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 with one of my sisters. Yes, you guessed it. We’re not done yet, so we’ll be talking about that in just a few minutes. I want to introduce you to the most amazing woman sitting right in front of me on zoom. Wink, wink. And I’d love to introduce you to Caryn Craig. She’s a seasoned real estate professional with 20 years of experience right here in Houston. Driven by a passion for empowering women and small business owners. She’s a background that includes owning and operating multiple bars, nightclubs and restaurants. Karen combines her entrepreneurial expertise and an MBA from the University of Houston, Victoria to offer strategic real estate solutions. Her commitment to helping clients thrive in the Houston competitive market is at the heart of her career. Dedicated to supporting women in real estate investing, Caryn provides the knowledge and resources needed to build wealth and achieve financial independence. Karen, welcome to the show.

Caryn Craig: Thank you so much for having me, fellow sister Trisha.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. Isn’t it fun when somebody else reads your bio because they’re so hard to write about yourself?

Caryn Craig: No, not awkward at all.

Trisha Stetzel: No, not at all. But how cool is it to hear all of the amazing things that you’re doing? And, um, I love how we met, which is through this book collab that we’re working on, and we’re going to talk about that in a few minutes. First, I want to tackle who is Karen. So tell us a little bit more about you and the work that you do in the community.

Caryn Craig: So I am, like you said, a commercial realtor and I really love to work with female entrepreneurs because I am one. So again, like you said, I have owned multiple bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and one food truck and that is a story in and of itself. But you know, I and there’s a lot of stories there, bar industry, there’s a lot of stories there. But you know, I take that experience, and all I wanted to ever do was to help small business. And there was nobody really to help me. I learned it, you know, on my own walking the path. And, you know, there’s so many resources out there. And I want to be that resource for other women, other women entrepreneurs and small business owners. And, you know, that’s just it’s my passion project. I prefer to stay in the commercial side of real estate. I’ve done residential for a really long time. It’s like riding a bike. But commercial is great because it’s different every single day. Even if you’re renting the same type of space or selling the same type of space, it’s still to two different businesses, and every business’s needs are different. And I love to look at their goals and to see how I can help them and, you know, surpass them. So that’s a little bit about me. I have two kids. I’m a single mom, lived here for a really long time. It’s hot, it’s getting hotter. And that’s always just such an adventure in real estate is that, you know, you have four Stanley Cups in your car at all times. They’re all full, and at the end of the day, you don’t have any of them full. So it’s so great. At least I’m getting my I’m getting my glasses of water in.

Trisha Stetzel: Well, that is good. Yeah I’m glad to hear that. You have four Stanley Cups.

Caryn Craig: Hydrating hydrating.

Trisha Stetzel: Hydrated. Um, something that Karen might not tell you, but I know about her is that she was voted businesswoman of the Year by Outsmart magazine for 11 consecutive years. That is amazing, Karen.

Caryn Craig: And the amazing thing about that was that my employees did that. So I don’t self-nominate myself or anything, but my, you know, my employees voted on that and that’s great. And so, you know, I’ve, I’ve pretty much left that industry now. But, you know, you circle back to it because real estate circles back to everything. So that’s the most special thing is that my employees thought well enough of me to nominate and support me in that.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. So, um, I have this conversation with women quite often where we don’t self-nominate I heard you say that like I would never self-nominate myself, my myself for that. Um, it’s really cool. And of course, it’s amazing when other people nominate us for things. So why do you think it is that as women, we’re not as good at self nominating or stepping forward and saying, hey, I did this and I want to be recognized for it?

Caryn Craig: Yeah. You know, it’s kind of funny. And I have a story. So my mom has a PhD in nursing. So she’s retired now for like the third time. But she did medical research after her nursing career was done. So she did medical research and she never really took the credit. It was never doctor Craig did this. It was, oh, this other guy did this. And so, you know, I remember my father who was not a doctor saying, no, doctor Craig did this. But Doctor Craig never really stood up and said, Doctor Craig did this. And mom, I love you. I know you’re going to listen to this, but it was one of those learning lessons for me that maybe I should self-nominate. And you know, I’m going to be honest with you. For me, I just don’t have time. I’m really busy. I don’t even think about it. So when things come my way, I’m like, oh, that’s really nice. How great. But to put myself out there right now, I don’t have time. I mean, right now I have, I think, 11 clients. My kids are out of school. I can’t even think about it right now. But women in general, we all need to be better about putting ourselves out there and about saying, hi, I did this. It’s me. I’m the one that did this. I’m this awesome. I’m this amazing. And I think the six figure chicks movement really helps with that because, you know, the founder of that movement, Mel, is really good. Trisha, you know this at putting it out there. Hey, you need to be promoting this. You need to be putting this on social media. Here’s your bio. Here’s your links, here’s your this, here’s your that. And I haven’t been as good about that because I’m like, I don’t want the attention. I don’t want the attention. But I’ve done all these things. I’m amazing. Just like my mother. We’ve done all these things. We’re amazing. We deserve the attention. Doctor Park is amazing. Karen Craig is amazing, you know.

Trisha Stetzel: And we need to be okay with saying those things out loud and not being embarrassed that we’ve done all of these amazing things. Right. And I think to surrounding ourselves with other women who understand that it’s okay to stand up and say, look at all of these amazing things that I that I’ve done right. And I think Mel has really done something amazing here. Absolutely. Let’s talk about six figure checks if it’s okay to roll right into it. You guys, I know you’ve all heard it from me a few times. The book six Figure Checks Houston Edition Volume one is going to be released on June 14th. So we need all of you to rally around Amazon on June 14th to get your book. Okay. That’s just the bottom line. So, Karen, my first question for you and around six figure checks is why did you say yes?

Caryn Craig: I was actually the first Houston chick. So I’m just going to put that out there. It was me. I was the number one Houston chick. And I had. This is actually kind of a funny story. So Mel and I. And maybe you too. Trisha, are you still in B and I?

Trisha Stetzel: And I’m not still in B and I. But it’s how I met Mel.

Caryn Craig: Yeah. Oh, okay. So B and I, for those who don’t know, is Business Networking International. And I’m the president of my chapter. And we had a newer member who met Mel on, I think, some speed networking online or whatever. And at the time I was getting divorced. And so I was so busy, my head was not in any game other than trying to stay afloat and keep my kids mental health healthy, as healthy as you can be going through something like that. And so this gentleman in my chapter is like, there’s somebody you really need to meet. She’s in Phoenix. And I’m like, yeah, okay, whatever. I don’t have time for this right now. They asked me again, you really need to meet this woman. But I recognize that you’re going through a lot right now. So I’m just going to connect the two of you and Mel. Being Mel kept connecting with me, even though I was like, I can’t be with you. I’m really busy. I haven’t slept in five days. So I finally meet with Mel and it was. I don’t even think she knows this. And it was this, this 1 to 1 meeting where I’m like, I don’t even want to be on this zoom. Why am I on zoom? And then she started talking about the book and about the movement and about the women.

Caryn Craig: And I started to kind of perk up, and I was like, oh, this is really empowering. This is something I could use in my life right now. And so I literally signed up. I think I cut her off. I was like, we’re good. I’m gonna say yes. Don’t talk yourself out of a sale because I’m a salesperson, so just. Shh. Yeah. How do I give you my money? How do I do this? How do I make this? You know, the biggest piece of my marketing for 2025? And so here we are. And that’s what it was. It was something in my life. In my life at that time that I just really needed. I needed that part to say, I have a book coming out next year, I need it. It was kind of like a lifeline pulling me to the surface, and it was so great in my most down moments to say I’m so excited that this is going to happen for me this year, and it was so exciting for me at Thanksgiving to stand up in front of all my family saying, guess what I’m doing? I’m going to write a book this year. And I did.

Trisha Stetzel: And you did. And it’s going to be a bestseller because I already feel it. It’s going to be a bestseller.

Caryn Craig: Our stories are so amazing.

Trisha Stetzel: And they’re all different.

Caryn Craig: And they’re wonderful.

Trisha Stetzel: So I like you. Karen was first in line. I must have been second in line. Uh, Mel and I did meet through a bad connection, so I was in BNI for almost 15 years between two businesses. I bet there are those circles. I have family, right? Um, extended family and all of those circles. So someone I know in Florida who’s in BNI reached out to me and said, I met someone in Arizona that’s in BNI that you need to meet. And I said, okay. And it was Mel and it was amazing. It was absolutely amazing. So B and I is a wonderful tool. I would, if you don’t mind, would you plug your chapter real quick and just let people know where they can find your chapter meetings?

Caryn Craig: Yes. So actually our chapter was awarded the International Culture Award at the National Conference. Yes. Congratulations. We are award winning. We’re number one in the Houston region right now. So we have had you know, we’ve had a great year. We are an amazing group. And we meet every Wednesday morning at 715 at the Rudy’s on Mason and I-10 and Katie. And there’s about 40 to 45 of us. I don’t know exactly what number we’re at right now, but we are an amazing group of people. And I always say it’s the best way to start the middle of my week because it is explosive energy. I have a lot of energy. I run the meetings. And so when you go in there, it’s it’s just electrifying. And it is. It is contagious. Our energy is contagious. And it’s such a wonderful group of people. And they are my family. I mean, there are people there who have carried me through the last few years so bad I is great.

Trisha Stetzel: Congratulations and congratulations on being the president of an amazing award winning chapter.

Caryn Craig: Not that humble about it.

Trisha Stetzel: I’m happy to put the information about your BNI chapter in the show notes as well. So if people are interested and want to connect with you that way or even come to a meeting, then certainly they can do that. So outside of that, Karen, what is the best way to connect with you if folks are interested in having a conversation?

Caryn Craig: So my name is spelled differently. It’s c a r y n. And I like to say I’m a Karen, not a Karen, because the spelling. You can find me on any of the socials at Karen Craig Realtor or on my website at karen.com. Com.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. Okay, so back to the depths of our conversation. Um, each of us were asked to write a story about how we got where we are today. And before we started recording, you said what you do is different from your story. And then you said, oh, wait a minute, maybe not so much. So do you want to give us a sneak peek? Don’t tell us too much, but just a sneak peek into your chapter.

Caryn Craig: So a sneak peek into my chapter. I have been a six figure chick since I was in my early 20s, and I’ve owned my own business, and I learned so much owning those businesses because I’ve had so many. I’ve had 12, 15, 17. I’ve had so many of them. And I write about leaving my six figure job and starting over literally from rock bottom. And that’s right. That’s what I’m doing right now.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you for being vulnerable enough to tell your story. I think it’s going to be very, um, moving when people read your chapter, when people read the book and they see the stories of all of these amazing women that Mel has brought together, which I think is really important as well. So you love serving women? Uh, but you’ve been through a lot of stuff, we’ll say, right over your lifetime. Uh, what is so special about the way Mel has brought this project together? Or you even called it a movement. What’s so special about that for you?

Caryn Craig: I think anytime women can get together and be completely supportive is magic. Because society doesn’t really like that. You know, I have a young girl, I have she’s 13, and so she’s just starting to learn Kind of navigating those social roadways. And, you know, sometimes people are not as kind as we need them to be. And my parenting motto has always been lead with kindness, which my children call cringey, but it’s not cringey. It’s this is a life lesson we should always lead with kindness and the six figure chicks. We are all so different. There are doctors, there are, you know, people with that we look different, we act different. We have completely different networks. But we are sisters and we all are brought together in this one way, and it’s very special. There is zero judgment. Zero and its beauty. Its beauty.

Trisha Stetzel: Absolutely. Um, I’ve done a book collaboration before, and it was nothing like this. There was no there was no relationship. There was. I don’t even know who the other authors are. It’s been an interesting ride for me. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s it was a fantastic book and it has great chapters in it, but I never got to meet the other people the way I’ve been able to meet you ladies. And you’re right, there’s no judgment. We had a photo shoot. All of us together. Not we didn’t know each other. And we were changing and getting dressed and hair. All the things that we do, right. As women, we’re getting ready for a photo shoot.

Caryn Craig: So I have all these things in my head. Now about that photo. No judging. None. Zero. None. We were we were googling each other’s shoes. It was great. I found those shoes, by the way.

Trisha Stetzel: Oh you did.

Caryn Craig: Oh, those will be featured at our paperback launch. I’m already planning my outfit. I’m so excited. Thank you, Lily, for your shoe inspiration.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that. Well, I think somebody lost some shoes. I left my hat.

Caryn Craig: Oh, yeah, I think I left my glasses there.

Trisha Stetzel: You did? Yes.

Caryn Craig: Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: This is the environment that that Mel really created for us, which is just bringing women together so that we can support each other as we go through this journey, because writing about yourself is hard. Yeah, I’ll put that out there. It’s very hard to tell, and it’s not your whole story. It’s even just a part of your story. And it’s still hard, right? So tell me more about how your story or how you hope that your story will leave this legacy behind as it’s written in this book.

Caryn Craig: My my biggest wish is for a woman who is in a very difficult marriage, or even any type of difficult relationship, will look at my story and say, I can do it too. And I can leave this very scary situation and have that fear and still know that you can just put one foot in and one foot in front of the other every single day, and eventually you’re going to get to where you want to be as long as you just keep putting one foot in front of the other. It’s the biggest wish I have is, is that somebody will see that, and it will give them the courage to do what they need to do to be okay in life.

Trisha Stetzel: There’s a reason why your stories in this book, because there’s somebody out there looking for it, right?

Caryn Craig: I think so too.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. I love what do you think about the idea, um, that Mel’s brought to this group, and it is a movement about mentorship day.

Caryn Craig: Yeah, I love mentorship Day. I absolutely am so excited about the chance to sit with women who are younger than me and say, this is the path that I took in my life. Take from it what you will. What do you want to do? You know, I have a new part of my career that’s starting with, you know, business coaching and business consulting because all I ever wanted to do was help small business. And I’ve done some of that. And it’s amazing through those conversations, how you can kind of weed through and find why people do what they do. And maybe that’s not what they should be doing. Maybe they should actually be doing something else. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Find your passion. Work in your passion. Right. That’s great. In the businesses that we’re in, for sure. So, Karen, I think I read in your bio that you’ve owned more owned and operated more than ten businesses.

Caryn Craig: Yeah, it’s it’s ten, 15, 17, something like that. We’ve we’ve had a lot I had a lot.

Trisha Stetzel: And in some hard industries being a restaurateur or a nightclub or a bar owner, like, those are some really hard, like, heavy challenges. So women or anybody who’s listening to us have this conversation right now. You’ve you’ve talked about your story. We want everybody to go get the book on June 14th, because there are some amazing stories in there. But thinking about all of the things that you’ve been through and the people that you could connect with who might almost be going through what You already went through. What would you say to them?

Caryn Craig: I would say that there’s a path to whatever you want to do in life, and you create it. And for me specifically, I was stuck for a very long time, and it was fear that made me stay. There was fear of a lot of things. And you finally get to a point where you’re just done and you’re your will to be done overcomes the fear. The fear is still there. It doesn’t go away. It morphs a little bit, flattens out a little bit so you can walk over it. That’s what I have to say, is that, you know, I think fear is there. It’s there’s biological reasons why it’s there. It keeps us safe. But it’s that. But, you know, we’re smarter than our fear. We’re smarter than our anxiety, our anxiety rule us. And so I think what I’ve been through, those industries were difficult. They’re great industries. All they do is, you know, when you look at a bar or a nightclub, they’re there to make people happy and to connect people. And, you know, there’s, you know, certain aspects to the industry that I don’t particularly enjoy. But as a woman, it was hard to be in those industries because I was generally the only one, and it made me a lot stronger. It made me tough. And I have a very, very tough exterior because now I’m in commercial real estate, which is still male dominated. And, you know, even today, I had a man try to mansplain industrial property and Katie to me and I was like, no, I’m aware. Thank you. Thanks. I’m gonna argue with it. It’s not a point. I’m not scared of him. I would have been at one point in my life. But I think overcoming your fear and just getting to the point where you can do it. Yeah.

Trisha Stetzel: When you’re at your networking circles. You’re so intelligent, sitting on the outside looking in like you’re surrounding yourself with other intelligent people and other people who can support you and have your back and be there when you need somebody, whether it’s through BNI or even now in this book. Collab for six figure chicks. How important is it for us to choose the people or have the right people in our circles?

Caryn Craig: It is the most important thing. You know, they say when you’re bringing up children that it takes a village, but it really takes a village for all of us. That’s not just for, you know, babies and toddlers. It literally takes a village for all of us. When I was getting divorced, one of my dear friends said it was my friends that carried me through my divorce. And I can honestly tell you it was my friends that carried me through my divorce. And part of the reason why I was scared to leave before was because I didn’t have the village surrounding me. And so it is the most important thing. You know, we’re social humans, especially women. We need to have the love and support of others around us. We just do.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah, absolutely. And working in a male dominated space for so many years, how has that, I want to say, raised you as a woman, right? Or how have you matured as a woman because you worked in this male dominated space?

Caryn Craig: So. My therapist would say the male parts of my personality are very dominant. And that is true. I have a very dominant personality. It it had to be there to work in those environments. You know, I’m not as big as they are. I’m not as you know, I’m not physically intimidating. So certain parts of my personality had to become, especially with the type of personalities that work in the bar industry, but how it. It made me very patient and it made me very understanding. It made me be able to listen. It made me a very good manager, and it made me so grateful when I could be surrounded by women because, you know, people like what they are and people want to recognize what’s around them. And so I just value female friendships and female relationships so much. And, you know, it really is a sisterhood.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. It is. Hey. Thanks, Mel. I know you’re listening right now. There are so many of us who wouldn’t have met each other had she not put this together, because we do have different circles and we do come from different places. I have noticed that BNI happens to be one of those things that runs through a majority of us.

Caryn Craig: Yes.

Trisha Stetzel: Yeah. Of the women that are there. And how cool is it to be connected in that way? Um, as we close up today, Karen, what what would you say to the young women? We’ve talked about women and circling ourselves and making sure that we’re supporting each other, especially in the the age groups that we’re in. But what would you say to the young women, the ones that will show up for Mentor Day? Uh, when we bring our stories out, what would you say to them today.

Caryn Craig: To the young women who are coming up behind me? I would say be ready to mentor and get yourself ready to mentor the people coming up behind you. Be ready to put yourself on a podium as the strong, beautiful, smart and intelligent woman that you are. And be that for my daughter and for her friends and eventually their daughters. That’s that’s do do big things and do them well so that others can come behind you and do bigger things.

Trisha Stetzel: I love that and be proud and be loud and loud.

Caryn Craig: I’m always proud and loud, except for right now, because I’m trying to not be out in my office.

Trisha Stetzel: It is all good. I’m so excited about this book collaboration with you. Karen, thank you so much for being on the show. This has been a great conversation. I cannot wait to read your story. I have not looked at anyone else’s story yet.

Caryn Craig: I haven’t either.

Trisha Stetzel: I most of us have not. Which is right? We’re all we’re just save it. We’re just going to save it for when it’s somebody.

Caryn Craig: Somebody wrote about Mount Everest or Kilimanjaro or something. And I was like, not reading it, not reading it, not reading it.

Trisha Stetzel: Don’t read it, don’t read it. Well, I have a sneak peek because Melanie was on the show, so I’m just saying she gave me a tiny sneak peek into her story around Kilimanjaro. Yeah.

Caryn Craig: Oh, really?

Trisha Stetzel: She’s a hiker. So our our whole conversation was really about, um, outdoors and hiking and her dream, and. Yeah, it was really cool. Oh, the stories are gonna be amazing. Amazing. Okay, Karen, thank you so much for being on the show with me today. You guys listening? And, of course, uh, if you’re watching on YouTube, you can grab the show notes and go directly to Karen’s space so that you can connect with her. Karen, will you tell them one more time how how to find you?

Caryn Craig: Sure. Remember, my name is spelled differently, so I’m c a r y n and you can find me at Karen Craig realtor on any of the social platforms and my website at Karen Craig. Com.

Trisha Stetzel: Thank you Karen and June 14th six figure checks Houston volume one I’m super excited. So you guys be on the lookout for the links. They’re going to come from me. They’re going to come from Karen and all the other sisters in the Houston, Greater Houston area. And you guys go buy the darn book. I promise it’s not very expensive. We’re not even going to talk about it. So just when the links go click and buy. Okay, Karen, that’s all the time we have for today and everyone who’s listening. If you found value in this conversation that Karen and I had, share it with a fellow entrepreneur, a veteran or a Houston leader ready to grow. Be sure to follow, rate, and review the show. It helps us reach more bold business minds just like yours. Your business, your leadership and your legacy are built one intentional step at a time. So stay inspired, stay focused, and keep building the business and the life you deserve.