I don’t know if you can see that. I don’t want to show my boobs in the show, but there you go, “I don’t always kick ass, but when I do you can call me…” Oh, hold on, time out. Look, can you see? What does it say?

Alyssa:“T-Rad. Who am I kidding? I always kick ass.”

Teri:That is a gift from the amazing Melissa and Chad, Happy Grasshopper and Dotloop, just in case people aren’t familiar with Melissa Case and Chad Humphrey. That arrived in the mail yesterday. Of course, I put that up on a little thread this morning and next thing you know Melissa’s like, “I hope you’re going to be wearing that on our interviews.” There you go, that explains why I’m wearing a t-shirt that says ass.

Alyssa:Amen to that. You can’t really see it in the shot so you’re good.

Teri:We’re good. Okay, good. Back to you and things that actually matter. You and I have had a couple of really good conversations on the heels of Inman Connect. We were both just down in San Francisco. You were up on at least one panel. I think there was a few. How many times were you up on that stage?

Alyssa:One that I had planned on, and then the other I just kind of got on stage.

Teri:Here’s the thing about you. People just love listening to you talk. I think the reason that is, is because like I said earlier, you really cut through the crap. You aren’t afraid to say what you really think. It’s not that you’re being irreverent or trying to stir the pot. You just are really very open. I think you’re comfortable in your own skin, and you just know what you think. I think it’s really refreshing in this space. I think most people really appreciate that. You wrote an article post-Connect that referenced a conversation that matters with Michael Thorne. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about that article? What resonated for you and why we entered into this conversation?

Alyssa:Sure. I guess my biggest takeaway from Connect was there’s all these thin...

It's not every day I get to sit down with my dear friend Laura Monroe, Director of Industry Engagement and Social Media for Inman News in NAPA and enjoy a glass of wine (or 2 ;) ) AND a great Conversation That Matters, but that's precisely what we did on the heels of Inman Connect in San Francisco.

We tackle the 'noisy world' and discuss the importance of taking a sabbatical from tech, social and business every once in a while, for sanity and recalibration!

We talk about being PROACTIVE vs REACTIVE.

"If we spent as much time working on ourselves as we do on social media focusing on what everyone else is doing, the landscape would change."  ~ @LauraMonroe (TWEET THAT!)

Both BIG fans of Culture, we dig into creating the value internally and determining the ROI and how brokers need to communicate to their agents that 'you are not a tool' by defining their values.

Laura references Zach Schabot, Founder of Go Realty  and Go Connect who uses  very specific language and a communication style that is attracting a very specific agent. We LOVE this 'Not  your Father's Real Estate Company" flavor!

We get to learn a little more about Laura the Mom, and her amazing family life, her passions, and we are joined by Laura Monroe's hair @BestHairInRE ~ tweets by Tara Christianson - the MOST HILARIOUS stream that exists!

I'm sure you'll agree that Laura is one savvy, special, smart and fabulous gal and you'll love her as much as I do!

Teri:Hi, everyone. This is Teri Conrad. I am in the Napa Valley, doing Conversations that Matter with my very, very good friend, probably my best friend, Laura Monroe. We just came off of Inman Connect, which was – I don't even know how many Inman Connect's I've been to now but every time I go, it's an amazing experience, all this information coming at you. Really for me at this point, it's about the relationships. We have so many friends in common and we do so much. Laura of course is the Social Media Director – Director of Engagement now actually. You changed your title, why is that?

 

Let me introduce yourself, do that.

 

Laura:I am the Director of Industry Engagement & Social Media for Inman News. Yes, we just finished Inman Real Estate Connect, in San Francisco. We decided to take our little weekend together because we haven't been able to do that in a while.

 

Teri:She's way too busy now.

 

Laura:Come to Napa, one of our favorite places, and have some wine.

 

Teri:We are sitting at Laura's very favorite winery, which is – where are we again?

 

Laura:Rombauer Vineyard, famous for its Chardonnay and its Zinfandel.

 

Teri:We now have a Chardonnay?

 

Laura:Yes.

 

Teri:When we get together, we always have these amazing conversations.

 

Laura:We've already had like ten of them already.

 

Teri:Like 30 of them, I know. It's like whoa, how we do ever remember what we want to talk about. There is a few things that really stand out for me, and one of them was – I don't even know where to start.

 

We started with, back in the day you and I were talking about building a program for agents because we saw that there was a struggle. There was this overwhelm and there was all this technology coming at them, and social media was coming at them, and it was just like everybody was going a little bit n...

Meet Kelley Skar!: A very dear friend; an amazing Realtor® with CIR in my home town of Calgary; has recently also taken on a new role as CMO at Repree (an online document solution); a dedicated family man; husband to his amazing wife Sabrina and father to twins and he joins us from his parents home while on vacation :)

Kelley is ALWAYS innovating, iterating and staying ahead of the curve! I've watched Kelley build and design his business over the years incorporating tech, embracing the changes, and building a powerful team.  We share many of the same beliefs of the value of an agent and Kelley was generous enough to share how he's structuring his business with a Team Charter (LOVE that!); how he's a BIG BELIEVER in coaching; how the Team model has a role to play in "raising the bar" in Real Estate and what's next for he and his team.

"I'm there to help my agents move forward, not just with the next deal but with the next phase of their career." ~ @kelleyskar Tweetable :)

http://youtu.be/x-a3iqgN-Uc

 

Teri:Welcome Kelley Skar. This is Conversations that Matter. The reason we’re hosting Conversations that Matter is because we want to dig a little deeper into people who are living on purpose, share some of our experiences, some of our challenges, and get to know the person a little bit better. This is conversations in life and in business. I want to welcome Kelley. Thank you so much for being here. Kelley Skar is a very dear friend of mine. We’ve known each other four years. I think the way we met is when you came down – we had been following each other online for quite a while, and you came down to hear me speak.

I think it was literally my very first time on stage in Bellevue  down in Washington. There’s this crazy kid from Calgary that followed me down to hear me speak in Seattle at Agent Reboot, What a Hoot. Welcome so much. Big time realtor in Calgary, father of beautiful twin children; that’s a big part of who you are. Married to a lovely lady who’s about to deliver her master’s thesis tomorrow. Go Sabrina, good luck! Welcome, Kelley. Thank you so much for being here. 

Kelley:You bet. Thanks for having me. 

Teri:I think you’re visiting your parents’ house.

Kelley:That’s right. We’re down in Creston, BC right now. The kids and I are here visiting my folks. Sabrina, as you mentioned in the intro, is actually in Spokane. She delivers her master’s thesis tomorrow, so hopefully she nails that. Not hopefully; I know that she will nail it and we will be done with this portion of her journey. She will begin the next journey come September. Another two years and we’re done.

Teri:Which is amazing, and part of the reason I invited you to join for Conversation that Matters is because I watch the two of you who are these power parents, who are so involved in your kids’ lives while you’re doing all of these amazing things in business. Sabrina, your wife has been pursuing a higher education. It seems like it’s been going on for quite a while.

Kelley:Two years.

Teri:Two years. Then, you have – I’ve watched you take your career –  we were at the same place about six or seven years ago, and you just completely built it up. Now, why don’t you share where you are in terms of your business right now?

Kelley:As far as business is concerned, I’ve got a small team of agents here in Calgary. We have Paula Carr, Jessica Fox, Agnes Toiles, Rico Collinear has just joined us. There’s five of us altogether. We have our client care coordinator as well as our administrator who looks after all of our paperwork, fills out our trade record sheets for us, and makes sure that all of our paperwork is complete and sent in. Total number of people are seven of us. 

At this point right now,

This conversation is CANDY for the mind! I'm so fortunate! Matthew Ferrara is my MENTOR and more importantly my FRIEND! He's an extraordinary, unique and deeply interesting man! On his website at Matthew Ferrara and Company, you'll see his bio that reads "Speaker. Writer. Capitalist. Survivor. Photographer. Teacher. Listener. Find out why organizations worldwide ask Matthew Ferrara to engage their leadership, train their management, inspire their sales teams and energize customers." 

Already you should be good and intrigued, and rightly so. We delve into all of these traits and interests. He's far smarter than your average guy.  A deeply value driven, artist and a very talented speaker and world traveler! He's home based in Las Vegas ~ nice and central, and for someone who's in an airport about 3 days a week makes it the ideal location! He's already been to Italy this year for a creative writing course AND just back from China! He took some AMAZING photography!

"Life is a philosophy course every day." ~ Matthew Ferrara (Click to TWEET!)

We have a lot of fun playing with philosophy, science fiction, and business and then we dive deep into some life challenges.  (And here is the quote that Matthew references: "We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters." which is the Founder's Fund Manifesto subtitle for their Manifesto called "What Happened To The Future?")

Top take away : LIVE A LITTLE MORE! :)

I'm TRULY looking forward to seeing Matthew close the Hawaii Life Worthshop Conference in Maui this December!

Teri: So welcome to Conversations that Matter. This is for people who are living on purpose. We're having very purposeful conversations. This is literally one of our very first recorded conversations that matter, and I really want to welcome Matthew Ferrara who is a multitude of things, and I'm going to go over almost every single one of them. First and foremost, you are a very good friend of mine. You are my mentor. I continually learn from you, and one of the big reasons that I've asked you to be my guest today is because of the respect that I have for you, everything that I've learned, and for many, many other things.

One of the things I want to do is go to your website because I think this is really fun. It says, “Meet the philosopher, Matthew.” So one of the ways that I know you is as a philosopher, of course, and a speaker, and a writer, and a capitalist, and a survivor, and a photographer, and a teacher, and a listener. You have all these great things that describe you, and I really want to take the time to go through why each one of those things have been very strategically placed right there under your picture on your home page.

Matthew: Sure, that's certainly not your typical resume, you would think. Yeah, I did have to put a lot of thought – actually, I had to decide on a few of them, whether I would even put them out there in some ways because some of them are really personal. I think that is something, for me at least, every time I hear my resume, in a sense, or my profile spoken back to me, it's always kind of like hearing it the first time even though I'm a little bit used to it now.

Teri: Right, so let's touch on a couple. First of all, I met you because you were doing some sales training down at Caldwell Banker Bank in Seattle. You are well-versed. You've been in the real estate industry speaking and doing training, particularly in the sales and technology and marketing side of the business and well-revered,

Valerie Garcia is Director of Training for Remax Integra, responsible for training 17,000 agents!  You know ~ Just a few. ;) This girl knows her stuff! She just spoke on 2 panels at Inman Connect in San Francisco and she joins me for our 2nd Conversation That Matters.

We discuss the importance of ongoing education, what the pain points are for agents and how she shapes the training around those pain points.

Shiny object vs basic tools! Distractions may take you away from what you could be doing to move you forward in your business BUT does that mean you stop chasing them?

Val discusses proactively CHOOSING to carve out time for social and consciously designing her personal brand using social media. Connection to industry and staying in the know is VITAL for Val!

Valerie’s CLASSIC advice on how to post amazing content and engaging in social media and other BIG AHAs or as I like to refer to them “Valerie-isms” :)

And we tackle the BIG ELEPHANT in the room: FEAR ~ and how that has been such a driver or stopping block in our industry!

I know you'll love this conversation ~ Enjoy Val’s snarky humor ;)

VERY exciting! This is our premiere Conversation That Matters and I am THRILLED to introduce (if you haven't already met) Michael Thorne who is a licensed REALTOR® with Little Oak Realty in my town Langley, BC! He is also a VERY dear friend, Co-host of Mobile Agent TV - an internet TV show aimed at REMAX agents, AND an amazing friend, husband, father and all round GREAT guy!

Michael very generously shares his VALUES, his challenges and his joy! We touch on a very serious conversation around his personal journey with depression and how he navigated his way back to being the NEW Michael!

I encourage you to connect with Michael! Follow him on Twitter @ImMichaelThorne or @MobileAgentTV and use the hashtag #CTM to join the conversation!

A very special Thank You to Michael for believing in this project and supporting me in so many ways!