She once asked a broker where the mentors were in real estate. He told her that isn't how the industry works; nobody hands over their secrets. Her response? Watch me.

Mindi Kessenich spent twelve years as a surgical tech in an orthopedic operating room, a career she loved but one with no room left to grow. A season of home staging while raising her kids turned into an unlikely opening in real estate, and she jumped in with her license paid for and everything else still left to learn.

So, she spent the next decade being exactly the mentor she'd been told couldn't exist, sharing every mistake and lesson with anyone willing to listen. Years later, a coordinator and a lender she trusted, unconnected to each other, told her within the same week that she needed to meet the same man. That's not a coincidence, she thought, and that meeting turned into the team she still runs today.

Ten years in, she still hasn't bought a single lead. No big marketing, just coffee dates, real relationships, and a decision to keep showing up for people.

Pour a cup and listen to Mindi spill her story in this week's episode of Where Coffee Gets Spilled with Erich George and Lindsay Mayer.