angishields, Author at Business RadioX ® Page

BRX Pro Tip: Ways To Make Things Easier To Do

May 21, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Ways To Make Things Easier To Do

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BRX Pro Tip: Ways To Make Things Easier To Do

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, I remember a commercial campaign that influenced some of my language some years back. I think it was Staples. It was one of these office supply companies and they talked about the easy button. How can we apply some of that mentality to our day-to-day?

Lee Kantor: I think philosophically that’s a great mindset to have, is, always try to make things easier to do. You should always be figuring out ways to simplify tasks, simplify process. And really that goes to your personal life and it goes to your business life.

Lee Kantor: Simplification doesn’t mean cutting corners. It’s not about taking shortcuts. It’s just eliminating as many inefficiencies as possible. It means clarifying objectives, make things clearer. And it’s about optimizing workflows.

Lee Kantor: And there’s so much technology here to help you, and you should really think about kind of figuring out ways to leverage some of these new technologies and these new systems to do things like streamlining your processes. Because if you streamline processes, that’s going to save you time, which usually saves you money.

Lee Kantor: Is there ways to simplify the workflows? Is there ways to reduce redundant tasks and make sure that your resources are focused on the most high priority activities? That’s worth auditing from time to time, your processes. Can you get rid of some steps? Can you replace one thing with another to make things happen faster and more seamlessly?

Lee Kantor: Number two, simplified systems provide a clearer picture, which is going to enable you to make faster and better decisions. And that is super important, the faster you can make a decision with the information you need, again, saves you time, saves you money.

Lee Kantor: And number three, by identifying inefficiencies and automating processes, you’re going to be able to reduce costs. And this is a mindset that you should be consistently looking for ways to make things easier. And it’s not just about convenience. It’s just a strategic way of thinking that’s going to enhance your productivity almost immediately. You’re going to feel better by pruning some of the processes, pruning some of the systems, make things happen faster. Decisions are going to be made faster. You’re going to be able to get more information faster.

Lee Kantor: And again, it’s one of those things that build upon itself where you’re going to be able to just do a lot of things that’s going to reduce your stress, it’s going to save you money, and it’s going to ultimately drive innovation.

Building Confidence: How Career Coaches Transform Job Search Experiences

May 20, 2025 by angishields

Association Leadership Radio

Building Confidence: How Career Coaches Transform Job Search Experiences

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In this episode of Association Leadership Radio, Lee Kantor talks with Marie Zimenoff, CEO of Career Thought Leaders. Marie discusses her organization’s role in supporting career coaches, resume writers, and personal branding strategists globally. She highlights the evolution of career coaching, the importance of community among coaches, and the essential skills needed for effective coaching. The conversation also addresses the challenges job seekers face in today’s competitive market and the proactive strategies they should adopt. Marie emphasizes the need for legitimacy in coaching, combating misinformation, and the value of modern tools and continuous learning for career coaches.

Marie Zimenoff is known as a pioneer on the leading edge of career industry trends and technology. She began her professional career as an advisor and recruiter in higher education while completing her MEd in human resource studies, career and counselling development. In 2008—the peak of the Great Recession—Marie left the university to start her business.

Inspired by a passion to make a difference in the industry, as CEO of Career Thought Leaders and Resume Writing Academy, she trains career professionals around the globe in resume writing, career coaching, and business development through webinars, certifications, and weekly Trend Tuesday Live videos on the Career Thought Leaders YouTube channel.

She is known internationally for sharing practical tools and technology tips that prepare audiences for the future of work.

Connect with Marie on LinkedIn.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

The role and significance of Career Thought Leaders in supporting career coaches and job seekers.
The evolution of career coaching from its historical roots to its current state.
Challenges faced by job seekers in a competitive job market, especially during economic uncertainty.
The importance of empowering clients and building their confidence in the job search process.
Essential skills and qualities that make a successful career coach.
The misconception that optimizing resumes and LinkedIn profiles alone guarantees job success.
The necessity of proactive networking and relationship-building in job searching.
The value of community and collaboration among career coaches for sharing knowledge and best practices.
The impact of misinformation in the career coaching industry and the need for credible advice.
The diverse backgrounds of career coaches and how this diversity enhances the coaching experience.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Podsqueeze.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro 00:00:02 Broadcasting live from the business radio X Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor 00:00:20 Lee Cantor here, another episode of Association Leadership Radio. And this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Marie Siminoff and she is the CEO of Career Thought Leaders. Welcome.

Marie Zimenoff 00:00:33 Welcome. Thank you for having me. I’m glad to be here.

Lee Kantor 00:00:36 Well, I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about Career Thought Leaders. How you serving folks?

Marie Zimenoff 00:00:42 Yeah. So Career Thought Leaders is an international organization that serves, I always say, people who help people find jobs. So career coaches, resume writers, personal branding strategists, people that help individuals move into a new job or move up in a job and find something that makes them happy and feel fulfilled in their work.

Lee Kantor 00:01:05 Are there a lot of those folks out there?

Marie Zimenoff 00:01:07 You know, it’s kind of surprising. So we serve individuals in about 40 countries. You know, anywhere you can think of there are people that are doing this kind of work.

Marie Zimenoff 00:01:19 We have people who have gone through our certifications that are in India, Singapore, Nigeria, obviously all across the US and Canada. It’s just amazing to see the different way that careers are talked about in different places, but that we’re all doing the same basic kind of work, trying to help people find a way to use their talents and earn a livable wage.

Lee Kantor 00:01:50 Now, this type of career coaching is this kind of a new phenomenon, or has this been going on for a long time, but maybe only like a few people were taking advantage of it, but now it seems like more and more it’s been democratized to a certain degree.

Marie Zimenoff 00:02:03 You know, it’s interesting. So, I mean, the roots of this work are the vocational counseling that was being done in high schools. You know, ever since probably the very early 1900s, and then got a kick up in 1950s when especially people were coming back from war and trying to figure out what they were going to do. And you saw some of the assessments, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Marie Zimenoff 00:02:27 And those types of things came more onto the scene at that time. The independent career practitioner has been well, well and thriving, I would say at least since the mid 80s. Career. Thought leaders was in founded as Career Masters Alliance in the mid 90s, and then changed names to Career Thought Leaders in 2009. So I’d say at least since the early to mid 90s, there’s been a fairly large market for resume writing career coaching for an independent, and in addition to the work that’s been going on at universities, community colleges, high schools, workforce centers around the U.S., but also around the globe, and there’s similar types of activities going on.

Lee Kantor 00:03:17 So what’s your backstory? How did you get to the point where you’re now kind of over a membership group that’s helping serve all these folks?

Marie Zimenoff 00:03:26 Yeah. So I started in in college, I wanted to be a counselor. I thought I wanted to be a school counselor. And then, as you know, as we find things happen, I took my first school counseling class and heard the other people in that class, many of whom were high school teachers, becoming counselors, just talking about their work and and how they were mainly creating schedules and working with parents.

Marie Zimenoff 00:03:51 And I thought, well, that wasn’t quite what I had in mind. So I got an opportunity to do an internship at a local community college, as well as work in an academic department at Colorado State University, and started to get into, okay, maybe I could work at a college. And then while I was in my master’s degree program, I had an opportunity to do a internship at a private practice. And, I really enjoyed the diversity, and I was working in the private practice with private clients. I was also teaching at the local workforce center because it was the Great Recession of 2008 at that time. And so I just saw the opportunity to go out on my own, contracting with Workforce Center, working with different resume writers and, just, you know, one thing happens, falls into another. I became president of a national organization. And they got to know the owners of career thought leaders through that role. And so in 2015, I actually just celebrated my ten year anniversary. I took over the leadership of Korea Thought Leaders and Resume Writing academy in February March of 2015.

Lee Kantor 00:05:11 So you started out through like the, I guess, the classics through the school system, and you got to sample each of those. But then when you went into private practice and you saw the the variety of different individuals at different stages of their career, that was more rewarding and that resonated with you.

Marie Zimenoff 00:05:28 Yeah. And just the opportunity, to bring because I’ve always been a learner and, and, you know, had the opportunity to go out and get training in all these different methodologies and modalities and was bringing that back to my university colleagues as well as the local workforce center colleagues. And I saw that they sometimes just didn’t have the thirst for it, or oftentimes didn’t have the funding for it. And that opportunity to have a bigger impact by up leveling the other coaches then by, you know, not just impacting individual clients one by one, but impacting all of the clients that they were serving as well. And that was I really enjoyed that creating curriculum. I started training coaches in, you know, 2010 or so at the workforce centers and was developing courses for them to use with their individuals coming through the workforce Center.

Marie Zimenoff 00:06:30 A lot of them had never seen mid-level professionals coming through the workforce center, right. They were serving more of the the TANF population, folks that have been unemployed, folks that were more entry level blue collar roles. And then when the Great Recession hit, you had engineers and scientists and all of these folks coming into the workforce centers, and they didn’t have the tools to to help them. And so that was really where my thirst for knowledge met the need of this audience, who needed new knowledge and new tools, and created a bunch of programs that then got rolled into career thought leaders when I took over the leadership for the organization.

Lee Kantor 00:07:13 Now, what is kind of the clientele of a typical, career coach? Are they are they focused locally or are they the world’s their oyster. Like, what type of clients do they go after, or do they have a niche like they specialize in engineers or how does that work?

Marie Zimenoff 00:07:31 Yeah. That’s interesting. We were just doing a lead generation class with our coaches, and it’s very similar to what we teach our job seekers that the more defined you are, the more proactive you can be.

Marie Zimenoff 00:07:44 That doesn’t mean that everybody needs to niche down in every area. But you’ve got Geography industry role level. You can pick between those things. You know, how specific do you want to be? If you want to be local, then you can have more breadth than some of the other ways because you’re promoting local, you’re marketing through local channels, those types of things. If you want to be international, then you probably have to be more focused in terms of industry and role so that you can break through the noise and have some proactive marketing channels that you can find and use. So some people, you know, do target more and age group or level some people target more. The industry, you know, they’re really into. We have a colleague that’s really into the program management project management industry. And there’s a lot of different ways to to pick a niche. But there are coaches that serve every niche from, you know, all the different levels, all the different types of careers. And, you know, people who are not high earners are still paying for these types of services because it keeps them out of work, you know, less time and those types of things.

Marie Zimenoff 00:09:01 And then there are quite a few people in our industry who focus on executives, but there’s definitely an option for everyone to get help because people don’t know how to navigate the landscape to find a job today.

Lee Kantor 00:09:17 So now in your group, is it, it’s targeted towards people that are helping other people get into a new or, their current career, finding a job in some manner?

Marie Zimenoff 00:09:30 Yeah, yeah. So our coaches are mainly career coaches, job search coaches, interview preparation, resume writers, as well as, some leadership coaches. A lot of times the leadership kind of crosses over with career now.

Lee Kantor 00:09:48 How does it how do you differentiate yourself from like a recruiter?

Marie Zimenoff 00:09:52 Yeah. So recruiters work on the company side. Recruiters are paid by the company. They’re trying to find candidates for a company. And there’s very few headhunters that a job seeker can pay to find them. A job that’s really not a thing. Most of the time, when a job seeker is approached by someone who says they do that, it is either a scam straight up, or it’s a recruiter who’s guaranteeing interviews.

Marie Zimenoff 00:10:21 But that’s because they’re they’re got employers they’re working with, so they’re really not guaranteeing the job. There’s a few specific industries where there actually are valid headhunters that an individual can hire to go out and find them a job, but recruiters are typically working for the company to hire someone. A coach is working with an individual not just to find a job, but to learn the process of job search and to be more confident. To understand how to network, to understand how to reach, you know, reach out to recruiters. To understand how to communicate their background in a strategic way. So they’re working on the individuals side to give them the skills they need to find a job.

Lee Kantor 00:11:12 And to make them as marketable as possible.

Marie Zimenoff 00:11:15 Exactly.

Lee Kantor 00:11:17 Because I run into so many people that, they never get asked, like recruiters are never finding them and they’re always questioning, like, what am I? What do I have to do to get someone to pick me? And that’s a very vulnerable position to be in. And I’m sure it’s very frustrating.

Marie Zimenoff 00:11:36 It is, you know, and people will say, oh, this must be a great time for your business with the market. And I’m like, well, not really. Like coaches want to be empowering. We want to help people who are employed, but looking to make a move from that position of power. Working with people who are laid off, unemployed, struggling. Like, of course we want to do that work because it’s important work to get people back to work and feeling like they’re contributing to their family, their life, all of that. But that is very emotionally hard work to do for both the candidate and the coach. It’s very important work, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a great time for our business because it is. It’s hard. It’s not easy to find a job right now in some sections. It’s, you know, it’s very all over the place. But it it is more challenging of a market. And that means that, you know, we’re dealing with people who are, as you just pointed out, struggling with the Identity part of it, and do I matter? And how do I get people to pay attention to me? And all of that just gets even more frustrating during this time, during these times of economic uncertainty.

Lee Kantor 00:12:54 So what are the qualities of a good career coach? What are some of the must have qualities?

Marie Zimenoff 00:13:01 So the challenge for a career coach in particular, is that we’re constantly walking the line between consultant and coach, because people come to us and because they want our expertise in how to find a job. But when it comes right down to it, each individual is an expert in their own personal approach, their own will and will not dos right? Their own industry, perhaps. And so we are a guide, but we do have to provide a little bit more direction structure sometimes information than then some other types of coaches do. Because there is a structure to career transition to career exploration. There’s a pattern to it. And so we’re holding this container for the pattern while being very careful not to step too much into that advisor or consultant role to the place where we disempower the client from driving their own success. Right. We can’t go to an interview with them. We can’t go to their job for them.

Marie Zimenoff 00:14:08 And so they have to make those decisions themselves. Even though when they initially come to us, they think we should tell them how to do it right. so it’s a it is a place that requires a lot of, self-knowledge and being able to recognize when we’re giving advice and when to switch back into the coach role. So you have to have strong coaching role skills. You also need that knowledge of the career development process, the career change process. Job search. You have to know those things, but yet be almost confident enough that you don’t have to rely on your knowledge of those things to add value to your client, because you understand the real value you add to your client is leading them to find their own answers. Even though there are best practices and those types of things out there.

Lee Kantor 00:15:05 Now, I would imagine in today’s world, some of your work has to be around how to optimize your LinkedIn profile or or have a good, you know, submission of a resume or cover letter, things that are the blocking and tackling, I would imagine, of today’s job search.

Marie Zimenoff 00:15:22 Yes. Yeah. And to help job seekers not get stuck there, because in some ways those are a false focus. Because no matter how much you optimize your LinkedIn profile. The idea that you’re magically going to get found by a recruiter is is somewhat hooey, right? I mean, yes, we want an optimized profile. We want those keywords in there. But when it comes right down to it, your job search is going to be proactive. Researching people, networking with people, making connections so that someone refers you to that, to that recruiter. Because even the best profiles are one of a million, you know, maybe one of a couple thousand, depending on the type of work you’re aiming for. And so yes, we need that piece, but we also have to help people not get hyper focused or stuck there because it’s kind of like a business, right? You got a business, you got a website. But if you just sat around optimizing your website, in today’s world, you’d still have a hard time getting found.

Marie Zimenoff 00:16:32 You’ve got to go out there and drive traffic to your website, right?

Lee Kantor 00:16:35 You have to build relationships. You have to be proactive. You can’t. I think a lot of people are looking for that silver bullet where like, oh, I’m going to optimize my LinkedIn. I’m going to, you know, submit so many things on these job boards. And then I’ll just sit back and wait for the offers to come in. But I think that, like you said, it’s those even the weak ties amongst your network that’s going to get you your job more likely than just submitting and then being picked. Right.

Marie Zimenoff 00:17:06 Exactly. And it’s a balance because you do need to apply to things that are a good fit, and you have to have strong documents to be able to do that. And yet when people get stuck there too much, then they get disheartened because they’re not hearing back. And it’s like, well, there’s really nothing wrong with what you’re doing. It’s just that we’ve got to get some other plates spinning here as well.

Lee Kantor 00:17:29 But are those plates the ones that, as a coach, you have a harder time getting the people to do that kind of work. The, you know, go and meet somebody or have a conversation with a human being and talk about it. Or if you know somebody in that company, even though they’re not the hiring manager, still meet them because they might know somebody that is hiring, like, you know, all that kind of legwork that helps you just increases your chances of being referred in by somebody and having a leg up. So you’re kind of differentiate yourself.

Marie Zimenoff 00:18:01 Exactly. And so we give our coaches, I like to liken it to a menu. So there’s many different job search tactics that people could apply. you know, warm networking, cold networking, outreach, volunteering. There’s just there’s all these things that they could apply. Talking to recruiters, we want to help people choose the things that they’ll do, because it doesn’t matter if it’s the best strategy on earth, if you won’t do it right.

Marie Zimenoff 00:18:29 Right. We want to help people figure out how to execute those options in a way that they can execute. so there’s, you know, we were just talking about, you know, all the different ways to quote unquote, network. And so a coach is getting here’s the menu of things that you can do to be most effective in your search. Where do you want to start? What feels like a good fit for you. And then even inside of those those tactics that people might choose, there’s nuances in how they do it that they can align with their personal style, with their industry, with their role, with their level. Everything is is going to be done just a little bit differently, so that it’s something that that they can consistently execute. Because we know that’s really the difference, right? When you’re in business, whatever it is. Execution is the secret sauce and it with job search. That’s maybe even more true because no one’s going to do it for you.

Lee Kantor 00:19:33 And I would think that this is where your association is so important to the coaches out there, because you’re hearing and learning of best practices and these little nuances and tweaks that might be occurring to stay as current as possible, that an individual doing this by themselves, without the help of a community like yours, that they would be falling behind and their things might become more obsolete faster than what you’re learning, kind of on a day to day basis.

Marie Zimenoff 00:20:00 Exactly. And it’s the power of the community that helps keep each other up to date, because it’s a lot in our field. Right. We’re talking economics, political, you know, the rate of change in a job, the rate of technology that’s changing all jobs, there’s a lot to know, which makes it exciting for most of us. But it does make it challenging to make sure we’re not giving outdated information, that we don’t get caught. You know, I like to say that we talk about trends, but not what’s trendy, because what’s trendy can actually hurt people. you know, kind of put them on a path that isn’t going to be successful right now, but it’s what’s going on are the trends that we really need to pay attention to versus what’s just trendy and is going to come and go.

Lee Kantor 00:20:52 And also and it gives the, coach the legitimacy because like you mentioned, that in this world, you’re unfortunately dealing with some people that are making kind of false promises and that that you don’t want to be kind of lumped in with that type of a, of a recruiter or career coach.

Marie Zimenoff 00:21:11 And it’s challenging because there’s a lot of people out there who say, oh, you know, this coach doesn’t know what they’re talking about. And it’s, you know, a lot of it’s context and what they’ve experienced. And there are people giving advice that I don’t agree with. Does that necessarily mean they’re wrong or bad? We have to talk more about the context. I do see things that I wish oh, people wouldn’t say that in such a broad, sweeping way because part of what they’re saying might be true. But the overarching impact of it is sometimes harmful. Like the whole, you know, your resume has got to be optimized, or these data points that people throw around 80% of of resumes never get seen by a human. It’s like, where on earth did that come from? That is not true. Yes, there may be a percentage of resumes that is not seen by human, but it is nowhere near 80%. And so those fear tactic statements and sometimes unfortunately coaches share that with the best of intentions.

Marie Zimenoff 00:22:07 Right. Trying to help people be more thoughtful in what they’re doing. But when we share those data points that are false, it ultimately backfires. So those are definitely things that make it challenging in our space to communicate the strategies and the need for coaching, but not to do it in a way that that, continue some of those false narratives.

Lee Kantor 00:22:32 Now, is there a story you can share, maybe one of the members that you have that you work with, that they started at a certain level. And now being associated with the association and their learning and the community that they’ve been able to, you know, maybe do some interesting things as their career has evolved.

Marie Zimenoff 00:22:51 Yeah, it’s been thinking about some, one individual who’s just getting into career space. So one of our main topic types of, of clients is a coach who may have coaching training but not career specific. And so they come in and they’re like, okay, I’ve been helping people with this, but it’s like kind of the blind leading the blind, right? We’re we’re wandering around out here and, and we’re doing some things, but we’re not getting there very quickly.

Marie Zimenoff 00:23:19 And most of our work is to create structures and programs that people can use with their clients so that they’re not spending as much time teaching and doing those things in the sessions. They’ve got worksheets and a structure that the client can do. Then they come into the session and we’re having more focused conversations, more reflective conversations that move the work forward instead of the spiral, which is in some cases inevitable in the career space. But, we have that, that, that process and structure kind of laid out for us so that then we can pay more attention to the human inside of it as we go. And so this woman, you know, has great coaching background, wanting to figure out how do I help people change careers in a more structured way, and now has been doing it for a few months, maybe about almost a year. Seeing that process and the, the the Process and the progress. That’s what I was looking for, the progress that the clients make. Faster with just a few, just a few tweaks to this.

Marie Zimenoff 00:24:37 The structure. So that she can help people go through it and still, you know, managing it when clients have kickbacks. Right. Or back setbacks.

Lee Kantor 00:24:48 Setbacks. Right.

Marie Zimenoff 00:24:50 Yeah. But you’ve got this structure that you can lead people through. And so you’re getting better results with clients, which means they’re happier. They’re referring more of their friends and family to you. And you’re feeling more successful because you’ve got that structure to, to lead to their outcomes that they wanted.

Lee Kantor 00:25:07 So what is your biggest challenge right now? Is it to get new members, to, you know, to grow and have, you know, more coaches throughout the world be part of your organization? What do you need more of and how can we help?

Marie Zimenoff 00:25:23 Yeah. I mean, our mission. So in addition to being a membership organization, we’re also, you know, a think tank. We have a lot of free resources out there available, like our Career thought Leaders YouTube channel. And, you know, our mission is to provide those resources so that everyone doing this work, whether they’re a member of our organization or not, that everyone doing this work is got the best tools, the latest information, and therefore getting the better outcomes for their clients of all ages.

Marie Zimenoff 00:25:56 So we’d love to get more eyes on our YouTube channel, especially more people engaging with those resources free and paid because things are moving quickly. And if they are coaching with job search methods from ten years ago, they’re likely missing out on a lot of the tools that they are job seekers could be using to do the parts that can be done faster, faster and spend more time with the challenges, the fears that keep people from doing the work that really matters.

Lee Kantor 00:26:31 Now, what is kind of the the person that isn’t a career coach yet? What are they doing before they become a career coach? Usually, do they come from HR or do they come from coaching?

Marie Zimenoff 00:26:43 They come from all over. So we get people that have been managers or leaders in organizations. We get, you know, teachers. We’re getting some university folks who are getting let go. With the swift change in educational funding, both in the US and in Canada. we do get HR professionals, some recruiters that want to add this type of work to their recruiting practice.

Marie Zimenoff 00:27:11 it is a variety of backgrounds. Like I said, we got the project manager turned career coach that focuses on helping people in that industry marketers brands. Yeah that and it’s that’s part of the beauty to is that you people from all over come to be coaches and then they can help people. Not only, you know, where they’ve been all over the place, but they can help people specifically that are coming out of the same place as they’ve been.

Lee Kantor 00:27:41 And does your work happen all virtually or online, or do you have chapters around the world?

Marie Zimenoff 00:27:48 Yeah, we are 90% virtual. we all we’ve been. So before my time, we were doing tele classes where we mailed things to people and had tele classes. so we’ve been doing zoom since before it was a thing, before everyone else was. And and like I said, 40 different countries around the world. We get together in person once a year, and have that opportunity to deepen the colleague relationships. chips, but we get together while our membership group gets together every Tuesday virtually around the globe.

Marie Zimenoff 00:28:25 And we have that opportunity to to learn from what other people are doing, all around the globe.

Lee Kantor 00:28:33 And do you have any advice for other, association leaders out there when it comes to engaging a remote, virtual membership? Are there some do’s and don’ts you’ve learned over the years in order to keep people engaged and keep people excited about being part of it?

Marie Zimenoff 00:28:50 Yeah. So we have, we have a really engaged group. I’m, I’m told from my members that part of what makes it so inclusive is that I am, well, I, I try to practice what I preach. So I am leading the group, but I am not I am not the focus of it. And I think as an association leader, that can be challenging because you want to put together the structures and those types of things. But when it comes right down to it, you get more engagement if the if your members have ownership. And so like we have just one example. We have a Facebook group. And I don’t have to comment on every post.

Marie Zimenoff 00:29:34 I don’t have to do any kind of campy. Oh it’s Tuesday. Share your favorite technology types of posts. It grew very organically because we didn’t create a sage on the on the stage feel. It’s not about me. It’s not about me being the the most all knowing person. it’s really about the community coming together and sharing with each other, which as adults, when we get to share, when we get to be the teacher, that’s really when we learn. And so we try to step back and create those opportunities for the people in our association.

Lee Kantor 00:30:14 Good stuff. Well, if somebody wants to learn more, get Ahold of you or somebody on the team, what is the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Marie Zimenoff 00:30:22 Yeah. Career thought leaders. Career thought leaders. And like I said, our Career thought leaders YouTube channel is, always cranking out new content there, as well as our LinkedIn page, obviously, since we’re in the career space, career thought leaders LinkedIn page, and individually independent, my personal page, happy to connect with people there as well.

Lee Kantor 00:30:46 Well, Marie, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Marie Zimenoff 00:30:52 Well, thank you so much. It was fun to to chat with you for a little while.

Lee Kantor 00:30:55 All right. This is Lee Kanter. We’ll see you all next time on Association Leadership Radio.

BRX Pro Tip: Ways to Reframe Getting Fired

May 20, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Ways to Reframe Getting Fired

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BRX Pro Tip: Ways to Reframe Getting Fired

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, it’s no secret in our organization with many of the folks that I hang out with, that in my earlier career in the management consulting arena, I was fired a-half-a-dozen times by some of the most prestigious training and development, change management consulting firms on the planet. I thought I handled it reasonably well, but how would you approach getting fired?

Lee Kantor: Getting fired, it’s never fun, but it’s one of those things that’s almost a rite of passage for everybody. You’re going to get fired at some point in time in your career, if you’re doing any type of interesting work. And it could feel for some people, they take this as some sort of a setback. And it can definitely feel like a setback, I don’t want to minimize that. But if you can reframe the experience, you can really turn it into an opportunity for growth and transformation rather than a setback.

Lee Kantor: So, number one, instead of viewing being fired as an ending, just look at it as a chance to reevaluate your career path and maybe pursue new opportunities. Number two, detach your worth from your work. Recognize your value as a person is not tied to your job or your job title.

Lee Kantor: And number three, trust that better opportunities are ahead. Believe that being fired is not the end. It’s just the end of a chapter. And your career journey is long, so it might be the end of this job, it might be the end of this project, but it’s not the end of your career.

Lee Kantor: And having a more optimistic attitude about this helps shift that focus from loss to possibility. It’s definitely challenging, but if you can reframe it to being an opportunity for growth and self-reflection and a new beginning, then maybe you can make this into a positive turning point rather than the end of something, by focusing in on gratitude, learning from your mistakes, reassessing your goals, lean into being resilient. If you can do all those things, I think you can move forward confidently towards a better opportunity.

From Renters to Homeowners: Creative Solutions for Today’s Real Estate Challenges

May 19, 2025 by angishields

Cherokee Business Radio

From Renters to Homeowners: Creative Solutions for Today’s Real Estate Challenges

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In this episode of Empowered Voices, host Olivia J. Price, leads a discussion with Johnathan Crego and Jordan Nutter about the evolving real estate landscape. Olivia emphasizes the importance of community involvement and financial literacy, while Johnathan shares his transition from law enforcement to real estate, highlighting mental health challenges and community service. Jordan discusses her journey in the lending industry and the impact of social media on real estate. The episode covers creative financing options, the future of down payment assistance programs, and the potential role of cryptocurrency in real estate transactions.

Johnathan Crego is a husband, father of 2, Georgia REALTOR, former Dekalb County police officer, renovation company owner, investor and director of 2 local non-profits.

Some achievements have been being married for 11 years, fathering 2 boys, Rookie of the year (NAMAR), REALTOR of the year (NAMAR), Officer of the year (Dekalb county police), Georgia association of realtors Rising star award, multiple life saving awards, 3 years as a real estate coach and 3 years as a GAR and NAMAR state director.

Connect with Johnathan on LinkedIn.

Jordan Nutter is a powerhouse in the mortgage lending space, known not only for breaking records in her first year of business but for continuing to exceed goals year after year.

Through consistent value-driven content, Jordan has grown a loyal social media following of over 300K, turning her online presence into a powerful tool for education, connection, and lead generation.

Her digital impact has helped scale her business exponentially and opened doors to speaking opportunities on stages across the United States, where she shares her expertise and inspires others in the industry.

Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Empowered Voices, empowering the next generation of leaders through real estate, business, and life lessons. Now, here’s your host.

Olivia J. Price: Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. This is your host, Olivia J. Price on business radio with all things real estate. Now we are here with some fabulous, fabulous, fabulous industry leaders in the room that we’re going to be introducing. And also they’re going to be our co-host. Now, our biggest mission for all things real estate is that we want to touch on some really uncomfortable conversations, real conversations Stations and ways how we can make a difference within our community, and actually being able to make everyone’s lives more profitable. At the end of the day, right, considering that we are in real estate now, I am a Georgia realtor. I am a former board director for the Georgia Association of Realtors, the Northeast Atlanta metro Association of Realtors. I was the first vice president for the Women’s Council of Realtors of Gwinnett. I also served on my, um, city council on their development authority. So when it comes to community, I am very big on that. So having this opportunity to speak on a broader scale is going to be amazing. And I just want to go ahead and hand it off to you. Um, Johnathan Crego, would you be able to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your mission and why are we here?

Johnathan Crego: Absolutely. So I’m Jonathan Crego, and I’ve been in the business for about five years. Uh, I started in 2020. I’ve now also kind of run a flipping business as well. And, um, I’m also a Georgia Association director. I’ve been one for 3 or 4 years. Uh, I sit on the the NAMAR board. I’ve done that for about 3 or 4 years. Um, um, yeah, I’ve done a lot in a little time, but I really also I’ve always been very community focused. Um, ever since I was a police officer in DeKalb, I’ve always been very about the community. I’m a part of two different nonprofits, uh, directors for both. That’s just a big part of me. So, um. Yeah, I hope to bring a lot of that to the table as well as, like, the flipping world and all that. And also what we do, you know, when we work with buyers and sellers.

Olivia J. Price: And one thing too, I want to say, um, and I’m going to mention you as J.R.. Okay? Yes, please. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: I hate when I’m called Jonathan. Like, just call me J.R..

Olivia J. Price: Yes, J.R., um, I do want to touch on a few things, because that’s what made me reach out to you in terms of this opportunity. Because honestly, um, I believe everyone at this table were under 40, and we’re doing some really big things that I think that a lot of people within our age range aren’t doing or they’re emerging. So, um, when I think of us, I think of us as the future. I think of us as real estate moguls in the next 15, 20 years. So I’m excited. And to know that you literally came in, I came in in 2019 into real estate. So I was right.

Johnathan Crego: Behind you at 2020. And, uh, no, and I agree. And do you know, per Nar National Association of Realtors, the average age of an agent is 54.

Olivia J. Price: That’s. Well, well, to be honest with you, did you know that 71% of agents didn’t sell last year?

Johnathan Crego: I know.

Olivia J. Price: So when it comes to this industry right here, just knowing that we’re still here and in business and doing it at a high level, I can be nothing but grateful for that. So, um, and also to piggyback before we move to you, Jordan, Would you be able to tell me a little bit more about your background coming from the servant position and being in the force?

Johnathan Crego: Sure. Yeah. So I spent seven years as a DeKalb County police officer, um, in 2017. Well, let me back up. So I did started in 2014, uh, spent about eight months in training academy and whatnot, and got on the road from there. And in about a year’s time, I was asked to join the, uh, the fit team, which is kind of like a fugitive team that we go and basically look for murderers, armed robbers, things like that. So spent five years of my life doing that. In 2017, I was the officer of the year, and in 2018 I had two back to back really bad experience happen. Uh, I lost my my best friend, my mentor. He was on the team with me. We, uh, were in a fight with an armed robber, and basically it was a long fight. We got him in custody, and. And Miguel went home and passed away from an unknown heart condition. Right after that happened, I went to a horrible call involving kids. I don’t want to get too involved in it, but, uh, it really led me to, um, kind of understanding. I needed to change careers. Um, due to. I had kids coming on, you know, my own kids and just being involved so heavy into mental things. It really put me in a depression.

Johnathan Crego: And that’s where I really got involved with the community. I feel like when you give back to the community, it helps you as well. And and so I started the community policing Unit with DeKalb, and there’s about ten of us, and we basically work with homeless people, uh, victims of domestic violence, fires, things like that. We would hook them up with a nonprofit. So we were basically kind of like the middle people of between the people that need help and the nonprofits that are looking to help people. So we kind of became the boots on the ground for them, essentially. Um, and that was a wonderful time of my career. That’s how I got involved in some non-profits, but that’s why it’s always been. A big part of me is giving back to the community, nonprofit work, that type of thing. But I always knew, ever since that 2018 awful year of my life, I knew I wanted to do something else. And so eventually my my, um, broker, Nakia Brooks, he we had been friends before. He’s from the force as well. He sat me down at the Ted’s Montana Grill at the Mall of Georgia, and he basically said, what’s going on with you? I can tell something’s up with you. Like, I was very depressed.

Johnathan Crego: I, you know, it was bad. And I told him and he was like, what do you think about real estate? I’m like, I don’t know. I came from construction, but like, I don’t know. I’ve never thought like I would do real estate. And so I took it home to my wife. We talked about it and I was like, you know what? I feel a calling to just kind of try this out. And I didn’t get licensed until literally Covid was hitting when I got licensed and I was like, oh man, this is a terrible time, right? It was when it was when the market was weird. Like the market dropped a lot when Covid first hit. And then we all know what happened after after about two weeks of time, it just skyrocketed. Insane. And I went from making barely any money as a police officer to all of a sudden, hey, I can I can afford, you know, life now with this. And I love life and I, you know, can see my kids more. I’m not chasing murderers and working 16 hours a day and, you know, doing all this crazy stuff. I can come home. I know I can come home to them by doing this. At least I have a lot better chance.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I’ll tell you this to to piggyback on that, um, because you really don’t see especially coming from where I come from. Okay. I didn’t come from the best neighborhood. So just knowing your story and hearing your compassion when it came to your job just makes me appreciate the force even more, you know, because you have to have compassion coming into real estate. Real estate isn’t an industry where you can just come in and do whatever, feel, whatever type of way and expect for your business to thrive, especially nowadays. Yes, especially nowadays. And we’re going to talk about that too. Right. What makes us different, especially when it comes to the sales floor? Um, but I do want to mention this when it comes to when Nakia, um, was speaking to you about, hey, like, what’s going on? And he was like, hey, what about real estate? I swear, situations like that, because my husband did that to me. I was selling insurance for State Farm at that time, and I was just like, oh, I’m just I wasn’t feeling it. Um, it just wasn’t the industry for me at that time. And he was like, hey, what about real estate? And it changed my life. So situations and conversations like that can just spark a huge, soon to be fire to ignite.

Johnathan Crego: Did you grow up ever thinking about doing real estate?

Olivia J. Price: No, never. My mom didn’t talk about it. My mom was in the medical field, so she’s like real estate. Yeah, it seems so impractical. It seems so, like, not, um, steady. And, you know.

Johnathan Crego: Did you know any agents growing up?

Olivia J. Price: No, I didn’t know any agents. People from my area didn’t do real estate. Yeah. So, I mean, I just feel like real estate could be endless, you know, especially once you start to get into it. Now, I want to pause on you. Um, JR. Because you were a whole book, and I want to touch on a lot of different things from you. I want to move on to Jordan, which is our other co-host. So I want to kind of give you a little introduction because, um, how we met was pretty amazing. Um, and I just think it’s the hustle, right? So when we first met, um, you were just getting into the lending world. I was just now getting into real estate.

Jordan Nutter: I remember. Like, a month apart from starting. Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: So, um, and then we met at the Chatelaine event, which is fabulous. I love that because I actually met some people there that I’m still friends with.

Jordan Nutter: Oh, wonderful.

Olivia J. Price: So, yeah. So I always tell people, um, the power of networking could change your life, right? Um, and meeting you has been that, um. I just seen your growth. I’m like, look at her. You know. I know you left. Came back, um, had children. And I know we didn’t talk about your babies, too. How many do you have?

Johnathan Crego: Two. A three and a five year old.

Olivia J. Price: Oh, yeah. You’re in the beginning, too. So we’re all new parents, which is amazing, too. So go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us a little bit of how was that experience coming into the industry? Traveling, coming back, having kids. And now Landon is here.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah, I mean I so yeah, I started in 2019 and I. Nobody would use me. Right. Like I was brand new. Nobody wanted to use this lender that was in her mid 20s that knew nothing about mortgages. And so I had to learn everything and anything I could about like credit, credit repair, first time homebuyers because that’s those are the clients that I was given, like the people that they couldn’t qualify through their like.

Johnathan Crego: The hard ones.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah. Those hard ones. Yeah. But I learned so much and I grew so quickly. And then, as we all know, Covid hit. So that really forced me essentially to be at home and do nothing but learn and educate myself. And I’m so grateful for that time because without it, I wouldn’t have, like, pushed myself into the career that I have now. Um, and by doing that, I was able to help so many first time homebuyers, you know, with all these misconceptions of you need a 700 credit score, you need 20% down. And I love that. But I realized that I was just helping that one. Now there’s not like I love any person that I can help, but I was like, my voice can be used to help more people, like, how can I make that happen? And so that’s why I started doing social media, because I was like, if I can help this one person and they’re using this information, I can put it out there and hopefully help more individuals. Um, and thankfully I did that because now I’ve been able to to help thousands of people. From the videos that I’ve posted and continue to post, which has been very just life changing for my business, and I’m so grateful for the partners that I have and everyone I’ve been able to to help. Um, and yes, we we did. We went, um, my husband and I went back to California for a brief period of time. Um, and when we decided to come back to Georgia, we were like, you know what? We’ll we’ll get we’re going to get an RV.

Olivia J. Price: Let’s talk about it.

Jordan Nutter: We’re going to get an RV. And I don’t know why this came into my head. And I’m now that I look back at it and I’m out of the weeds, like, I’m glad that we did it. But in the thick of it, I’m like, what are we thinking right now? Like, who are we? Because we are. Our first child just turned one, and we were getting in an RV that looked like a tour bus. It was the craziest thing, like my face was on it. But I taught financial literacy across the country. So I’m.

Johnathan Crego: So you were living in the.

Jordan Nutter: I guess I was living.

Johnathan Crego: In the one year.

Jordan Nutter: Old with my one year old and my husband, and he was like.

Johnathan Crego: Wow.

Jordan Nutter: The bee’s knees. Like he was like the driver, the mechanic, the chef, the babysitter, the photographer, the videographer. Like he was like, doing everything. So I appreciate him more than he knows. But yeah, we we literally went from California down all through the southern states, down to Florida, up to New York, and then came through Ohio and back down. And, um, I’m an ambassador with first home IQ. So their mission is to give financial literacy to the next generation. Um, so high schoolers, community colleges, anywhere we, we can get in to help bring any sort of financial literacy to that next generation. Um, so that’s really what I did across the country and helped agents as well with their business and growing it. So that was really a big undertaking.

Olivia J. Price: Let’s talk about it.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: With a baby. One year is right. Oh, yeah, on a RV. Yeah. And I can imagine because my husband has so many hats. Listen, I drive this man insane. I know I do, but he he holds it down, though. He’s really good. But just knowing that support and being able to take a risk and not really knowing where is this risk going to take me? I know I want to go up, right. Because that’s why you probably made the decision like, hey, I think this could change my career or whatever the case may be. And then to do it and to be in it and you’re like, oh my gosh. Okay, so I know, I know, this is my calling, whatever the case may be, because I’ve been in situations where it’s just, I’m here and we got to get through it. But then looking back, it’s like, wow, I’ve never seen anyone do that.

Jordan Nutter: I think with.

Olivia J. Price: The.

Jordan Nutter: Way with. Well, it was when I brought it to like my company and they’re like, um. What? And I was like, just roll with it. Just trust me. Trust me.

Olivia J. Price: No, but you got to have that type of. Yes, yes.

Jordan Nutter: Um, but I think in our industry, like you for sure have to have a supportive partner or else, like 100%. You can’t like. Oh, I gotta go show this house at 7:00 on a Saturday. Like I have to do this open house. Like there’s all of these things that our schedules like. Yes, we have the flexibility. But then there’s also like midnight last night, I have my Texas buyer’s agent who’s like, we’re going to win this if we can get these numbers to go through. And I’m like, all right, hold on, give me a second. And I’m like, okay, you’re good. Just go ahead. Here you go. Here’s an updated letter. Like you have to have such a supportive partner in this or else it’s hard. It would be really hard.

Olivia J. Price: It’s it can be. And um, having kids too I think makes that addition. Um.

Jordan Nutter: Yep.

Olivia J. Price: You have to think about your next move, you know, because there’s so many times I’m just like, oh, if I can just leave the house right now and do whatever. But having those kids and managing your career, especially on the mom’s side, yeah.

Johnathan Crego: I think it gives you a bigger perspective in life too. Like, for me, like I was growing up, I was like, all right, I’m going to be a, you know, police officer chasing murderers for 30 years of my life. And then I’m done. And then all of a sudden you have kids and you’re like, I need to get a pension. And I need to, you know, save for the future. And, like, these guys are my future. They need me here. And I can’t be doing this crazy thing 16 hours a day. So it gave me a whole different perspective on life when I had them. And and I knew I had to switch switch careers at that point, so.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I’ll tell you this, um, and one thing I took from both of you guys is stories, and your upbringing sort of is sacrifice. This industry you have to sacrifice. Like, I feel like the only reason I was able to actually do. This industry was because of the fact that I knew I would be willing to give up everything for it. Like, I’ll be willing to pawn my house if I could and say, hey, if it can get me to whatever level that I’m trying to get to, I will do it. And I think that you have to have that type of energy nowadays in this real estate market in order to be where we are now, like touring. Yeah. A tour bus with your kid and your husband. It’s hard. And preaching the gospel of real estate, I would say. Yeah, right. Because people need to hear these things and ways that they really can grow generational wealth. And, hey, you really can become a first time home buyer or whatever the case may be, you can actually do it and actually see it live in the flesh. That’s it.

Johnathan Crego: Now, are you going to high schools and.

Olivia J. Price: Like that’s amazing.

Johnathan Crego: Talking about financial literacy and things like that.

Olivia J. Price: On the go.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah, I wish I would have had that. We never had anything like that.

Olivia J. Price: Mhm.

Jordan Nutter: And there’s like so I’m part of the um Buford Business Alliance. And we just did the job fair at the high school and she’s like yes we have. I’m so glad that like we incorporate financial literacy. And I’m like okay great. Because if not I was going to tell you like please let me come in or or introduce this. But yeah, they more schools are taking on the idea of we need to educate our next generation on financial literacy. Like, I don’t know about you guys because we’re all pretty similar in age here, but like, I don’t need to learn how to sew a pillow. Like, do you remember in, like, home EC we had so, so the pillows I’m like, how do you do a checkbook? Like, how do you even teach? I don’t know, I went to get a notary done at UPS and he was like, okay, I need you to sign here, but only if you know how to. And I was like, excuse me? What? What does that mean? And he goes, well, like, you know, I just write my name out. And I said, you don’t like what is your signature? He’s like.

Olivia J. Price: They don’t teach it.

Jordan Nutter: He’s like, no.

Olivia J. Price: They don’t get out of the curriculum.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah. So he.

Olivia J. Price: Just years ago.

Jordan Nutter: No cursive.

Olivia J. Price: Oh, wow.

Jordan Nutter: I’m like, that’s your signature? And he said, yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: So they had no idea.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah. It’s the it was the craziest thing to me.

Olivia J. Price: So I can go on and on about the school system.

Johnathan Crego: No, honestly. You can.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: You can.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah. It goes hand in hand.

Jordan Nutter: Says the woman who homeschools her kids for that. That’s I, I can imagine. So my whole high school.

Olivia J. Price: Um, is a under-funded high school. Mhm. Um, and I wish that we had more people like you and me who would come into these school systems and teach things like that, because that’s how I developed my mentorship. And I only do girls, and I teach them about financial literacy, entrepreneurship and how to get into real estate. Right. Either it’s an appraisal side or it’s coming in as a home inspection. I mean, home inspector side, or it’s coming from the London side or the agent side. There’s just so many positions that you can take within this industry, that you can actually use it, grow it and do whatever you want. Um, when it comes to the kids, I’m just so big on that because, um, financial literacy, we only had the option of, hey, you know what? Instead of going through, like, because I did like calc three, I was in all types of classes, and I’m looking back, I’m like, dang, did I ever use like.

Johnathan Crego: A squared plus b squared equals C.

Olivia J. Price: Lesson? Come on. Come on.

Johnathan Crego: But I never once learned anything about taxes.

Speaker5: No no no. That’s such an important part of our life. Like you go to jail.

Johnathan Crego: If you don’t do it right. But I know how to do a squared plus b squared equals c squared.

Speaker5: Right?

Olivia J. Price: But can you use that in real estate though. I just want you to give us an example of yeah go ahead.

Speaker5: How do you use a squared plus if you buy that for me. Yeah I can’t, but I’m just.

Olivia J. Price: Saying like there’s skill sets that aren’t really practical in terms of how we really can make money. And I think nowadays children are on that. These kids on social media are just like, hey, you know what? I had girls that were like, Olivia, I know that I want to get into real estate. I’m like, really? Like, yeah, my cousin is a real real estate agent and da da da, whatever the case may be, I’m like, wow. Because growing up, real estate, back to what you were saying originally. Well, actually, I think you asked, like, did you know any realtors growing up?

Johnathan Crego: That’s exactly why I asked that.

Speaker5: Yeah, because I.

Johnathan Crego: I had a mentor, um, I grew up with who was a police officer, and I wanted to kind of be like him. He was a wonderful man. Um, but I see that a lot with people they just don’t know. Like, I never even knew any agents. So I was like, I don’t even know anything about it. Or like, a lender, I never I thought you just went to a bank. Yeah, I didn’t know. And so now, like, I see, you know, like Jordan and people like that, like where it’s like, wow. Like you can teach so many people. There is little girls that are gonna grow up and they will be agents because of you.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: You are changing their whole perspective on life and their careers. They now look up to someone like you.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I’m going to stop you right here. Hear. Um, because just me personally, being a black woman in some of these schools, I’m like, the outcome is just so not good. It’s like either you’re going to do this or that, and I’m just like, oh, why these two? Because I have a lot of my friends who went down that path. Um, which now I look back on and I’m like, oh my gosh, I have to make a difference. I have to let these girls know that, hey, you know, I know that the world is kind of pushing us in this direction, but hey, how about this over here? You know, it might not be as shiny as some of the other stuff, you know, because sometimes we’re always looking for a quick thing. Some of us, we’re like, well, shoot, if I could do this, I could make it quick. Whatever. And it’s not always about the quick. No. It’s more so like, hey, let’s build, let’s create, and then let’s help.

Jordan Nutter: And it may not be tomorrow. Like, you got to put the time in. You got to put the work in.

Olivia J. Price: You had the vision first, right.

Speaker5: And I think.

Jordan Nutter: Like you have to have the drive and want to want more for your life and your future family and kids.

Olivia J. Price: And to see.

Speaker5: It.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah, I think ours is just more so seeing it like, oh, she came from somewhere like here and oh my goodness, she actually made something better for herself. So I think that’s so important for not only for you to hear it on TV, but actually see it. And that goes back to what I admire so much about you, Jordan. I was like, God dang, I got to go back to this tour bus, though, because I was like a tour bus.

Speaker5: Do you still have it?

Jordan Nutter: Um, we actually.

Speaker5: We.

Jordan Nutter: Actually. So it’s funny because it was just a traditional RV, right? But they were like, well, we need a we need to wrap it. And I’m like, wrap it.

Speaker5: Oh yeah.

Jordan Nutter: Like legit. Um, it was wrapped with my like, I looked like I was Lady Gaga on.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: Like it was so funny. It was so funny because I’d be sitting in the passenger seat and people would be like, just looking.

Speaker5: And I’m like, you get.

Olivia J. Price: A lot.

Speaker5: Of honk. Oh, yeah, I.

Olivia J. Price: Bet.

Speaker5: I bet, yeah.

Jordan Nutter: And, um, it was just it was something else. Or like, it’d be funny, like we, because we had our truck with us as well. So I would drive if we went somewhere short, I would drive the truck separate. So I’d like drive behind and like look at everybody looking at the bus. And I’m like, all right, this is cool. Like, I like this. This is really cool. So it was definitely an experience. Um, and then when we got back here, less my husband soul, bless his soul, I know he’s going to listen to this and he’s going to be like, yeah, babe, you you better love me. He that man. Because we got a quote for an absurd amount of money to take the wrap off and he’s like, no, we aren’t. No. So he was out there, waited till it was like the middle of Georgia summer so it would heat up. And that man spent a whole day unwrapping that RV.

Olivia J. Price: Oh wow.

Jordan Nutter: It was going to cost like $20,000 to unwrap it. I was like, unwrap it. We’re taking a sticker off, y’all. What? What is going on here? So yeah. That man.

Speaker5: Good for.

Johnathan Crego: Him.

Speaker5: That’s awesome.

Jordan Nutter: He was he’s a trooper.

Speaker5: He really is.

Olivia J. Price: I tell you this, um, and I want to touch bases since you’re already in leadership, you’re in leadership. I’ve been in leadership. Let’s talk about being a young entrepreneur within some of these rooms, especially when it comes to I can only imagine the conversation. It was when you went to your leadership team and said, hey, I have an idea. Okay, now don’t get me in that energy, you know, don’t give me any thoughts right now. Just listen.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: I think that we need to take this on the road. Like, who is is boldness like that? That when you look back on it, you’re like, wow. I feel like sometimes with the information that we have is being the younger generation is sometimes be. Um, alarming to other generations because they haven’t heard of heard of it or even seen it.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: So when you actually was like, okay, you know what?

Speaker5: Well, I.

Olivia J. Price: Made this happen.

Jordan Nutter: I’m grateful because the company I work for, we have the first division for content creators. So like all of our not the entire division, but a majority of our division creates content. So we help educate on social media. So we are the creator collective at Ncfm lending. And so we already have that like drive and innovation of like, what else can we do to help people and be a little bit different and what’s, what’s going to set us apart? Like what? How in what ways can we help? So it very much was outside of the realm of doing.

Olivia J. Price: And they implement that within the company. Is this like recent recent.

Jordan Nutter: The social media part? Yeah. So well, no, actually they’ve had the divisions been around since 2020, 2021. Um, and I came on in April of 22. So I just celebrated my third year at the company. Wow. And so whenever I’ve brought something to them, they’re like, okay, like it’s a little it’s either really out there like the the road trip or it’s not quite out there, but either which way, like we have this, they’re open to it. Like that’s what I love. Like okay, there’s obviously a reason Jordan wants to do this. Let’s figure out if we can make it possible and if so, like, how do we get there? Um, but generally I’m not just throwing out random ideas like, trust me, we won’t be doing another RV. Like, I’ll go. I’m happy to, like, drive anywhere in Georgia, maybe even Tennessee or Florida. But your girl is not going back.

Olivia J. Price: But to be honest, you probably don’t need to. I just think that some things that you do, you did it.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: And you were the first to do it. And maybe, hey, maybe you don’t want to do it again, but you did it and you completed it. I think that’s the biggest thing that I admire about people who said they were going to do it. They did it and they finished it. Yeah. It’s not just saying it right and even doing it because some people do it and they don’t complete. But completing it has just been, for me a a great marketing move because I’m all about marketing. For me, everything I do is marketing based from the events that I throw, and I love events. I love to have a good time. Okay, you can’t stop me from.

Speaker5: Having a good.

Olivia J. Price: I do, I do, um, I love to bring people together. Either it’s we’re learning about something or we’re really learning about something, because a lot of the events I do is going to be something that you’re going to take away from it either way, um, or another. But I do want to lead into you, J.R.. So how has it been within the different leadership positions you’ve had that, um, either very similar to Jordan’s, where, hey, we’re coming in as young entrepreneurs and as a situation where it’s embracing, or did she have to break some barriers to kind of get your, um, your insight in. Yeah. Like, what is that?

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: So on your side.

Johnathan Crego: I am I’ve been the Neymar’s young Professionals Network, um, chair for a couple of years now. And that, um, I will say for the most part, I’ve been very welcomed. And we always we’ve had a lot of crazy ideas. For example, I actually led a, a shooting, um, I wanted to train especially, like female agents. Um, like, if you want to carry, it’s your right to here’s how to shoot a gun. And so I introduced this gun safety shooting event just to, to show you here’s how you can carry it safely if you need to use it. Here’s how you can use it. Um, there’s a very famous Beverly Carter situation from Arkansas. She was a a female realtor who was, um, purposely basically led by a buyer and murdered. And he when they caught him, they asked him why he did it, and he said it was because I knew she would be solo and we’d be in a vacant house. And so I don’t want that. If I’m in a leadership position, I don’t want that to happen ever again. If I can, if I can help that. And so my goal is to bring this, you know, here’s how to properly train. And so we did it. And for the most part people loved it. I did have some backlash from some people and uh, about that. But for the most part it was it was really accepted by other leadership and GA it wasn’t as accepted with, I would say, older people in the industry. And so at the end of the day, I had to realize I’m doing this so that Beverly Carter does not happen again. That’s my only goal.

Olivia J. Price: So can I stop you real quick? And I think that goes back to initially what I told you. You have passion, JR. You have some passion because sometimes in this industry we can become really cold and kind of like, uh, especially if we’ve been doing it for a long time. You just kind of become, uh, it’s a normal day, regular day, you know, no changes. But you need to have that change, right? Um, especially being a young professional, coming into this industry and having that passion because I actually wanted to come to your gun safety class, but I couldn’t make it. But because I don’t know how to shoot a gun. But I think that if I had a situation.

Johnathan Crego: Change, that.

Speaker5: Friend. Look.

Olivia J. Price: Well, hang.

Speaker5: On, wait a minute. Hold on. But don’t you.

Jordan Nutter: Worry, I think.

Speaker5: I could.

Olivia J. Price: I don’t know, I think I’ll learn quick.

Speaker5: You feel.

Olivia J. Price: Me? But when you’re faced with situations, it’s flight or fight, right?

Speaker5: Exactly.

Olivia J. Price: So I think I’m going to choose the fight part on that one.

Speaker5: Right? Right.

Olivia J. Price: But I do think that we need to learn more about that, especially on the women’s side, because I’ve been in some open houses with some really interesting people, okay. And I’m like, you know, I was at this time I was pregnant. I was by myself. My husband couldn’t come with me. Usually stays in the car. And I was there probably for like two hours. And this one guy, he stayed in there for like 30 minutes and I’m like, hey, the house is only but so big, right? And at that time I was a newer agent too, and I was pregnant. So I was kind of I didn’t really know how to tell him, like, hey, let’s wrap this up, you know? Any feedback? Leave your information and we’ll get back with you type of thing. So I just let them linger. And he was just really interesting. Right. But at that time at open houses, I would always stay near the door. I’m. I’m near the door. Right. I’m not in the kitchen. I’m not in the living room. I’m somewhere where I can easily get out. So I knew that aspect of being, you know, having realtor safety at the forefront. But honestly, learning, learning how to use a firearm is just so important.

Johnathan Crego: And hopefully you never have to use it. Yeah, that’s my goal is hopefully you don’t.

Speaker5: Hopefully not.

Johnathan Crego: But if you ever are in that situation, you’re prepared. Even here in in Cobb County area, there was two Keller Williams agents that were were armed, robbed and, uh, yeah.

Speaker5: I.

Olivia J. Price: Didn’t hear about that.

Johnathan Crego: They were unalive.

Speaker5: Uh, about.

Johnathan Crego: About a decade ago right here in Cobb.

Speaker5: County.

Johnathan Crego: And so it happens a lot, unfortunately. And so that was one of my goals, is to just try to prevent that. God forbid, if I had someone that it happened to, that I knew that could have learned that like you. And that’s why we’re going to go to a range.

Speaker5: Right after this. Listen, listen, listen.

Olivia J. Price: Like, hey, babe, I need to go ahead and learn how to use a firearm right now.

Speaker5: Yeah. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Um, but overall, I’ve really been accepted, I think after that, because that was a big success. We did have some great feedback from it. People were like, I’ve like you, I’ve never shot a gun before. I’ve always been afraid. Now I feel confident at least to carry one. And that was our goal. So, um, after that, I’ve done a lot of other kind of crazy ideas. Um, that for the most part, I would say leadership at, um, Neymar and Gaga have been great about it. Um.

Olivia J. Price: But I do think that coming in after the pandemic, like kind of we all did, companies are more receptive to know that, hey, social media is a huge part of branding and, um, Relaying information. So I do think that in terms of when we came into the industry, it was kind of cool because they were already shifting. So now we can just enhance that shift that’s already happening anyways, right? So I do think from both situations.

Speaker5: Social media.

Johnathan Crego: Is everything.

Speaker5: Oh yeah, social media is hundred percent.

Johnathan Crego: You have to have social media to be successful in this industry. I don’t see how you’re not unless you’re working maybe for like HUD or something, but where you’re given up leads like there’s no way if you’re working your sphere of influence, there’s no way you can’t.

Olivia J. Price: So let’s talk about it though. So with social media, how do you think that it changed your business personally when it comes to sales and even when it just comes to being innovative? Because I can go on and on about social media.

Speaker5: Oh yeah.

Olivia J. Price: And how it changed my career.

Johnathan Crego: I think you both can. You both are better at it than I am.

Olivia J. Price: So but to be honest with you, you still have a presence, J.R. it’s one thing to not have a presence and then kind of sort of post. Not having a presence is just for real estate in 2025. I don’t think that it’s going to be efficient.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: In the next half a decade, I would.

Speaker5: Say.

Jordan Nutter: 100%.

Olivia J. Price: So you need to have at least a page and some presence, right? I know you post a lot about your family and things like that, which I love. Um, but ultimately, can you tell me a little bit within the last, I would say last two years? How do you think that social media has affected you?

Jordan Nutter: Well, um, I mean, for me personally, I’ve now amassed a little over 300,000 followers, so that’s completely changed my business. And I am grateful that I work with a company that we cover essentially all of the US except for New York. So that has really also helped with my business. But the fact that I can reach a lot of first time home buyers and educate them. It’s it’s interesting because that’s everyone does social media a little bit different, but my content is geared towards primarily that that next generation home buyer. Um, and so when that happens and I have clients that come to me that have followed me for years, which I think is also crazy, that I’ve never met these people. And they’re like, I am only using you like I have watched you for three years and you are the only person I trust. Yet they’ve never met me and they live out in Texas.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: And I’m like, okay, great. Then they don’t have an agent because they know you have to get your finances in order first. And now I have an opportunity to turn the tables, because you all know that traditionally the agent finds.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: Now I get to turn the table and be like, how do I build these partnerships with agents, like, make it to where it’s a two way street? And so now I’m so grateful to be able to have built these partnerships all across the US with agents that, you know, I don’t get to sit in a room with every day. So I have to.

Speaker5: Find and touch.

Jordan Nutter: Right. But I have to find other ways that I can touch them and help build that relationship. So I would say from social media. About 70% of my business is from social media. And what it.

Speaker5: Has.

Jordan Nutter: Done and like given me opportunities. Um, and I always tell people, think of social media as your brand, like we are building a brand, right? So you think of Nike. It’s a white background with a black swoosh. Right. Like that is how Nike started off. Yes. Maybe like you go and buy a pair of socks and they’re pink or. But traditionally it’s a white background with a black swoosh. You know that because Nike made their brand that way. So when you were going out there and you’re making your social media pages, you need to build, you like, don’t just post these houses because the houses are not going to open the doors to these other.

Speaker5: It’s you.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I’m gonna I’m gonna chime in on that because on the real estate side, we are infamous for posting these houses.

Speaker5: Yeah. And I’m like.

Jordan Nutter: Great, you post the house, but but it is you like Olivia is selling that. Olivia is the brand. J.r. is the brand. Jordan like we are the brand. We’re the person that they want to talk to and they want to hear from. And and if we are not authentic on social media and then we go and meet them and it’s complete opposite, they’re like, who is this person that I just asked to like, I just trusted to sell me a house or I trusted with my finances. Like, that is not who I thought they were. So building your brand on social media, you have to show your face. If you are real estate agent listening to this, you have to show your face. I know it’s really hard. Yeah, but you have to show your face.

Olivia J. Price: Also, it has to be in moderation too, because so much I’m going to be honest with you. I love to talk, I love to talk, I love to educate. And I think that’s one of the things that got me into the industry and set me apart. When I first came in, the only thing I was doing that I was focused on was open houses. That’s all I did. I killed open houses. I would do like 4 to 6 per weekend. I would set up my tripod. Camera. Yeah, I would set up my. And you can go on my Instagram and scroll all the way down and you’ll see. That’s all I did post in every open house I would get, I would do a run through of the neighborhood, and I would have like content for each day leading to my open house. So you’re talking about I had weeks I was posting every day.

Speaker5: I remember.

Olivia J. Price: Um, girl and I had my tripod, and I had my little spill about the house in the neighborhood. Then I go through the house and do my.

Speaker5: Little.

Jordan Nutter: Suit.

Speaker5: Jacket. Listen, I.

Jordan Nutter: Remember.

Speaker5: That red suit jacket.

Olivia J. Price: No one was at the open house. It was just me. And I’m like, hey, we had a great time.

Speaker5: We had. This was wonderful out the door line. Yeah, it was a line.

Olivia J. Price: Down the street. We had neighbors coming in and out.

Johnathan Crego: Everybody ate my.

Speaker5: Food.

Johnathan Crego: No one eats the food.

Speaker5: Listen. No one, no one, no one.

Olivia J. Price: And I had to learn, right? Because there’s levels to this thing, right? When you first come in, I had a charcuterie board.

Speaker5: Oh, yeah.

Olivia J. Price: No one touched.

Speaker5: It. Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: At the end of the day, um, when I, I would say I stopped doing open houses, like maybe going on two years ago. I just brought a little candy bags and some waters, and people took those candy bags all day. Right. I just think that it was just so much more efficient. But going back to the beginning, I feel as though between 2019 or maybe no 2020 to 2023, I was known as like the open House Queen. I met not only agents because agents started looking at my social media like, dang, I know she’s going to be in this area. And some people just stopped to say, hey! And also vendors. I have vendors that say, oh my God, I seen your sign. I seen you on social media. I’m coming back to your open house and just say, hey, you know. So that presence on social media for me has just been amazing. And I use it now as a platform to just speak my truth, to let people know, hey, this is what’s going on in real estate. This is how we can pivot. These are some ways as agents that we need to start really focusing on, you know, because real estate right now It’s not an industry that it used to be back in 2008, 2010, 2012.

Olivia J. Price: No, this is a real game. And now people are really starting to investigate you more. A lot of my business. A lot of them, they Google and they’re from Google. They go on my social media and I’m like, oh my goodness. I see the correlation because you can see the numbers like I’m like, okay, so from Google to Instagram it’s a direct and then a little bit on Facebook too. But a lot of people direct to my Instagram. And when I tell you I’m like your, your, your um, your page is like your portfolio now of like what you’ve done and you know, what are you doing and things like that. I think that people nowadays are going to start leaning more towards, hey, let me investigate these people before I just call it used to be back in the day, you just knew your neighborhood realtor. You’re like, hey Cathy, up the street is selling. I’m going to use Cathy. But now there’s so many other people.

Speaker5: In.

Olivia J. Price: The playing field.

Speaker5: Yeah, well, people.

Johnathan Crego: Use who they know, like and trust, and they build that from your social media. And so they’re gonna know you, they’re gonna like you, and they’re going to trust you off of that. So yeah, I think social media is everything.

Olivia J. Price: So this is my next thing here. Um, which is a hot topic. What are some ways how people can really be utilized in real estate if, um, home buying isn’t an option? Can we talk about some investments here? Because I think Atlanta is the hot spot for investments.

Johnathan Crego: And I would say it’s the number one right now.

Speaker5: Number one.

Olivia J. Price: Number one. And honestly, I think we are the new New York and the new LA.

Speaker5: I agree.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah this is it. I feel like Atlanta.

Johnathan Crego: Is it the last six houses I’ve sold minus one. So last five out of six houses I’ve sold has all been from people from California or New York.

Speaker5: I couldn’t.

Olivia J. Price: Believe it. I couldn’t believe it. They have the money, they have the capital.

Johnathan Crego: And that’s. Yeah.

Speaker5: Yeah, I mean, it.

Johnathan Crego: Is a big.

Speaker5: Thing. Yeah. That is a huge thing.

Johnathan Crego: They sell their one bedroom, 800 square foot condo for $8 million in LA, and they move here and they outbid us.

Speaker5: Georgia come on a lot.

Olivia J. Price: And I think a lot of my people, I have a house coming up on the market We’re we’re in a situation like that where I think they overpaid a little bit, you know what I mean? Now they’re trying to move very quickly and the equity just isn’t there quite yet. But I always tell people to in terms of when you’re selling, when it comes to the equity, you do have to be in your home for a little bit. Some people think, well, I’ve always owned the home for two years, I need I know it doesn’t work like that, you know, but, um, Georgia is that place for where you can come in as a no. One and come in as a millionaire, I swear you can. Can you tell me a little bit, JR, in terms of your investment journey, what made you want to get on the investment side coming from the sell side? How was that transition.

Johnathan Crego: So I’ll start with this. So my wife and I, we bought our house in Lawrenceville, Georgia in 2016, and we had no money left to our name like we had nothing. And we bought the worst house in a decent area. It’s at River colony off Duluth near Sugarloaf Mills.

Speaker5: Okay.

Johnathan Crego: And I come from construction. So we did a live in flip. This was Pre-kids. And so we did a live in flip.

Speaker5: I always wonder.

Olivia J. Price: How people go through that.

Speaker5: Too, especially with kids. Oh, man.

Johnathan Crego: Especially when you’re on the kitchen or like bathroom, you’re like, okay, I’m over this. You got microwave and everything. And yeah.

Jordan Nutter: In the.

Speaker5: Living room. Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: In the garage.

Speaker5: We’re like, where are the plates?

Johnathan Crego: Ramen for the.

Speaker5: Yeah, yeah.

Johnathan Crego: 10th week in a row.

Speaker5: Finish that thing.

Johnathan Crego: Come on. So, yeah, with kids, it’s a lot easier. So we did a live in flip and we bought in 2016. We sold in 2019.

Speaker5: Okay.

Johnathan Crego: And all of a sudden we sold it. And we made about $100,000 profit. And that was the most money I’d ever seen in my life. I never thought.

Speaker5: I would one time.

Johnathan Crego: Right. Probably ever. That was like.

Speaker5: But at one.

Olivia J. Price: Time that hits.

Speaker5: Yeah. You’re like, oh, I.

Johnathan Crego: Had, like, pennies in my name. Now I have a hundred thousand.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Oh my gosh. And real estate changed my life. And that’s a big reason why I got into real estate. Because it changed my family’s trajectory.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: And so then we bought another house, and we’re now in Buford. We bought another house, and it needed a lot of work. And now we have kids. And so we were gonna continue to do live in flips until we got to, like, something crazy mansion. But then we fixed this one up, and now we’re like, well, we’ve got kids, we like this house. We’re just gonna stay.

Speaker5: But I’ve.

Olivia J. Price: Seen investors do that.

Speaker5: Too.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah, I’m like, I could tell. I’m like, hey, I think he’s probably just settled on this house.

Speaker5: Yeah, that’s exactly what happened was. Yeah, yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Let’s.

Speaker5: Enjoy it.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah. But I also got involved with Peachy Properties. Uh, they’re a flip company, and we focus primarily on, like, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Marietta, that kind of area, that north perimeter area and and also now on my own as well. I flip as well. And I would say the two hottest things I’m seeing right now as a flipping buyer’s agent is number one. House hacking, especially with veterans. And number two is seller finance. Um, that’s becoming a big thing or assuming a loan assumption loan.

Olivia J. Price: So last year, no, two years ago I started seeing loan assumptions back on the market. And, um, I had one of my clients almost get to the finish line. But when he looked at like the final turns, he was like, oh heck no. So can you give us a little information? And probably you guys can piggyback on that. Like, how does that look for assumptions?

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: So I see it creeping back in our market.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah. In fact I got one under contract. Now I’ve done several as well. And it’s a great opportunity for people that have the money.

Speaker5: Yes.

Johnathan Crego: Yes that’s the big thing. So yeah. Exactly. So let’s just use easy numbers. Let’s say Olivia.

Speaker5: You hold.

Olivia J. Price: On. Now we go back and what what.

Speaker5: Did you say a squared plus b squared c squared. All right. Let me get my pen and paper out.

Johnathan Crego: Squared.

Speaker5: Plus. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: So you bought this house. Let’s say you bought a house in 2021 for 500 K. And you put 3% down and you’re on a 3% interest rate. And that’s that’s your biggest equity right there. Is that 3%. That is money to my ears. When you say you have a 3% equity or interest rate. So you’re on. We’re on 2025 now. Let’s just say you’ve got it paid down to 450,000. You still have that 3% interest rate, but you. So you’ve got $50,000 worth of equity. And then let’s say, hey, I need to move. I need to move to, I don’t know, New York, whatever. So you go ahead and put on the market, but it’s not selling and you don’t know why. It’s a great house. It’s just a tough market. Whatever. And so you go ahead and you confirm with your lender. That’s the biggest thing. Confirm with your lender. You can’t. Your loan can be an assumable loan.

Olivia J. Price: So quick question how often do we see that the loan could be assumable government loans.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Government loans.

Speaker5: Va.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah FHA, USDA, USDA.

Speaker5: Always.

Olivia J. Price: Going to be.

Jordan Nutter: I mean I’ve never not seen one same assumable like when we when when we’re doing our disclosures, it always will say Assumable. So I’ve never had one as a government loan.

Speaker5: Gotcha.

Jordan Nutter: Um, I’m trying to even think of like, my down payment assistant ones. I don’t, I, I don’t even think about that. But conventional is where.

Speaker5: You probably.

Johnathan Crego: Some conventional, but.

Speaker5: Not all.

Jordan Nutter: It’s hard.

Johnathan Crego: To.

Speaker5: Get.

Jordan Nutter: A conventional loan.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: So that’s the hard part because FHA you’re going to have mortgage insurance. Usda you have mortgage insurance VA you don’t. But but hey, I’ll take mortgage insurance all day because my house that I still have at a 2.6% rate, I will keep that mortgage insurance for the entire 30 years of my life on.

Speaker5: That interest.

Olivia J. Price: Rate. Man 100 when we bought in 2018, I was like, the average is 4.75. But looking at it now, I’m like, whoo.

Speaker5: That’s okay.

Jordan Nutter: But yeah, that’s the kicker.

Speaker5: Like, you have to.

Jordan Nutter: Get somebody who will allow you to assume the loan.

Johnathan Crego: So you got to confirm. Yeah, you got to confirm it’s Assumable loan. And then so you’re going to go ahead and realtors need to look more into this because we need to start marketing this more. I have buyers right now that want to. We just can’t find anything that either one, the realtor or whoever doesn’t know it exists. Number two, it is it is kind of hard. It’s a harder process than a normal life.

Speaker5: I went through it. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah, it’s definitely harder. I did one up in Blairsville. It took six months. Um, but that was when it was first starting. And so it was with Pennymac. They have their own division of assuming loan department, but they were just it was so new to the game because no one was assuming loans in 2021, 2022. But then now they are. And so all right. So you owe or you have 50,000 equity. So that means basically I’m going to bring you a buyer. They’re going to pay that $50,000 difference up front at the closing table. And then they’re essentially going to walk in to your monthly mortgage payment that you owe $450,000 left at the 3%. And so that’s dropping their monthly payments. Just an absurd amount, because they’re now going from 6 or 7% whatever interest rates are today. It’s fluctuating like crazy right now. But they’re going from this, you know, whatever it is to a 2.6 or a three. And that payment is just amazing. And so we’re seeing that more and more. Not a lot of people seem to know about it. So I kind of want to get the word out about that. But also I’m seeing a lot of house hacking or a lot of people that.

Speaker5: Want to help.

Olivia J. Price: Or wanting.

Speaker5: To.

Johnathan Crego: Yep, yep, that’s a big thing, especially with VA veterans. I don’t know why. I see it all the time with veterans, and I think it’s a wonderful thing. Um, but yeah, that’s I’m seeing those two things a lot.

Olivia J. Price: I think that the way that our economy is going, people are becoming more creative again. And I.

Speaker5: Think that is it.

Olivia J. Price: Now. And for me, I always feel as though in economies like this, it is room for us to become a millionaire, to be honest with you. Right? Just like you said, when you came in, you were like $100,000 insane.

Speaker5: Like.

Olivia J. Price: Come on in the walk, you know? But, um, I just think that now, just like you said, being creative is giving us the opportunity to say, you know, hey, way. If I can get that 2.7, whatever interest rate, I think I’ll be willing to put the capital for people who do have the capital.

Johnathan Crego: And that’s the.

Speaker5: Kicker. That’s the kicker.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah, it’s tough because some people might if they bought in 2021, they’ve got $200,000 worth of equity now in their thing. So not a lot of people can chalk that money up front. And and not a lot I’ve noticed, at least me not a lot will allow a second mortgage. I have one that is, but not. It’s 5050, it seems.

Speaker5: At least to me.

Jordan Nutter: Because there’s companies that are out there that let you that like let you look for the assumable mortgages in your area and they offer the second mortgage, but you have to find the company that you’re assuming the loan that will allow you to now carry the second mortgage, as opposed to you bringing the capital upfront.

Olivia J. Price: Okay, so Divvy Homes offered my client that divvy and.

Jordan Nutter: Uh romley. Is that the other one?

Speaker5: I don’t know, there’s.

Jordan Nutter: Another.

Speaker5: No. Rome.

Jordan Nutter: Rome.

Johnathan Crego: Rome. I think we might be wrong, but I think you’re right.

Speaker5: Well, I’ll.

Olivia J. Price: Tell you about divvy.

Speaker5: But.

Jordan Nutter: There’s. I know that there’s another one.

Speaker5: Divvy.

Olivia J. Price: I went through their program with my client. I was telling you about two years ago, and we were like, the first ones they did it on. So I was talking to, like, the execs at divvy. They were like, okay, Olivia, so we’re going to try this on your client. Um, but he ended up just buying himself because the numbers, he was just like, dang, if I’m going through that program, I might as well just buy.

Jordan Nutter: Because interest rate is quite high, is my understanding on the second mortgage. So even though.

Speaker5: It was.

Jordan Nutter: I mean, if you’re.

Speaker5: Very high.

Jordan Nutter: Let’s say $450,000.

Speaker5: For.

Jordan Nutter: The first one at two point, whatever percent. But then your second mortgage is at, let’s say, $200,000 at, I don’t know, I don’t let’s say they’re 8 or 9% like.

Speaker5: It’s kind of.

Jordan Nutter: Like your average right now, your average rate.

Speaker5: It’s like it makes sense.

Jordan Nutter: What does it look like?

Speaker5: Are you taking.

Olivia J. Price: It. It makes.

Speaker5: Sense. Right. Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: So I think every with any of we know this with real estate, it depends on the client. How long are they going to be there? What are their. What are they hoping for? What does it look like? So I mean, it’s worth exploring all of your options and having like an educated real estate agent, an educated lender that looks out for your best interest and makes sure that you understand the options that are available and what’s going to make the most sense for you because the shoe doesn’t fit everybody.

Speaker5: Very true.

Olivia J. Price: Very true, very true. And that’s one thing that my client was kind of exploring between the two. But I would say this because could you leave us with any tips or any type of things that people out here who are wanting to purchase can start doing to get themselves in position? Because I do, because I have a platform called birdie, and we focus on the community aspect of purchasing, because right now I think what the average sales price in Atlanta is, what, 375.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: 400,000. Right. And even 400,000 isn’t really 400,000, right? Because, you know, back in the day, probably when we were younger, like $1 million home was really like a $400,000 home. Probably. But that was $1 million home for us, right? It had the yard. It had the, you know, the driveway, the garages and all of that good stuff. Six bedrooms and whatnot. Now 400,000 is like, wow, you know, in certain areas, um, especially like in desirable areas, it’s not really getting us what we would hope so. Right. Um, I do feel as though right now we just need to really start pushing the pavement with people to make them understand that, hey, if you aren’t in a position to buy, let’s get you ready. Um, because we are, some of us are going to be, like, forever renters. And that’s a sad reality that I think a lot of us aren’t facing because I’m like, goodness gracious, you’re going to be in a position where some people like New York and LA where they could bought like 70s, 80s and now looking. You can’t even buy a one bedroom condo.

Speaker5: For.

Jordan Nutter: Less than a million, depending on where you’re.

Speaker5: At.

Olivia J. Price: Easy. So I feel like Atlanta is such a sweet state because there’s so much opportunity. But people, it’s going to pass a lot of people by and they could have been sitting on like my cousin, he has a property in, um, Brooklyn, his house. It’s like a it’s a little shit little shack, you know, little houses, you know. But the thing is like $7 million and I’m sitting here like, he’s not he’s a police officer, too. And, um, he refuses to sell.

Speaker5: I’m like, you have.

Johnathan Crego: A $7 million house.

Speaker5: Well, he had it for so long, though. No, he had it.

Olivia J. Price: For so long. He’s been in the family for so long.

Speaker5: Good for him. Right.

Olivia J. Price: But it’s a situation where it’s. We’re. It’s awesome to know that he’s just a regular Joe. Right? And he’s sitting on a gold mine that can change generations. Exactly right.

Speaker5: Eight.

Olivia J. Price: But people need to understand that, hey, if you have the opportunity, it needs to be like soon, right? Because it’s going to pass us by. I promise. I’m telling people now, like I can see now because my house in Loganville, I bought it for 200,000. Now it’s almost 500,000. And that’s without the renovations we’ve done and everything we’ve put into the home. And I’m like, goodness gracious. 500,000.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Coming into the industry, I mean, coming into home ownership, I don’t think I would have wanted to buy a $500,000 house as a first time home buyer. But looking at the house, I’m like, goodness gracious, this was my first time home buyer house. And just knowing that what you could have gotten then versus now, and what you’re going to get now versus later, it’s a no brainer for me. So what can you say about that in terms of educating people that, hey, this is the time is is dwindling here in Atlanta at least?

Johnathan Crego: Yeah. Um, sure. Yeah. So I will say that, man, I’m glad I didn’t listen to the naysayers when we bought in 2016. During that time, for some reason, everyone thought that the market was going to crash. I don’t remember.

Speaker5: Why.

Olivia J. Price: Well, they think so now.

Johnathan Crego: Even now and especially like 2019, 2020. And I am so glad we didn’t listen to the naysayers because if we had, I’d still be I’d still be renting. And you know what? If, God forbid, I pass away today, I’ve got a house in Beaufort I can leave to my kids, and that’s huge. And then 22 years, it’ll be paid off fully, and that’s going to be worth a lot more than it’s worth today. I promise that, Mark my words.

Olivia J. Price: And people are like, it’s going to go down. I’m like, yeah, but it goes up.

Speaker5: It goes up too. Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: The same houses in 2008.

Speaker5: Were.

Olivia J. Price: Dirt cheap. Now fast forward and we took some dips between then and now. And the house is three times the price that it was originally bought for.

Johnathan Crego: Even if you bought in 2006 at the height of that time. Yeah. And you’re looking at today and you just kept it throughout the whole thing. You’re you’re definitely still in the green, even if you bought at the absolute height at right before the biggest recession we’ve ever seen, you will definitely be in the green still today because those prices do not compare to these prices today. Plus, those interest rates were a lot more back then than they are now, even even when they’re high.

Speaker5: Now that.

Olivia J. Price: Interest rates, it is what.

Speaker5: It.

Olivia J. Price: Is. It’s just it is what it is. Just like we were saying, oh my God, two point days, four point that at that time we were complaining to we were like, well, dang, it’s four.

Speaker5: I had people.

Jordan Nutter: That.

Speaker5: Were like, you.

Jordan Nutter: Can’t get me in the.

Speaker5: One. Oh.

Jordan Nutter: And I’m.

Speaker5: Like.

Jordan Nutter: I’m sorry. What? You’re you’re at a five right now. I’m getting a.

Speaker5: Two and a half. This is a good thing.

Jordan Nutter: I’m cutting you in half and you still want more?

Speaker5: Like what? What? Yeah, but.

Olivia J. Price: I’m telling you, I think just people’s perspectives, I think, need to start changing. Like you said, you didn’t listen to the naysayers. You were like, this is a a a power move for my family. Exactly right. Even though at that time it may not have seen like a power move because you came in broke, you know, which I did to me and my husband. Man, we were so broke. We were so broke. We were like, goodness gracious, we paid everything into this house?

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: And we did a lot of renovations, too. So my husband, um, is an entrepreneur. He is not a contractor. And he is not a handyman. When I tell you my husband was YouTube University.

Speaker5: Yeah. There you go.

Olivia J. Price: Listen. He was. Every night I would hear that man in the living room just listening. And that’s why I admire the hustle so much. Right. And just the home ownership journey. Like we did what we had to do.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: To be able to be in a position where if I wanted to take money out on my house, I could if I wanted to, you know, open up a business using the equity from my house, I could. Right. Or I could sell it and move to another state and have the funds, which I could.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: So also, could you piggyback on how some people are saying right now, like, um, I’ve had a couple of, um, big time people say, you know, I would never buy a house. I’m like, you would never buy a house, but you’re still going to be renting, though. So can you can you explain to me how do you feel about that when people say, like, you know, I couldn’t, I would never buy a.

Speaker5: House.

Johnathan Crego: Forever renter.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Like it’s a, it’s a I mean.

Johnathan Crego: I I’ll say this I, it depends on the person. Like if you don’t have kids, if you’re moving every two years, maybe you’re like military or something and you got to move every two years. Maybe it doesn’t make sense. I would say nine out of ten times, though, you’re going to want to buy because especially if you have kids, because now I have something to leave to them.

Olivia J. Price: Or just if you’re traveling to an area pretty frequently.

Speaker5: Sure.

Olivia J. Price: You know, um, like if you’re going to be in that area like six times out the year, eight times out the year, you might as well just buy. Yeah, for me, I feel as though then maybe rent it out for the days that you aren’t there. You can be creative nowadays.

Speaker5: Right.

Olivia J. Price: But temporary housing.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah I have I have two thoughts on that. So the first one is there was an article that I saw recently that said the average person will pay $330,000 in rent before they purchase their first home.

Olivia J. Price: I can see that.

Jordan Nutter: That’s insane.

Speaker5: I could see that.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah. It’s insane.

Johnathan Crego: Um, and they have nothing to show for it.

Jordan Nutter: They have nothing to show for it.

Speaker5: Right?

Olivia J. Price: Those are. Those are the people like, hey, you know what? Wait a minute. Don’t buy it. That’s the worst decision. But I’m like, for people like me, I didn’t my I’m like, hold on, wait. Okay. For people like me, a lot of people I know they’re renting their parents rented, their grandparents rented. I’m like, okay. So for people like that, which is a lot of people, a lot of people are like, hey, no one really bought, you know, we’re just renting. They stayed in apartments, may stay in houses, you know, they rented. But purchasing a home, I mean, that just sets the pedestal for so much more.

Jordan Nutter: Well, you also have to consider, like J.R. was saying, like it may not work for everybody, but to to piggyback on that, I had a client who lived in LA. Her rent was $2,000 a month. She had been at this place for a long time. She wasn’t necessarily grandfathered in fully because it was a newer built, but she had been there long enough like and knew the people that she was somewhat grandfathered in. So for her to buy the same, to stay in the same type of living would would change her her monthly, um, housing expense by more than double. So in that situation, I understand. However, what I did tell her was, I said, why don’t we buy an investment property? Because you have the for how much you make compared to how much you pay per month. You’ve been saving so much up that you have the 20% down. So what we did instead was she bought an investment property in Northern California in, um, in more of a vacation. It was going to be a short term rental. And so that’s what we did instead. So instead of her buying her primary. So in this situation she, she bought where or sorry she, she rented where she wanted to live. Because I can understand as a younger individual, maybe you don’t want to live in the suburbs where it’s more affordable. So instead, she purchased an investment property. And then she got income from that every month. And so she’s growing that somebody else is paying for it. So yes, she is renting because she wants to live in that area and I understand it. Um, so in that situation I can understand.

Olivia J. Price: But there’s fine lines between all of.

Speaker5: That, right?

Jordan Nutter: 100%.

Olivia J. Price: Um, just like I will give, um, for example, here in Georgia, Gwinnett County have a lot of people who want to live in Gwinnett County but may not be able to really afford Gwinnett County. It can rent.

Speaker5: Right?

Olivia J. Price: Which is fine.

Speaker5: You can rent.

Jordan Nutter: Taxes.

Speaker5: Those taxes all county. Well, compared.

Olivia J. Price: To Warren County.

Speaker5: I mean, Barrow and Barrow.

Jordan Nutter: Yeah.

Speaker5: Yeah, it.

Olivia J. Price: Could be very, um, I would say, what’s the word I’m looking for? Um, discouraging for some people.

Jordan Nutter: 100%.

Speaker5: But I.

Olivia J. Price: For me, I just don’t like the narrative of like, yeah, you know, I would never buy. It’s like, well, you know, there’s.

Jordan Nutter: Never say never like, what can we.

Speaker5: You know?

Olivia J. Price: I just don’t like the way people put it out there. And now people are listening to that.

Speaker5: Like.

Olivia J. Price: It’s people that I’m like, no, homie, you need to buy.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Olivia J. Price: Like, I don’t know any other situation where you’re going to be able to come up with money like that. Like, you know, it’s people that I know that they’re working their 9 to 5. They’ve been at their 9 to 5 for years. And I’m like, you’re not going to make any more than probably what you’re going to be making now, if not less. So for people like you, which is a lot of Americans, you probably need to go ahead and get a house. That’s the best thing that you could do to put yourself in a position that you can take, you know, that can grow with you. Right, right. Without having to do anything extracurricular. Right. Because you always need somewhere to stay.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Jordan Nutter: You always need a place to live. Always.

Olivia J. Price: So why not? So for me, I’m more of the practical side, like, okay, you got those people, younger ones who come in and just want to be in the area for work reasons or personal life reasons, whatever the case may be, which I, I expect that. But a lot of Americans, I’m like, wait a minute, now, you got two kids. You’re still which a lot of us do, or at least have one kid, you know. Um, and I would just say that. For me, and I’m still going to stand on that point, that buying is just it makes it makes sense.

Jordan Nutter: And there’s so many down payment assistance programs like there’s so many.

Olivia J. Price: Quick question do you see in the future with you being on the lending side, how long do you think we’ll still have down payment assistance? Do you think it will be here in the next half a decade or so? Do you think it will be a program that could be taken?

Jordan Nutter: I mean, I definitely there’s there’s been a lot recently that have been wiped out, unfortunately. But when you look at the state like Georgia Dream is still around because that’s through the state. That’s not, um, federal like through the government financed, um, or funded, I should say. Um, and then we have grants throughout. There’s like still the $15,000 grant in Georgia, the 1705, like, so there’s still grants. Um, Texas. I have a wonderful one that’s just amazing. So each state I still have all of my down payment assistance programs. It’s just whether or not it’s, you know, how long are the funds there for? Like my Florida one goes out pretty quickly at the beginning of the year. And so it’s just a matter of, like you said, everyone needs a place to live and they’re building homes. So to be able to afford them, somebody needs to help out somewhere, some way, shape or form. And if the state can come in and have those available funds for first time home buyers to utilize and be able to get them into a home and therefore pay property taxes, which goes back to the state like, you know, it all comes full circle at the end of the day. Um, so I don’t foresee it going away. I could see things changing, and maybe there’s not as as much, um, available funds. So they may be tighter throughout the year, but 100%, I don’t see that going away, um, at least anytime soon.

Johnathan Crego: And I will say that I work with a lot of first responders and military, and there’s a lot of.

Speaker5: Of course you do.

Johnathan Crego: There’s a lot of departments that actually offer monthly stipends. So like, for example, if you’re a Dunwoody police officer and you live within the city, you get, I believe, $600 a month. And so, yeah, and I think Duluth has it.

Olivia J. Price: I think I’m in the wrong field.

Speaker5: I think. No, no, you.

Jordan Nutter: Can’t change your mind now.

Speaker5: Check this.

Olivia J. Price: Out. I also thought about going to the military. I said, you know what, babe? I think I’m going to go to the military for a little bit because military benefits are just amazing.

Speaker5: It’s amazing.

Olivia J. Price: Amazing. Especially in economies like this. You’re like, Thank God I actually have something that can help. You know, but back to what you were saying.

Johnathan Crego: Yeah. And on the military side, you know, like, if you’re 100% disabled, you get the tax benefits and things like that.

Speaker5: Yes.

Johnathan Crego: There is a lot of different opportunities for first responders and military. And that also affects EMTs, firefighters if you’re living in those areas. A lot of times nowadays, these jurisdictions are are giving you some type of benefit.

Speaker5: Or.

Johnathan Crego: Housing stipend. So.

Olivia J. Price: Well, I think that we’re going to conclude with this. You all. Um, and I want to say this is some great chemistry here. This is great. Um, I think people are going to want to hear more about.

Speaker5: This.

Olivia J. Price: Especially as we dive deeper into some real topics. Right? Um, next, I do want to talk about moving forward. Um, for our next episode, I do want to talk about crypto. I know, I’ll call you the crypto King. Right? Um, and I remember you did a crypto class.

Speaker5: Yes.

Olivia J. Price: What was that? It was the end of the year in 2023.

Johnathan Crego: I’ve done a couple, and I will say.

Speaker5: That was your first one.

Olivia J. Price: Though. I was gonna say that was your first one.

Johnathan Crego: The Buffalo’s cafe one.

Speaker5: I did 120, 23.

Johnathan Crego: I did one at in 2022. It was a brewery in Suwanee. Was it that one?

Olivia J. Price: 2022?

Johnathan Crego: Yeah, I did one at Buffalo’s Cafe in Beaufort.

Speaker5: It was your first one.

Johnathan Crego: The Hamilton Mill.

Speaker5: One.

Olivia J. Price: That was the one, because I remember we were talking about it when we were on Ypn. We were like, yeah, I’m gonna do this crypto.

Speaker5: You know.

Olivia J. Price: I’m gonna do this, and we’re going to educate and things like that. So I was in love with it.

Speaker5: Then you were just telling me for crypto as well.

Johnathan Crego: There’s a lot going on behind the scenes there.

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: So yeah.

Speaker5: We gotta talk about that.

Olivia J. Price: And also how you can use the currency to purchase real estate. Right.

Speaker5: Yes.

Olivia J. Price: Yeah.

Speaker5: We had to talk about that.

Olivia J. Price: Right. People want to hear the biggest thing I think that our listeners want to tune in is, first off, our beautiful voices. I think we sound great and we look even better. Um, and then next is just, um, seeing how can we put money into our listeners pockets with information that we’re giving? Because I made my clients money, which is purchasing real estate through through me. Right for you is more so on the real estate investment side. And how can we go ahead and start getting into these extracurricular things that can actually help us on the real estate realm? So crypto is a new wave there. There’s I still hear people kind of mixed feelings on it, but, you know, I still feel as though it’s kind of sort of still newer to the market. So some traditional people are kind of like.

Speaker5: So.

Johnathan Crego: What negative things you hear about.

Speaker5: It.

Olivia J. Price: Oh, we’re going to touch bases on it real quick. Well, I will say that I predominantly listen to a lot of traditional people and they’re like, well, you know, it’s not as safe as it is scam. Oh, okay.

Speaker5: Can you hear that? Let me ask you this.

Olivia J. Price: Can you? I didn’t hear about scam.

Johnathan Crego: Can you be scammed with US dollars?

Speaker5: Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: Every day.

Speaker5: Yeah. Yeah.

Johnathan Crego: So we’ll get into that more later on.

Speaker5: We’ll talk about taking over the market.

Olivia J. Price: That that leaves us with some good stuff. Right? Um, so we’re wrapping up today all things real estate. You guys. We’re signing off with Olivia, J.R. and Jordan, and we’re missing our buddy. Um, Rodney, I just want to follow up on Rodney, though. He’s a superstar. And, um, unfortunately, he had some things to do with his wife, which. And, you know, when when you have dreams, you know, dedicated to each other, you’re like, look, Olivia, I rarely get these days, okay?

Speaker5: Yeah, he’s got a good excuse. Listen.

Olivia J. Price: And also, um, he does investments with his wife, so they do it together. He took her out of her nine. Well, he got it for his 9 to 5 to do real estate, and he got his wife out of her 9 to 5 to do investments. So he she runs his investment property, well, investment company for his properties. And he’s number one with Keller Williams. I’m 16th ranked 16th in the southeast region for Keller Williams. And he is killing it. Um, he is um, a burst of energy. And I think that, um, he has a lot of insight in terms of the things that he is doing, literally. I remember when Rodney was selling CDs, he used to rap. Yeah, I’m like looking at him.

Speaker5: So many people.

Olivia J. Price: Don’t know that. They’re like, yeah, you know.

Speaker5: Rodney.

Olivia J. Price: I’m like, yes. Rodney used to be a hustler. And just looking at how he started from here and how all of that comes into full circle. You being from the force coming into real estate now, going into investment, it comes in full circle. You and I forget what you did prior to, um, lending. What did you do prior to lending?

Jordan Nutter: I was selling curtain rods.

Speaker5: Oh.

Jordan Nutter: I had three jobs. I was selling curtain rods. I was an assistant. And I did like catering jobs on the side. I had three jobs, so.

Olivia J. Price: Do you think that having that type of hustle has.

Speaker5: Helped.

Olivia J. Price: You to be able to come up with ideas like touring the nation.

Speaker5: And having you rap an RV for your.

Johnathan Crego: Curtain rods?

Speaker5: No. Oh, see?

Olivia J. Price: Nah, that was the nah. That was the finale. Okay.

Speaker5: No.

Olivia J. Price: But just I feel like everyone in their past life coming into now, it says something about your character and what you’re willing to do and how you do it, which right now in our industry, I just said 71% of agents did not sell last year, right? So not only are we touching the consumers, we’re touching agents too, to learn to hey, we’re still in it. We’re doing our thing and we need all our agents to come together, especially in this time, right? So all things real estate, you guys. Until next time.

Speaker5: All right.

Johnathan Crego: Thank you for listening.

About Your Host

Olivia J. Price is a nationally recognized real estate broker, entrepreneur, and advocate for financial empowerment. As the founder and CEO of the Olivia J Price Real Estate, a top 1% real estate team in the southeast region, Olivia has quickly become one of the youngest African American women to lead a top-producing real estate company in Georgia.

A proud graduate of East Side High School, Olivia’s early leadership skills were honed through her active participation in organizations such as Future Business Leaders of America and Junior Honor Society. Despite facing financial hardships that interrupted her college journey, she transformed her challenges into a launching pad for success — purchasing her first home at just 21 years old and building a thriving business soon after.

Olivia’s dedication and performance have earned her multiple prestigious accolades, including “Rising Star,” “Beacon of the Year,” “Best of Gwinnett,” “Best of Snellville” and top 3 rankings for closed units and closed volume across Northeast Atlanta. Beyond her personal achievements, Olivia served as one of the youngest African American board directors for the Georgia Association of Realtors, the NE Atlanta Metro Association of Realtors, the Women’s Council of Realtors Gwinnett, and the City of Loganville Development Authority.

Deeply committed to community impact, Olivia leads grassroots initiatives that promote financial literacy, real estate education, and career mentorship for young women in high school, especially those from underserved backgrounds. She offers free educational seminars, “Lunch and Learn” sessions for essential workers, and online real estate workshops featured on CBS’s Focus Atlanta.

Olivia J. Price’s journey — overcoming barriers of sexism and ageism — exemplifies the transformative power of resilience, leadership, and service. She continues to inspire a new generation to pursue homeownership, entrepreneurship, and generational wealth.

Follow Olivia on Facebook and Instagram.

BRX Pro Tip: Wealth is Not Evil

May 19, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Wealth is Not Evil

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BRX Pro Tip: Wealth is Not Evil

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips, Stone Payton and Lee Kantor here with you. Lee, over the years of trying to help entrepreneurs produce better results in less time, I feel like I’ve run into this mindset, and sometimes I don’t know that they even realize it sometimes, that there’s something less than noble about making money. Have you run into this?

Lee Kantor: Yeah, I think this is something that really self-sabotages so many people, and it really has got to stop. The idea that wealth is somehow evil is just not true. And it might be rooted culturally, it might be rooted religiously or societally, but those narratives are not helping anyone.

Lee Kantor: In reality, wealth is a neutral tool. It can be used for good. It can be used for bad. It depends on the values of the person who possesses it.

Lee Kantor: So, number one, wealth is a tool, it is not a moral compass. So, just get that out of your head. It has nothing to do with good or evil. Wealth just is.

Lee Kantor: Number two, if you focus in on your own character and have and use wealth for a good purpose, this is where generosity lives. The more money you have, the more people you can help, so there shouldn’t be a reason to be shying away from it.

Lee Kantor: And remember, wealth promotes security and freedom. Those are good things. And, ultimately, wealth allows an individual to leave some sort of a lasting legacy for their families, for their communities. Wealth itself is not evil. It’s neutral, and it reflects the intentions of the owner.

Lee Kantor: So, when wealth is managed responsibly and is aligned with ethical values, wealth is a powerful tool that creates positive change in yourself, your community, and in society.

Molly Birkholm with Team Genius

May 16, 2025 by angishields

Houston Business Radio

Molly Birkholm with Team Genius

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Molly Birkholm is a CEO, author, speaker, and advisor dedicated to transforming global mental wellness.

As the founder of Team Genius and lead developer of the Warrior PATHH Meditation Program for the Boulder Crest Foundation, Molly has spent over 18 years creating and leading evidence-based resilience and trauma treatment programs used by the U.S. Department of Defense, VA, and top organizations worldwide. Her work blends clinical research, mindfulness, and leadership strategy to build sustainable, purpose-driven work ecosystems.

In her conversation with Trisha Stetzel, Molly shared her powerful journey from a high-stress career in investment banking to global wellness leader—sparked by a near-death car accident that led her to healing practices like yoga and meditation.

She discussed her deep involvement with the veteran community, her work with the Miami VA Hospital, and her transition into corporate wellness. Trisha and Molly explored the rising rates of fear, loneliness, and uncertainty, and the need for mental health strategies in every sector.

Molly concluded with a calming breathing exercise to help the team reconnect and ground themselves.

Connect with Molly on LinkedIn and Facebook.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Houston, Texas. It’s time for Houston Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Trisha Stetzel: Hello, Houston. Trisha Stetzel here bringing you another episode of Houston Business Radio. It is my pleasure to have this guest on with me today, Molly Birkholm. She spent over 18 years pioneering evidence based, resilient resilience programs and trauma treatment programs, which are used throughout the US Department of Defense and US Department of Veterans Affairs. She probably doesn’t want me to tell you that she is also a CEO, a speaker and author, advisor, educator, and teacher trainer. Molly, welcome to the show.

Molly Birkholm: Thank you so much for having me, Trisha.

Trisha Stetzel: And your story is so much bigger than that. Like I couldn’t do your bio justice even if I read the entire thing, because you’re doing such amazing work. You and I connected because you’re working in the veteran’s space, and I happen to be talking to a mutual contact. And he said, you have to talk to Molly. And we became best friends just over the telephone.

Molly Birkholm: I mean, it was within minutes we had we knew we found the heart space, a shared heart space.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. So tell us more a little bit about Molly. And then I’d like to talk more about the work that you’re doing.

Molly Birkholm: Sure. Um, well, more about Molly. I live in Miami, Florida with my husband, my 15 year old man child who’s taller than all of us, um, two dogs, three cats, and whatever else happens to wander by.

Trisha Stetzel: And this is why we like each other.

Molly Birkholm: I just know exactly how many. How many animals do we have today? I don’t know. Um. So. Yes, the more the merrier. And our little farm here in the middle of Miami. Um, yes. And I love being in nature. I love swimming in the ocean, hiking in forests. Um, I love camping. Traveling all over the world, anywhere that I can. Just exploring this planet and people and culture and just finding new ways to connect with myself. Meditating, breathing, Pilates, yoga, anything that brings joy. Um, especially being with people I love. So yeah, I love that.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you for sharing. And, um, I was thinking as you were running through that list, I’m like, oh, we should all go barefoot and ground ourselves in the grass every morning, right? And I am, I’m so I walk from one place to another and I still have shoes on. Stop it. I should just stop it. So, Molly, let’s talk about that.

Molly Birkholm: That point right there. I just have to tell you one of my very favorite studies of all, because I know you like the science too. You and I connected on that, too. Was that as we, uh, we might talk about aging today? I’m not sure. But one of the best studies showed that people who go barefoot and also people who walk on cobblestones, have lower rates of falling in older age. So all these little old ladies, you know, living on the Italian hills, they they fall way less than those of us who walk on concrete. So.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, so the next time my husband says, are you going to put shoes on? I can say no with authority. That’s right.

Molly Birkholm: I’ll be well for so much longer, honey. Love that.

Trisha Stetzel: And I’m going to say. Because Molly said so.

Molly Birkholm: Yes, exactly.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. Thank you. Let’s talk about the work that you do. Um, the work that you’re doing, not just in the veteran community, but the people that you serve on a regular basis. What kind of conversations are you having with them? What type of work are you doing with your clients?

Molly Birkholm: So oftentimes I’ll describe my client base because it’s very, very diverse as people who want to become more exceptional at what they do and people who are having such a hard time that oftentimes they aren’t even sure they want to be on this earth. Now, those people can actually be the same people sometimes, or they can be very different people. They could also be the same people at different points in life. But there’s something that both of those demographics, if we identify them as separate, have in common and that’s that they want to change. They want to evolve. I don’t typically do well with people who don’t want to change, because if they don’t want to change, then you know it’s a waste of their time. Mine and waste of money, a waste of waste of effort. Um, so and when people really do want to change, they’re willing to open their hearts to find new ways of looking at life, at situations. They’re willing to go deeper. And so the nature of the work I do is I jump in with whatever the person presents me with, um, in the private client work. And if I’m working with teams or with companies, then I ask them, you know what? What is going on in your life? What feels strongest where, what is really bringing you to life? What is holding you back, what keeps you up at night, and whatever comes in that context? We start working in that space. Now, oftentimes that will involve stress management and resilience. So we’ll use our whole cadre of stress management and resilience tools to help them ground, as you and I were just talking about, to help them calm themselves down, sleep at night, you know, work with difficult emotions, keep their cool in the face of things that could be very stressful or could cause anger or fear.

Molly Birkholm: Um, and conversely, I also work with people who are trying to do creative things, whether it’s write a book or make a film or create a new company. Similar to your beautiful work, how do we harness the power of the challenges in our life in order to create? Because those two things are always connected. Transformation happens when we want to create and evolve an idea, when we want to reconcile something. So oftentimes people feel discomfort because they feel like, oh, there’s something here, I have to look at this. I have to explore it, and they can feel so uncomfortable. And then as they move into it, they feel the power of what it is that, uh, that they’re doing. And then all of a sudden, sudden it starts to unfold and a lot of magical ways. So I in a typical session, to go back to your original question, are you almost always will meditate with people, at least for a little bit, just to connect with the moment, do a little breathing. Um, and then we will work with whatever comes up. And we would just submit it to the, to the creative process, the transformation process, and goes from there.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. So tell me how you got involved in the veteran community or even in the active duty community. How did you get pulled into this military space that you work in?

Molly Birkholm: So it was really interesting. I was an investment banker originally, and I almost died in a car accident in Manhattan in the year 2000. It was actually 25 years ago this month that I got into that car accident. Um, and I fractured my skull, my spine and my sternum. Um, my cabdriver died. I was trapped in the car with him for an hour. I had extremely bad post-traumatic stress disorder. I had every single symptom. If you read the list, I can’t find one that I didn’t have. Um. And in the process of healing. Uh, I had I still have an amazing, loving family. At the time, I had, you know, banker insurance, which is very good insurance. I had lived in Manhattan, where there were lots of, um, you know, top doctors and resources at my fingertips, and none of it was working. And, you know, I went therapist, I think I went to seven therapists. And they kept wanting to put me on a pill or do this or that. And I kept saying, I’m not depressed. I just had something traumatic happen. I need something else. Now, I do believe that medication does help a lot of people, and certainly talk therapy helps me. I still do therapy once a month because I think it’s a great time to check in with where I’m at, even if it’s exploring something that feels really good. Um, so at the same time, there was more to the equation. So I went on my own search, uh, and some of the things that helped me the most were yoga, meditation, and breathing.

Molly Birkholm: Um, when my lawsuit settled for my car accident, I bought a one way ticket to India. I went and as a Catholic girl, went and lived in a Hindu ashram and Buddhist monasteries. And I thought, there’s something here that I didn’t get, and I don’t want to become Hindu or Buddhist, but I know that they’re teaching these methodologies that actually help. And so I wanted to understand them. I wanted to understand them in a non-Western presented context. And so as I went deeper into the practices, I thought this everybody needs this. Every person who goes to war needs this. Every person who is having stress in their life needs this. And we weren’t taught, you know, even the most loving parents. My parents didn’t know how to teach me to deal with what happens when life falls apart. And so when I came back to the US, it was traveling for about two years. And when I came back, um, I ended up working at the Miami VA hospital in the PTSD program. Um, and with at first I was just teaching yoga and meditation classes, and very quickly we started doing. Within a couple of months, we got our first NIH grant. And then, you know, this was in oh seven, so we were still in oöphoi up that we had a lot of people coming into the VA, and we still had a lot of Vietnam vets.

Molly Birkholm: So it was overflowing. Seven month waitlist and we could pack a class for meditation. So and it was working. It was helping people. Um, we tried a lot of things that didn’t. And then we tried a lot of things that did. And we were just really in conversation with vets. How’s this? How’s this? And we were bringing it in a secular way. We were not teaching, you know, Hindu or Buddhist meditation. We were teaching how to breathe, how to be in your own body, how to be in your own mind, how to work with the difficult emotion. But we were applying these technologies to it. And as we got the clinical research to back it up, it just exploded. And we were asked, can you train other people to do what you do? So there were four of us that founded Warrior Studies and we, you know, we went on to train thousands of people who at 65 bases in Vas, and we’ve worked with foreign militaries and the work just kept growing. Eventually started working with the Special Forces community and working on resilience training, um, trying to apply the same principles to prepare someone for the experience of stress so that we weren’t just treating trauma after the stress occurred. But how do we actually create the conditions that someone can experience stress in a more, um, and a less impactful way, or maybe not experience stress at all?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Okay. So, Molly, we’re about halfway through our time together and I’m guessing just a guess that there are people who are listening who would love to connect with you already, and they haven’t even heard the rest of the story. But if they’re ready to connect with you, what’s the best way to get in touch?

Molly Birkholm: Sure, you can go to my website if you like the more corporate or team building side. If you have a team that you think could use this, you can go to Team Genius. And if you are more interested in the coaching side or in a keynote talk, or in just connecting one human to one human, you can go to Molly Comm. And for any veterans who are interested or first responders, we also have the Warrior Path program. You can go to Warrior Path with two H’s. That’s a free seven day post-traumatic growth program that any veteran or first responder can apply to attend.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you for all that you do for the greater community, not just veterans active duty, but also just the community in general. The work that you’re doing is amazing. I like to take what we’ve what you’ve been talking about in your past and the things that you’ve been doing into a conversation that I think is really real right now. And you and I talked about loneliness and how that has really weighed heavy on a lot of people. And now this morning, just before we started recording, we were talking about fear. And I think those two things are really heavy right now with people. So can you just give us a little insight in the types of conversations that you’re having around fear and loneliness right now?

Molly Birkholm: Sure. Um, you know, I just want to start out by saying everybody feels alone in some way. We might not have a generalized sense of loneliness, but even a person who has a beautiful Marriage might feel lonely in the workplace. A person who has beautiful family connections may feel very alone in their community. We might feel alone with ourselves because we’re not connecting with ourselves. So please, if you feel loneliness, I just first want to blast the notion of shame out of this because it is a totally normal human condition that every single human being faces. And in fact, loneliness can be the key through which you find connection. Because when we are vulnerable with ourselves, first of all, because we have to learn to be vulnerable with ourselves before we can extend that generosity to anyone else. A trusted person. You don’t want to be vulnerable with untrusted people, but you have to at least try to see, could I be vulnerable with this person? Does this happen to be someone who perhaps someone else trusts? Or I see something that is trustworthy, and then you can test it with a small thing. And if they prove trustworthy in that way, you can keep growing it. Now, what’s behind that? It’s fear, right? We are afraid we’re going to get hurt. Now, oftentimes, and I’ve been throwing up my hands, I was someone who thought, I mean, it was so. So not a good way to live.

Molly Birkholm: Please don’t be like this. But I think it might connect with some people. I would say I trust everyone until they prove me wrong. Terrible idea. I was like, the worst idea. But you know. So you know what happens? I end up, you know, getting a divorce. I end up, you know, you know, in business relationships sometimes that weren’t trustworthy. What we want to do in the creation of connection with this notion of loneliness is, first of all, identify what makes us feel afraid and try to start identifying how we can feel safe now in the same way. And I’m going to come back to loneliness in the same way that that loneliness is so common right now in our own lives and in the world. Fear is really this water that we’re swimming in and why? Because especially in, you know, since 2020, the whole world has turned upside down. Whether any of us like it or not, it’s a different planet than it was before. And you can pick any number of topics that make people feel afraid at all ends of the political spectrum, at all ends of society. And you will find that everyone feels afraid. Every single one of my clients that I’ve talked to in the past few months, if not years, come with this. This piece that says, I’m just so afraid, and we get shut down and we’re afraid to act, and then we actually create loneliness.

Molly Birkholm: We don’t know who we can trust. We don’t know if we can even trust ourselves. We don’t know if the old systems are trustworthy. We don’t know if the people that are running the systems that we operate inside of are trustworthy. And the whole thing is up for grabs right now. Now that feels scary. It feels scary. And it is unifying. It is so unifying when we can all sit down and say, I have fear in this way, or I have fear in that way. And in healthy communities and healthy conversations, listen to each other. Now we suffer when we want reality to be different than what it is. So there’s no getting out of fear without naming it, without allowing it to be there. And then the second we name it, you know, if Trish and I kept talking, I’m sure we could find other things like that. We have. Maybe aging parents. Maybe. I mean, we haven’t even had those conversations. But there’s lots of things I’m afraid of right now. You know, I don’t know, my 401 K went way down the past couple months. I’m afraid of that, too. Like I’m afraid of lots of things right now. So I don’t I. And that’s just human. So I don’t know. Trisha, tell me, how is this sitting with you just so we can connect in this space before we go any further?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. Like, it completely resonates with me, and, um, I so I wouldn’t personally label it as fear, and I’m sure that’s what it is. But my label for that is confusion, right? There’s no forward, um, plan or path that seems clear to me. So I would just put a different label on it. But I’m absolutely feeling that same thing right now. What’s around the corner? Sure. Yeah.

Molly Birkholm: Yeah. What’s around the corner? And that I love that labeling as confusion because the way we all internalize it is different. And by hearing Trisha say that I now have a new dimension, that I can look at my own experience of it. So that’s so powerful. We might have different things that cause confusion, and yet at the same time, we can start to isolate even the feeling in the body of what that’s like and start to notice it. So when you feel confusion, what do you feel? Trisha?

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Um. Tension. Right? Because I don’t know what’s around the corner. I’m confused by what the process or the path ahead is. So tight shoulders. My body gets a little tense. Maybe there are some other emotions that are coming up for me. Right? As we’re having this conversation, I got a little warm, like, okay, so I’m a little warm and I’m a little tense because I’m I’m like reliving this confusion or this what’s around the corner next, right? And I can feel it in my body. That’s where I feel it now. So my so my face got red and my chest got red. And I get warm and tense. And so that’s what I feel when you ask me to talk about that confusion. Right.

Molly Birkholm: Yeah. And even as you’re saying it, I’m feeling it in my body. And I don’t know if our listeners are noticing where it ripples in them. I get same as you right up here. And you can see I don’t know if the video everyone’s seeing the video, but my chest is a little red right here, too. I always get it up here and in the throat, and then I get it kind of in my belly, and I start to notice that I’ll start to hunch over as if I’m going to protect myself. This very primordial, instead of sitting upright and all of a sudden, like lunging in. And then in those moments, I every time I start to feel that way, I create this trigger. And maybe we just invite everyone to do it. Maybe we just take ten deep breaths together. And even though we’re here talking, we give real honor to the fact that sometimes stopping and just breathing together with other people or by ourselves is the most powerful thing we can do. So I welcome. Are you okay if we do that?

Trisha Stetzel: I already started, I’m ahead of you. Okay, great.

Molly Birkholm: So, everyone, if you’re driving your car or cooking dinner or doing whatever you do, just if you want. I love touch, so I always put one hand on my belly, one hand on my chest. But you can find whatever feels good to you and just feel your feet grounding on the earth. So if you had roots extending down from your feet into the earth, you can even think of a favorite place in nature, a favorite place that you love. Start to breathe up and through the body. Feeling. Grounding. Calming energy. Moving all the way up and through. Really expanding your abdomen on the inhalation. And as you exhale, just feel like you’re washing tension out of the body. Continue breathing at your own pace, but as you inhale, try to really expand the belly like a balloon. Expand the chest, expand the lungs till you can’t get any more air in, and then squeeze them out as if you’re squeezing out a wet rag. Pull the belly in towards the spine. Squeeze out the lungs. Get all the air out. Keep going. Like this.

Molly Birkholm: Deepest inhales you possibly can. Let’s see if you can make the exhalations even a little slower. A little deeper. Take five more breaths at your own pace, visualizing breathing in all this calming, grounding energy. And as you exhale, letting go of any confusion, any fear, any tension, let it go. It’ll come back later if it needs to. If you don’t want to let it go, you can also just welcome it. Just let it be here. Surround it with peaceful, calming energy, knowing you’ll be better equipped to handle whatever is here. More. You breathe and find your center. One last, very deep, very present breath. If you’re not driving before you open your eyes, bring your hands together and rub your hands together, making some heat between your hands. Really building that warmth between the hands. Place the hands over the eyes. Just cupping the hands over the eyes. And letting that be the transition that brings you back into this place, into this conversation, to this exploration of the human experience. Learning to be comfortable. Being uncomfortable. How do you feel now, Trisha?

Trisha Stetzel: I’m lost for words, Molly, because I relaxed. I actually cleared all of the garbage out of my head. So let me come back to reality. Right. Um. Much calmer. Right? More present. I feel like I have more direction. I’m really. And I think that the most important thing right now is that I’m even more tuned in to the conversation that we’re having now than I was before. And I’m a really good listener, and I’m really good at removing distractions. But that alone, I feel like I’m even more connected with you now having this conversation. Yeah. Thank you.

Molly Birkholm: Thank you. I feel so much better, too, and more connected to you. Um, sometimes people think that this could be woo woo or weird or something. People think I’m strange if I’m doing this thing. But we feel stress when we feel like we don’t have a choice. We have been breathing every single moment of this life, and we always have a choice how we breathe. Even people who have asthma, even people who have trouble breathing. We all have a choice about how we picture the breath. We have choices about how we work with the breath, and the breath is the only function of the autonomic nervous system we can directly affect. And it’s so quick. We just took ten breaths. That’s it. We can all do that. Even setting an alarm on your phone for every hour of the day it goes off. If you’re in a meeting, if you’re in the school pickup line, whatever you’re doing, stop and take ten deep breaths while you’re doing it, whatever it is and you will see it will invite your nervous system into deeper states of security, of safety, and you will feel more. Grounded to your own feeling of well-being. Regardless of what the stories of the world are.

Trisha Stetzel: We can only control a certain amount of things, right? And that is something that can really shift or change the way in an instant. Write in the way your day is going, or the way you feel, or the things that you worry about around the corner, right? Or are confused about. Yeah.

Molly Birkholm: Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Molly, you’re going to have to come back. I’m just saying, because they’re at the back end of our time. And I’m, uh, thank you for taking us through that exercise. Completely unexpected and unscripted. And I think it’s going to help a lot of people who are listening or even watching today just to take those ten breaths. So you’re going to have to come back and teach us how to belly breathe and how to do all of those things. Right. That would be so much fun. I would love that. Thank you so much.

Molly Birkholm: Anyone want some free guided meditations? Just send me an email Molly at Team Genius. I will send you one for pain, one for healing, one for sleep, and one for daily living. And you can just try it and see if it works.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you so much for being with me today. You guys connect with Molly. I will also have all of the links and ways to get in touch with Molly in the show. Um, in the show notes. So all you have to do is point and click. I encourage you to connect with her. I also encourage you to rewind this, uh, show that you’re listening to and keep using that ten breaths that Molly gifted us with today. Molly, thank you so much for being here.

Molly Birkholm: Thank you Trisha.

Trisha Stetzel: I can’t wait to have you back. I hope you’ll come back.

Molly Birkholm: Of course. Anytime.

Trisha Stetzel: Okay, good.

Molly Birkholm: We, our weekly meditation circle are fantastic.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. All right, family, that’s all the time we have for today’s show. Join us next time for another amazing episode of Houston Business Radio. Until then, stay tuned, stay inspired, and keep thriving in the Houston business community.

Navigating the Grant Landscape: The Essential Role of Grant Professionals and the Support of the GPA

May 16, 2025 by angishields

Association Leadership Radio

Navigating the Grant Landscape: The Essential Role of Grant Professionals and the Support of the GPA

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In this episode of Association Leadership Radio, Lee Kantor is joined by Mike Chamberlain, CEO of the Grant Professionals Association (GPA). They discuss the critical role of grant professionals in securing funding for nonprofits and local governments. Mike highlights the GPA’s mission to advocate for the profession, build community, and promote professionalism. He also addresses the challenges of navigating federal grants, the importance of ethical standards, and the need for organizations to diversify funding sources. The GPA offers resources like a consultants directory and educational materials to support grant professionals in their vital work.

Michael Chamberlain is CEO of The Grant Professionals Association (GPA), an international membership association for everyone in the grants industry.

GPA and its affiliates work to advance the profession, certify professionals, and fund professionalism. GPA offers continuing professional development through local chapter meetings, regular webinars, the GPA Journal, and an annual conference.

The Grant Professionals Certification Institute oversees the GPC credential based on a body of knowledge for the profession. The Grant Professionals Foundation provides scholarships to individuals to advance their career.

Follow GPA on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here another episode of Association Leadership Radio. And this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have Mike Chamberlain and he is the CEO of Grant Professionals Association. Welcome.

Mike Chamberlain: Hi, Lee. It’s my pleasure to be here today.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Uh, can you give us a little brief overview of the Grant Professionals Association? How you serving, folks?

Mike Chamberlain: Yes, absolutely. So the Grant Professionals Association, we just celebrated our 25th anniversary a little over a year ago. So we’re relatively young in the association space, but our members are those people who write grant proposals, research grant opportunities and manage grant funds for their organizations. So that could be anything from your local school district to the nonprofit down the street to your city or local government. So anything to do with grants, that’s what our folks are are there doing. So we’re an individual membership organization, and we really focus on serving our members through advocacy, community and professionalism. And so when we talk about those three things, what we’re really talking about is advocating for the grants profession. You know, I always draw the parallel that very much like association executives and association professionals, grant professionals didn’t go to school for this. So they come from a variety of backgrounds. And so one of the important things we do is advocate for them as a profession and help people understand more about what the profession is. The second part of that is then building community. And as most association execs know, that’s probably one of the biggest and most important things we do is build community for those individuals. And it’s especially true for grant professionals because for many of them, they’re the only ones in their organization. So they really don’t have anybody to turn to within their organization to ask questions from. So they have to turn someplace else. And so that’s one of the things we do is provide that community for them to connect with their fellow grant professionals across the across the country. And now growing across the world. And then lastly, professionalism and education, as many other associations do. One of our primary objectives is providing continuing professional development. And as I mentioned, most grant professionals kind of fell into the field. So that’s where we can really provide a lot of detail and advanced education for them.

Lee Kantor: Now about how many people are in the grant professionals, like how many are out there as members or potential members.

Mike Chamberlain: So that is a great question. So we are currently just over 4500 members of the GPA. That other number is one that’s kind of a little bit of a mystery. And I’ll caveat that with we’ve done some research to understand the field, but because there’s no data currently collected on this, and this is one of our advocacy areas, is working to get, uh, grant professionals listed in the what’s called the standard occupational classification system to get them actually get that profession listed there so that the Bureau of Labor Statistics will start collecting information about this. Um, so roundabout way. The other part of this is looking at how many entities out there might be working and looking at getting grants. Um, so a couple of those benchmarks that we look at is in terms of federal grants, um, which has obviously been a hot topic the first quarter of this year. But how many federal grants are there, um, issued per year? And there’s literally tens of thousands of federal grants issued per year. Um, and then on top of that, all of the individual foundations, uh, also make grants. So, um, we look at those kind of numbers and then we look at the number of non-profits and other entities out there that are getting grants. So roundabout way to say this is there’s literally tens of thousands of people who do this work. Um, we just don’t know who they are and where they are yet.

Lee Kantor: Now, what was kind of the impetus of starting an association? Um, have grants been around for just that period of time or have grants been around for, you know, 100 years? I don’t know the history of grants.

Mike Chamberlain: Yeah. So kind of the first grants are the land grants, uh, that the government did, um, back in the 18 1800s, I believe, um, is when the land grants started. Um, so that’s where many people talk about the, the founding of grants. Um, but grants really didn’t become an industry until maybe the late 1960s to early 70s is when it really kind of came around that grants were a thing. Um, so our organization was founded in the late 90s when a group of people attended a training course and said, uh, as they came out of that training course, they said, there’s got to be more for this. Um, there’s got to be more to this. And, uh, at that time, there were some folks who, um, for lack of a better phrase, phrasing, um, just may not have been completely ethical in how they were approaching, um, serving others in the grants profession. So out of that group of five people that came together, um, they really had a focus on creating a code of ethics for the profession. Uh, and that’s been one of our foundational pieces and our bedrocks from the very beginning is the GPA code of ethics. Uh, and what was really important about that for them was not only having, as I said, about that community, but having that that foundational document that not only could they point to for themselves, but they could point to for others to say, this is what a true professional does in abiding by that code of ethics.

Lee Kantor: And then, so the people in a given, um, company like, or an association like you’re in a nonprofit, you believe that everybody in a nonprofit should at least assign someone to be in this space, because there’s a lot of opportunity out there that could benefit the nonprofit. So is that how you see it?

Mike Chamberlain: Yeah. It is. And one of the ways that I look at it, especially in terms of the organizational approach to things, um, some people look at a grant professional and some of them use the term grant writer and say, oh, they just fill out forms. Well, if that’s all they’re doing, they’re not really a grant professional because from my perspective, one of the things that is probably most important about the work of a grant professional is their holistic view of the organization and what it’s trying to accomplish. I’ve often said that if I wanted to learn about an organization that did anything with grants, I would go find their grant professional first, because they are the people they as a part of their process and part of their work, they’re going to touch every part of the organization. Um, and speaking of a nonprofit, um, a local nonprofit that does programing in the area, the grant professional is going to know what those programs are, who they serve, what the audience is, what are the other fundraising that’s going on? So talking to the other folks in the development, what’s the future of the organization knowing about the mission and the core values of the organization? So working with the executive team and understanding the finances of the organization. So working with the financial team to understand all of that. And that’s even before they write the first word of any grant proposal.

Mike Chamberlain: Um, and so they’re taking that information, doing good research to find a good match for the organization. Just because there’s a grain available doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good match for the organization. So the grant professional is going to be doing that work in terms of the research, to make sure they have a good match for the grantor and the organization. Then they do all the work of preparing a proposal, getting it turned in, and then once the proposal is received and say they’re awarded the funds, then the second part of the work begins in terms of working with the program staff and the finance team to properly manage those funds and evaluate the program and give feedback to the grant maker. Um, that’s kind of one of the big differences between grants and a lot of other philanthropy is in some, in many cases, with philanthropy, if somebody gives a gift, they’re not expecting any kind of a report back other than maybe an annual report or a thank you note with grants, the grantor or the person making the grant is expecting a full report and a full accounting of what happened with their funds. And what were the outcomes and what were the not only the outputs but were the outcomes. What are the impact of that grant making in in the community?

Lee Kantor: So now in today’s climate, how has this is? I would think that your organization is super important to navigate kind of the storm that’s occurring now when it comes to federal grants at least.

Mike Chamberlain: Yeah. And that is, quite honestly, one of our biggest challenges right now is navigating that. Um, and in part because of the, for lack of a better term, the, the constant churn we’re being faced with right now. Um, what had been a pretty steady growth in federal grants over the last number of years, um, has kind of been turned on its head in the last few months. And so a lot of it is just trying to navigate these choppy waters, um, and figuring out what’s going on. And so one of the things that we rely on is some of the benchmarks and some of the, um, firm foundation, because there are a lot of rules around in speaking specifically of federal grants, there are a lot of rules around federal grants. Um, many of them are legislatively, uh, provided. In other words, Congress has passed laws about particular grant programs. And so, you know, not only do you have those laws in place, but you also have the, um, it’s the it’s the guidance for federal financial assistance. Um, but that’s rules and regulations around grants. So again, both sides of the coin there either what we call pre-award, before you get to the awarding the grant and post award, how the grants how are grants managed and how is the reporting done.

Mike Chamberlain: Both of those are well documented in terms of rule, current rules and regulations. So that’s part of what our members are dealing with is understanding what grants are. Um, you know what grants have been terminated. Um, and again, you know, that’s a debate to be had, but if they’ve been terminated, what are the recourse and what what can our what can GPA members do? Um, in that regard. And they are frankly being turned to by their organization to say, okay, we we no longer have access to this grant opportunity. What are other options? Um, and that’s certainly one area where our members and one of the things we’ve been reinforcing with our members is the ever popular need to diversify their funding, um, especially for nonprofits, you know, don’t rely on just one source of funding, whether that’s a government grant, a foundation grant, um, or whatever the case may be. And so that’s, you know, become abundantly clear, obviously, in these last few months, but it’s also where we’re doing our best to try to support our members in this in this time.

Lee Kantor: Now, are your members primarily employees of these organizations, or are they kind of freelance consultants that just help on a kind of a need basis?

Mike Chamberlain: It’s really a mix. So we have quite a few members who are employed by their organization, and a good percentage of our membership are consultants or consulting groups, um, that work with these organizations to help them navigate that. Um, so it’s it’s really a mix.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned earlier, um, um, at the genesis of the idea, part of it was to protect the ethics of the organization and to do things to a certain standard. Uh, this area at least. I mean, as a layperson, there’s been a lot of, I don’t know, opportunity to be taken advantage of. I’ll say that, um, where a person doesn’t know how to do this, and then someone comes in and promises them a bill of goods of though this is its money’s there waiting for you. Just you just don’t know how to, you know, write the fill out the form properly. Um, and I would assume that your organization is, you know, is working with people who are the professionals in the association and are telling the truth and helping people achieve that. But is that an area that you have to kind of educate the consumer about, and also that you have to, um, point them to people that are kind of vetted, that are going to treat this truly as a business, not some sort of taking advantage of somebody with a promise that’ll never be fulfilled.

Mike Chamberlain: You’ve you’ve hit it right on the head. Um, that has been that from the beginning and continues to be one of the cornerstones of the association is promoting our code of ethics. Uh, and so that is something that we are very passionate about, our members are passionate about in terms of educating the general public about the code, that code of ethics. And so, you know, that’s I wouldn’t say it’s a common question, but it’s one of the more frequent questions we get is from somebody who’s just starting out pursuing grant funding. And they’ve talked to somebody and they’ve the individual has said, I’ll write this grant proposal for you. Um, and just give me a percentage of what the grant is as my fee. Um, that is very much against our code of ethics. Um, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is, um, that the grant was made is being made to fund a program, not to pay a grant professional. Um, and so when we get those questions like that, first of all, we explain that to folks about the code of ethics and, and why this is important. And then secondly, we will refer them to our consultants directory. And so everybody who is in our consultants directory, all the members of GPA agree to abide by that code of ethics. And so it’s really important for us and for them that they maintain that that high ethical standard.

Lee Kantor: So that’s kind of a red flag. If they’re saying that I just get rewarded for a piece of the action. That’s not standard practice.

Mike Chamberlain: Yeah, absolutely. That’s a big red flag. Um, because there’s so many things that happen within the grant making process. Um, and some have referred to it as the grant makers black box. Um, others, you know, it just depends on so many other factors. You could have one of the best proposals. Um, and this is one example that I’ve heard from grant professionals. You may have the best proposal. Um, but there are three other grant proposals from your state. Um, and they’re only going to give one grant out in that state. Um, and so you might not get the grant just simply for the fact that there were three other great proposals in your state. And the state next door only had one great proposal. Um, so there’s so many more factors involved in, in, in terms of the grant making process. Um, and so the grant professional has done the work, has worked with the staff, worked with the program staff, worked with the finance staff to do all the work to not only research the opportunity but to prepare proposal. Um, and so that is work being done on behalf of the organization. Again, whether it’s from the individual inside the organization or a consultant. And so it’s really important to recognize that grant professionals are doing the work and deserve to be compensated for that work.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, on this show, obviously we deal with associations of all shapes and sizes. Um, I would imagine not all of them have a full time employee on this, but you mentioned that this is something they should consider. What are some like? So you think that anybody that’s in the association business should have a body on at least pursuing this in some shape or form, whether it’s a part time consultant or investing in a full time employee.

Mike Chamberlain: You know, I think that depends on the organization. Um, from some associations, grants are are an important part of what they do in providing services and or, um, providing resources to the, to the general public. And I know there are a lot of, um, healthcare associations that do work in the grants field, um, and work on research and other opportunities like that. So I think it kind of depends on the organization itself. Um, and for many organizations, going back to your question about, you know, should they have somebody on staff or should they be using a consultant for many organizations, if they’re just getting into grants, a great way to do that is to work with a consultant, and to have that consultant help make sure the organization is what we call grant ready. Um, and that means making sure there’s a lot of the things that are in place before you start developing an application or proposal, but also making sure that your organization is ready for the rigors of a grant, um, and making sure that you can find and do the right research to find the right opportunity to match with what the association is trying to accomplish.

Lee Kantor: Now, if there’s organizations out there that don’t have a person doing this or they don’t, they’ve never done it before. Is reaching out to your organization a good first step to at least kind of understand the process and, and kind of explain, is there any kind of content on your website or that a way to explain to them kind of the benefits of pursuing grants and then, you know, then the next step, obviously, is finding the right person to launch this effort in their organization?

Mike Chamberlain: Yes. And so on our website, which is WWE professionals, we have, I mentioned before our consultants directory where you can match up with any of our literally thousands of consultants, um, who will, you know, again, looking at depending on what part of the industry you’re in, um, might be a better match for you, or you might be looking for somebody in your local area because you know that there are local funders who are interested in funding, uh, or interesting, interested in supporting your organization. And so part of the from the consultants perspective is we we often say, um, you want to find the right person that’s going to be the best fit for you and your organization and your organization’s objectives. So there’s an opportunity within our consultants directory to do that. And then from the larger picture, we do have some general information about what grants are and what they’re not. Uh, in terms of kind of general education for the public. And again, that’s one of those areas we are continuing to grow that grow those resources because we realize there’s a number of misconceptions out there about what grants are.

Lee Kantor: Well, I mean, I think that the word is out that there’s hundreds of billions of dollars of grant money available. And I would imagine just a small percentage of that actually gets, um, kind of acquired by the organization. Is that accurate?

Mike Chamberlain: Um. It depends. Um, and I use that phrase a lot, but that’s what a lot of our members say, too. It just depends. Um, you know, for for many federal grants, they can be highly competitive. Uh, and so, you know, many of those grants do get awarded, um, in terms of foundation grants, it really depends on what the foundation is focused on and whether that’s a community foundation or private family foundation. Um, so it’s really finding going back to what I said before about researching the opportunities. That’s one of the ways that a grant professional can really help. An organization is fine tune and understand not only what opportunities there are in grants, but finding the right match. Um, so that may be a family foundation in a city, you know, far away from where you’re at located. But it may be a real high priority for that foundation to support the kind of activities your association is doing.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you all, um, I know this is a national now international organization. Do you have chapters as well or is it centrally located and everything’s virtual? How does it work?

Mike Chamberlain: Yeah. So we do have chapters. Um, in chapters are really part of our, um, creating community. And that is creating community at the local level and giving members an opportunity to connect with others in their local community. So we have chapters across the US and one chapter in Canada. Um, so not exactly in every state, but we have chapters, like I said, across the country, in some states there’s multiple chapters, um, mostly kind of situated around metropolitan areas. Um, in some cases, they’re statewide chapters. Um, and they look to serve their members as, as well as we do, um, whether it’s through virtual meetings, um, some in-person events throughout the year. Um, we have our annual conference, which we call the Grant summit in the fall of the year, which is our in-person event. But we do as pretty much everybody does now, but we do a lot of virtual events just because it’s an easier way for so many people to connect.

Lee Kantor: Now, do you have any advice, um, for other association leaders when part of what they do is to kind of debunk misinformation. Are there some do’s and don’ts that you’ve learned over the years in your organization that has helped in that area that you might be able to share?

Mike Chamberlain: Um, I think that the one thing I’ve learned is, as much as you communicate, and I think most communications professionals would say this as well. But as often and as much as you communicate, it’s never enough. Um, because there’s always a new rumor out there or always a new, uh, concept that you kind of have to battle up against. And for as much as we’ve told people that taking a percentage of the grant is not the right thing to do, there are still plenty of people out there that are promoting that or at least sharing that. And so that’s one of those things that’s a constant battle for us. But I think that’s the idea that as much as you communicate it, um, you just need to communicate it more and more often.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned that, um, when people are involved in this industry, they typically didn’t think, oh, this is what I want to be when I grow up. Is there any kind of effort to make this a path where people, you know, get some sort of a degree in this or they get, you know, some sort of, you know, certifications or, you know, proof of expertise in this area. Is there kind of an accreditation of this skill?

Mike Chamberlain: Um, so first of all, there is a credential. Um, and it is an accredited credential. It’s the grant professional certified. Um, and that is, uh, that credential is maintained by the Grant Professionals Certification Institute. Gbci. Um grant credential. Org is their website. Uh, so there is a credential for the field. Um, however, there’s not an education path yet. Um, and that’s one of the areas we’re working to develop. I mentioned before of working with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, to identify and clearly define what, um, what the occupations are in the profession. And then our next objective beyond that, then, is to kind of work backwards into what are the exact what’s the exact curriculum that would look like for somebody to be successful as a grant professional? Uh, so many of our folks come from a background in journalism or writing or social work and education. So there are membership is incredibly well educated. And for us, it’s really a matter of finding that right pathway for them.

Lee Kantor: So it’s not an it’s not usually human resources. They come from more of a writing background.

Mike Chamberlain: Absolutely. That’s correct.

Lee Kantor: Oh that’s I wouldn’t have thought that. Like, I would have thought this would have been someone who was on a human resource path that had good writing skills. I didn’t realize they were we’re writing first and then getting into it.

Mike Chamberlain: Yeah. And oftentimes we hear this story over and over again from our members of they, you know, started in an organization and maybe they started on the program side or worked with, you know, maybe in the marketing communications team. And somebody said, you really do know how to write. Can you help us put together this grant application? Um, and they start into it. They find they really enjoy it. Um, and then start building their skills in it.

Lee Kantor: Interesting. Well, so what do you need more of? How can we help you? Do you need more members? You just want to get the word out more that the association is there to help. Like, how can we help you?

Mike Chamberlain: Yeah. So obviously more members. Um, one of the things, like I said earlier, we we know the the number of grant professionals out there is a very large number. We just don’t know how large. And so one of our continuing objectives is to get people to know about not only the association but the profession itself. Uh, and so for many individuals who are doing the work, they just kind of refer to themselves as, oh, I’m just a so and so. I just work at this organization. And one of the myths that we’re trying to eliminate, if you will, is that the grants profession is a real profession. Um, it requires a certain set of skills and abilities to be successful at it. Um, and it’s not just opening up a form, plugging in some stuff and hitting the submit button, but they have project management skills. They have finance skills, um, they have the ability to really pull together a story. Um, and, and again, that’s kind of why a lot of them come from a writing background is because they’re able to really have that narrative thread and be able to pull together, um, the stories of the people that are being served, along with the evaluation of the program, along with the financial side of it. And so being able to weave all that together in one great story to tell the story. And oftentimes with a limited character or word count for an organization, is really an art and a science. Um, and so again, as we continue to work towards helping people understand that grant the grants profession is something that is truly a profession and that there’s an opportunity for people to get better and be more effective and efficient as a grant professional, not only to serve their organizations, but to serve their communities.

Lee Kantor: And one more time, before we wrap up the website and the best way to connect with you or somebody on the team.

Mike Chamberlain: Is grant professionals for. Professionals. Um, and you can reach out to our staff through our website, um, connect through any of the resources there. Uh, I will share one other resource that we’re pretty proud of is our online learning platform, which we call Grant school. Um, so that’s available for folks if you’re just wanting to try out some stuff and learn about some of the basics of grants. Um, one of the things that we don’t do is do your basic training in grants. Um, there’s a lot of great organizations like Grant writing USA or the Grantsmanship center that do that work. Um, we really do the work after that in terms of helping people understand how to get better and more efficient and to really grow into the profession.

Lee Kantor: Well, Mike, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Mike Chamberlain: Yeah, absolutely. Lee, it’s my pleasure and it’s great to be with you today.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Association leadership Radio.

BRX Pro Tip: Why Everyone Has to Learn How to Sell

May 16, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tip: Why You Should Lean Into the Suck

May 15, 2025 by angishields

BRX Pro Tips

BRX Pro Tip: Why You Should Lean Into the Suck

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BRX Pro Tip: Why You Should Lean Into the Suck

Stone Payton: And we are back with Business RadioX Pro Tips, Lee Kantor and Stone Payton here with you. Lee, let’s talk a little bit about the discipline, leaning into the suck.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. We just recently were broadcasting from the Tillman Run here in Roswell, Georgia, and we were around a lot of military folks, and leaning into the suck is a military kind of phrase that comes from military training. And it’s a mindset and strategy for confronting difficult, uncomfortable situations head on rather than avoiding them. And that’s how it is in life. You know, you have to accept and embrace challenges. You have to be able to transform adversity into opportunities for growth and resilience and self-improvement.

Lee Kantor: And obviously, anytime you start something new or you’re going out into an adventure you’ve never done before, you’re going to suck. It is going to suck because you’re learning. These are new things. You’re doing things for the first time, so you can’t be great at it at go.

Lee Kantor: When you start something new, you just got to just kind of power through, lean into kind of the suck, as they say, and then just focusing on improvement. And if you just start doing the work and you keep grinding, you’re going to get better. You’re going to suck less and less over time.

Lee Kantor: You cannot escape the suck. You can only make the choice to lean into it and get better. If you can really buy into this and kind of lean into this, this mindset can transform challenges into opportunities. It’s going to make you more resilient. Your awareness is going to be higher and you’re going to achieve more. By embracing the suck, you not only endure the hardships, but you thrive through them. You’re going to emerge stronger and more capable and ready for whatever it is that happens next.