Every month I start off by saying I’m super excited for this month’s muse! But it’s true. I am super excited to share each of these amazing women with you. I’m lucky to to be surrounded by inspiring women doing amazing things. This month’s muse is Jen McFadyen. Jen and I met years ago through a mutual friend (shout out to Sara Schultz!) when Jen was just starting out in real estate. Fast forward 5 years and she’s got her own business and team. Her social media is full of advice and tips to help you make the most of your current home, future home, or investment property, so even if you aren’t currently in the market to buy or sell, she had valuable knowledge to help you maximize your investment. Jen is who got me started on house illustration! She commissioned me a few years back and started what is now my main source of income. Jen is truly an inspiration, read on to learn more about her journey.

Let's start at the beginning - what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you follow that path or go another direction?

Growing up I was a little all over the place. When I was young I wanted to be a professional athlete, specifically a track start in the Olympics. I loved the dedication athletes showed, and that they were ultimately in control of their performance/outcomes through hard work.

As I grew up a bit more, I started gaining an interest in animals. I loved the idea of marine biology, was interested in becoming a vet, or doing other medical routes with animals. I took a few pre-med classes in college and wasn't in love with Chemistry. I also don't really love blood, guts, etc. so that ended up not being the route for me haha!

After deciding the medical industry was not for me I decided to just lean into what I was good at...math + business. I love being strategic with money, driving efficiencies within businesses and truly understanding the foundations needed to grow a successful business. This is why I was a great corporate employee for Target HQ for almost 9 years, and why I've loved helping female business owners, as well as myself, start successful businesses.

Share with us your career history. Have you always been interested in real estate?

You could say I have always been a bit of a hustler and started my career in client services. I was always hustling at golf courses as a hostess, waitress, and beer girl. I also taught swim lessons, lifeguarded and managed the pool. You could say I held almost every high school job at the Country Club to get my paychecks where I wanted them to be. I would also pick up babysitting jobs and collect pop cans for $0.05 per can around my neighborhood, to help pay for my soccer trips across the US.

I held multiple internships throughout college helping local community businesses and small business owners, and then out of college I started my career at Target HQ as a Business Analyst. I worked my way through multiple positions at Target such as: SWAT Analyst, Target Canada Consultant, Merchandise Manager, and Financial Planner. I learned a ton at the corporate level, and am very appreciative for those experiences.

To be honest, real estate was never on my radar. Growing up, I always perceived realtors as not necessarily having a lot of business acumen and not having that tough of a career. I don't know why I felt that way or assumed those things (I'm sure I heard it at some point in my life from someone), but it wasn't a career I dreamed about. Interesting enough, I fell into the business by chance.

Around 2014, I started to travel the world for multiple weeks at a time. I was burnt out at my corporate job at a Merchandise Manager and Financial Planner, so I would leverage my saved up vacation to travel for 2-3 week long periods at a time. During my travels I would soak up the culture, listen to podcasts, and just try to learn more about the world vs. concentrate on my day-to-day back home. It was hear I started learning that a lot of the wealth in the United States was built off real estate.

So in 2015, I decided I was going to change careers and start to buy up investment properties to build a passive income stream that would allow me to travel and work remotely. I had a handful of business start up ideas that I was toying around with but no one would allow me to job shadow at the time, so a girlfriend in real estate suggested I get my license and "secretly" shadow an architect/interior designer to learn more about the behind the scenes of my interests. Becoming a realtor is fairly inexpensive ($2,500) and only takes 90 hours worth of course work, so I said screw it and I got my license! I knew I was planning on buying a duplex as my first investment property and thought it could be useful to have my license down the road. Little did I know this would be the start of my big transition.

By March of 2016, I was a licensed realtor, and then in Nov. 2016 I purchased my first every property, a duplex. I began to house hack...bringing my "rent/mortgage" down to just $700 per month. This helped me pay down debt and start saving money at a rapid pace! Once I started to get my feet wet in the industry, and I saw how good I was at negotiating, understanding the ins and outs of a property, and truly developing a full client care experience from start to finish, I knew this was what I was meant to do in some capacity. So once the summer of 2017 rolled around, I started to ramp up my client pipeline and planned my exit from Target HQ the following spring.

You’ve built up your own real estate team/company - how did you know you were ready for this step and what made you successful in achieving this goal? 

I think having the experience I have in leading a team, helped me understand the culture and type of support I wanted to create for my clients. I joined a couple of boutique brokerages at the beginning of my career and was mentored by one of the best agents I know in the industry. That helped me not only learn legal documentation, problem solving and behind the scenes details on the business, but it also helped provide a framework on what I wanted to do differently. After a couple years in the business, I was ready to start to build out a team of my own and start to coach and develop once again. Real estate can be a lonely business and I knew I loved having a team from my career at Target, so it was refreshing to be able to not only build one in the career I loved, but also be able to choose who I surrounded myself and my clients with!

What’s the biggest challenge running your own business and how do you work through it?

My biggest challenge is saying no. Real estate doesn't turn off - you can run your business at all hours of the day, every day of the week. If you aren't good at creating boundaries for yourself, your family and your team, it is very difficult to lead a balanced life. This is where I struggle the most. Earlier I shared that I love to travel, well...it's difficult to time when you will be busy with clients, what your day-to-day is going to look like, and ultimately be able to fully unplug. I'm getting a bit better at being able to set my phone down here and there for a few hours at a time, but there isn't one day that goes by where I can't be accessed or that I'm not checking emails/texts from my team or clients.

What do you find are your clients biggest challenges in the current real estate market and what are the best ways you’ve found to overcome them?

Listening to the media and family/friends is generally helpful, but my biggest suggestion to anyone is to find 2-3 experts in any industry, and get their advice. People with true boots on the ground knowledge are going to be able to help steer you in the right direction, if you're able to find someone who has the business knowledge and acumen. I will be the first one to tell my client "it's not a great time to sell...you should wait 3-6 months", or "yes rates are high, but here are all of the advantages to purchasing now and what you can do in 6-12 months to set yourself up for better success than your competition." Ultimately, real estate is one of the biggest investments a person can make in their lifetime, so leveraging true experts as a resource in your decision making process is the wisest decision someone can make. It's the most awarding part of my job when I can help some proactively plan and prepare for large financial decisions, even when they are 12-24 months out from making a move.

If you could give your younger self any advice, what would it be and why?

Don't be afraid to take a chance. You can always go back to doing what is safe. Take a leap of faith, believe in yourself, chase your dreams, learn from your mistakes, and start taking risks earlier. Life is too short to be stagnant and sleepwalk your way through each day. Go live a life you love and enjoy the time you have!

What are you most excited about at this time in your life?

I am most excited about having a partner that supports my career while also pushes me to add back in some fun into my life. I have been running at 100 MPH the last 3-4 years and have been putting my career dreams on a pedestal. Now I'm taking a look in the mirror and trying to work on managing my time better to help incorporate some fun and travel back into my life. Right now...I'm sitting on a patio in Temecula, CA, soaking up the sun and working on emails + client calls. It's a step in the right direction and I can't wait to see how I can push myself to do it all!

Rapid Fire 

• Describe yourself in a hashtag: I had my team submit options. Here is what they had to say haha: #jenknowsbest #can'tsitstillgirlboss #likesellingsunsetbutsmarter #thegoat #allaboutrealestate #jenestate

• What are three things you can’t live without: Penelope (my pup), chapstick, and my cellphone ;)

• Favorite app: Homespotter (realtor house app)

• Dream Home (ie Tudor, Ranch, Craftsman, etc): Mediterranean - clay tile roof, white stucco, terracotta tile floors, indoor/outdoor living space off the dining room, with a pool and sunshine ;)

• Coffee or tea: Water most days...if I'm dying I will have a vanilla latte with oat milk but I wasn't a big coffee drinker until I got into real estate

• Sweet or savory: Savory - I can eat 1.5 bags a chips per day fairly easily (before I start judging myself and put them away lol)

• AM Warrior or Burn the Midnight Oil: AM warrior!! I wake up between 4-6:30am most days without an alarm and am ready for bed around 9:30-10pm like clockwork.

Thanks Jen for sharing your story with us. You can find Jen on instagram and her website.