Answer to Question 3. What did you do before becoming a REALTOR®?
I have come up with some important questions to use or ask when interviewing a REALTOR®. And I have mentioned that I am going to answer everyone of them, in blog format, because I have a lot to say about most of them. So check in regularly for the answers!
Question 3. What did you do before becoming a REALTOR®?
This question I think adds a lot to help understand what kind of a REALTOR® a person is.
Back in grade school, about grade 7, I learned how rewarding it was to help others. If you ask my dad, he would always say, “Tania was different… Most kids would bring home puppies and kittens and asked to keep them. Tania would bring home people, and ask if she could keep them.” Thankfully I had the support from my parents to help me help others around me. They open our door to those around us, who needed a safe place to stay, someone to talk to, or who just needed to get away from their own chaos. That’s when I learned that I wanted to be a social worker, and save the world… My journey began.
In High school I began volunteering at an elementary school a few times a week, working with some the “challenging kids” that were in the class. I would sit with them, help do their work, help them to stay focused, and I really began see that these kids, really just needed someone to care about them and what they were doing. At the end of year, those 5 kids I had worked with all year, all asked if I was coming back next year. As they gave me hugs, we were dreading the end to our time together. But, I realized that I had really made a positive impact on them, and that felt awesome!
While in high school, I also got in to restaurants, and found it easy. I was a quick learner and soon was given more responsibilities. After I graduated from high school; I moved to Calgary.
I quickly found work in the restaurant field again, and there I stayed for a number of years. I had taken on roles of supervisors, and training. At one point I was traveling around Alberta and Saskatchewan opening and training new staff to open new stores. But I just didn’t feel any passion in the industry. Felt almost as though I was being used for my skills and sometimes taken advantage of. I really didn’t like finding that some of the staff were not coming in on any given day because they had been out all night. I found this draining, and not rewarding.
My passion/calling was still with helping people, and so I went back to school, and did complete my Social work diploma. During that time there was again lots of work with the social work community, and I was pulled in to industry, “heart strings” and all. I really loved working with the teenagers, who found themselves without support, pregnant, or have children, with no place to go. My heart went out to them, and I knew I could share and help them to better their lives. I was energized by seeing how my helping these individuals was really making an impact on their lives.
My husband and I found out that we were pregnant as I was graduating, and my dream of “saving the world” got hit hard with a huge reality check. How was I going to raise a baby, be there for her, and work in the field, without making enough money. (Lets face it, Social workers don’t make much money, they really do it only because they love what they do). So, back to restaurants I went, where I could juggle the hours and be a mom.
Altogether, I was in restaurants for a total of 15 years.
Real estate was always interesting to me, so I went to an information meeting about the industry. I was pregnant with our 3rd at this time, but loved what I had heard. I had the opportunity to chat with a wonderful REALTOR®, who answered my questions honestly, and gave me a few things to think about myself. Later I found out that he really enjoyed chatting with me and said I had some really good questions. He believed I had what it would take to become successful. (Thanks Tom)
The rest is history! Actually I should say, that I am amazed at the number of skills that have transferred over into real estate from social work. That is probably one of the reasons why my niche seems to be more of the “First time home buyers”. If you are interested in working with me, I encourage you to contact me.
Tania King.
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