Building a Thriving Real Estate Business with Bold Grit While Navigating Motherhood with Taley Hunt

Transcript

[Mattias]
Welcome to the REI Agent, a holistic approach to life through real estate. I’m Mattias, an agent and investor.

[Erica]
And I’m Erica, a licensed therapist.

[Mattias]
Join us as we interview guests that also strive to live bold and fulfilled lives through business and real estate investing.

[Erica]
Tune in every week for interviews with real estate agents and investors.

[Mattias]
Ready to level up?

[Erica]
Let’s do it.

[Mattias]
Welcome. Welcome back to the REI Agent. You know what, let’s leave that in.

You know, I think we have had a couple bloopers. And we seem to be falling on our face in these intros. So we’re just going to start organically and authentically.

And that was a funny intro. And we’re going to run with it. I’m here with my lovely guest, guest, host, co-host.

This is really bad. We can’t talk. Erica, how are you?

[Erica]
Yes, thank you. Thank you for allowing me to join as your co-host. We just got out of a great conversation with Tailee Hunt.

[Mattias]
Yeah, that was a really fun one. It was interesting to hear her perspective from building up a business while also starting a family, having a kid. And it was, yeah, interesting because I’ve been kind of on the other side of the coin.

But she has a husband that does a lot of the behind the scenes work that you do for us. So it was a fun kind of like flipped, you know, yin and yang, if you will, kind of conversation, seeing her journey as in the lens of ours.

[Erica]
Yeah, she started her real estate career, which was also a pivot from a career in higher ed at the same time as she became pregnant and had her first daughter. And so she was learning the new parenting thing and managing that piece of it without child care while also building her business and doing really well. She was pretty successful that first year.

And also it was the year of COVID too. It was mid 2020.

[Mattias]
A lot of stuff happening.

[Erica]
I can’t even imagine, you know, the level of exhaustion and burnout and pressure to be successful and then also to feel like you’re doing what you need to as a parent. And man, she’s got some grit for sure.

[Mattias]
Yeah, it seems like somehow she turned like that into more like I get overwhelmed and burnout in a really busy year. And I kind of stopped taking massive action, which she talks about her doing to kind of generate this business. But sometimes I feel like I end up slowing down a little bit and I end up having these like, you know, ups and downs in my business.

And yeah, so it was just interesting to hear how it seemed like, if anything, she just ramped it up further and then also kind of set things up to be more delegation, a team, you know, admin, that kind of stuff.

[Erica]
Yeah. Well, what I like about this conversation was she was transparent about how draining and difficult that first year was and just how sometimes she would feel so frustrated with needing to be a parent while she’s also trying to get her work done. And I told her this too, but I was so glad that she mentioned that because it’s something that so many of us experience with our children when we feel the pressure of work or we’re trying to get an email written or there’s something else in life is happening and our kids are asking for our attention or needing something from us, which they should because they’re children.

But it’s so common to feel frustrated or resentful in that moment. And so I was glad that she talked about that because that can also come along with just feeling pretty guilty that that’s even a feeling you’re experiencing.

[Mattias]
Yeah, and I think that that’s something, a really a big challenge, something that agents really need to work on and figure out solutions for because, and I had a really big example of this last night. I didn’t handle it the best, going through, you know, work stress and then, you know, letting that ooze onto my parenting and my kids. But, you know, it’s just something that we have a very hard time and we really can’t turn things off easily.

So, you know, coming home and having continued conversations with people that, or problems you’re working through, et cetera, like that’s just kind of the nature of the beast. And, you know, trying to find solutions, strategies to help yourself, you know, deal with it in appropriate manners or, you know, whatever, like just to be able to compartmentalize it maybe a little bit so that you can be with your kids. I ended up, you know, getting through and having a really good learning moment with my kids as a result of this.

And one of the things that came out of it was, you know, well, when I kind of reacted to one of my daughters and she wanted my attention, she wanted to ask me something and I was just like, hold on. And I, you know, I was a little bit too sharp and a little bit, yeah, whatever, I was agitated. I was in this like high stress mode, I guess.

And, you know, I talked to her later about, you know, saying I’m sorry that that happened and also, you know, kind of explaining how I was having a hard time. There was something that I was dealing with that was causing me to act that way. And then kind of relating it to maybe how she might have somebody be mean to her at school and you don’t really know what they’re going through and how you can try to help turn that around or stop that from spiraling into something worse.

Like you can turn around and be nice to somebody to try to make things better and have a better relationship. So it ended up being like a good thing that we overall, overall the message I think was good and we had the repair there. So that was good.

But yeah, trying to continue to find ways to not let that affect you or bring it home to your kids and your family, your spouse, et cetera, is important. And I think I have gotten a lot better at that overall.

[Erica]
Well, yeah, and you mentioned the repair piece and I think that’s so crucial that even if there’s a reactive moment and you lash out at your kids or you say something you don’t mean, it doesn’t mean that the relationship is ruined. There’s always, always room to go back and to own what happened and to talk through what you did or said and how it might have hurt them and to repair that relationship. And we know that the repair is the most important part.

[Mattias]
Yeah, because we can’t be perfect, right? Like we all have bad days, bad things happen to us and we can read as many books as you want about, you know, you can choose how you respond to things and you can have the right attitude and you can meditate and cold plunge for six hours a day and get yourself in the right brain space, but we’re not perfect. And so I think you’re right.

I mean, that repair part is really key.

[Erica]
Yeah, and I could tell this morning, I heard them talking about some of the conversation you had with them last night. They remembered that and I think it really spoke to them. So it sounds like you did a really nice job.

[Mattias]
Let’s go. Therapist approved. Yeah, no, actually, I’m kind of glad you weren’t there.

So maybe it wasn’t perfect in the moment as I remember it, but no, just kidding. It was good and, you know, life continues and we’re gonna keep working on these things that we all deal with. So yeah, without further ado, unless you have anything else you wanna add?

[Erica]
Nope, don’t.

[Mattias]
Should we add some more bloopers in quick?

[Erica]
I guess the only thing I would say is if you are listening to the audio of this podcast, you may either just wanna take a quick peek at Taley’s Instagram or look at the video feed because part of her brand has a very specific color and it’s really fun to look at. So either take a peek at her socials or- Another blooper. Or look at the video feed.

But no, here’s Taley, she’s great.

[Mattias]
Welcome back to the REI Agent. We are here with Taley Hunt. Taley, thanks so much for joining us today.

[Taley]
Of course, thank you so much for having me.

[Mattias]
Taley, we have a lot to talk about today. You are an agent, a team lead, a realtor coach. Could you maybe get us started on how you started with real estate and tell us a little bit about your story?

[Taley]
Yeah, so my background is actually in higher education. I’m 28 years old for reference. I went to college, undergrad and grad school and I spent two years working in higher education before I quit my job in North Carolina and moved to South Carolina.

I went to college at my hometown college and I also went to grad school there and I also worked there. I grew up in this real small town where everybody knew everybody and I picked up my life and left everything that I’d ever known and moved to Columbia, South Carolina in 2020. That was the year of the pandemic.

My husband and I were engaged at the time. He was active duty army at the time and that’s why we moved to Columbia. I had fully planned to just continue on in higher education but because of COVID, it wasn’t just things were locked down physically.

State budgets were frozen for a lot of state institutions and departments. When I moved to Columbia, I had all intents and purposes of just working at the university here trying to find a job but they weren’t hiring because of the budget freeze. Someone said, you should get your real estate license as if it was super easy, just go get your license.

I did. I had no idea what to expect and I got licensed in July of 2020 and I didn’t start working until the fall because we were also in the middle of planning a wedding. I was pregnant.

I found out that I was having my daughter on the morning of my real estate exam which was wild in and of itself. We just had a lot of life things going on. I started in the fall and then I sold my first house in February of 2021, had my daughter in March and I haven’t not sold a house any month since then.

It’s been wild. Wow.

[Erica]
After you delivered, you were pretty newly postpartum, did you take some time off? How did you balance the becoming a new parent and then also starting a new career at the same time?

[Taley]
Yeah, after I had my daughter, I never took any time off and I don’t advocate for that whatsoever because it was very rough. I was literally writing a contract in the hospital bed.

[Erica]
Oh my gosh. Like during labor or had you had your baby at this point?

[Taley]
No, so I had her three weeks early so basically I had been taken to the hospital or instructed to go to the hospital and I was just laying in the hospital bed and at that point they had said, you’re going to stay and we’re going to go ahead and let you have the baby. So I was just kind of waiting around and I’m pretty sure they induced me at like six o’clock. So it was a couple of hours before I was just laying in the bed and I was like, well, you know, I might as well take my time off while I’m waiting.

So I never took any time off. I remember leaving to go take my daughter to her first doctor’s appointment and stopping on the way to check out a house for a client, you know, like and that’s three days after you have the baby. I never took any time off and I spent my first year in the business with no childcare and I sold 28 houses.

So I just felt like I was all over the place. I was kind of miserable by the end of the year because I did more business in the fourth quarter than I did in the first three quarters combined. So it all hit in the fourth quarter and it was just like a lot.

[Erica]
Wow, looking back at that time, give me a picture of just of your energy level. Were you sleeping? Were you also trying to juggle breastfeeding with her too?

[Taley]
Yeah, I only breastfed for two weeks. I hated it. I was miserable.

And I know, I mean, no, we were not sleeping a lot. She was waking up multiple times during the night. I was exhausted.

My husband was working full-time because he was full-time active duty army. And so, you know, he would leave during the day and I would just be there all alone with her and it was miserable, you know? And a lot of people were like, wow, you’re doing so well.

You’re closing all these deals. You’re crushing it. And I very much felt like, wow, this is like crushing me.

Like I’m really, it was really hard. And all of my lead generation was social media, you know? And at the time, I didn’t even, I don’t know that I even felt like I had a system for a lead generation, but it was just me getting online.

So I was constantly online. I was showing up every single day online and I would talk about, you know, how it was hard but not really as openly as maybe I could have, you know? In the thick of it, I don’t think you realize exactly how unhealthy it is.

[Erica]
Mm-hmm. Yeah, sometimes when you’re in the moment, when it’s so hard and so stressful, I’ve had times in my life like that where I realize after I’m out of it, looking back, I was just in survival mode and it was just kind of more so thinking, what do I need to do to get the next thing done? And doing, like I function pretty well in the moment, but then once it’s done, I usually collapse or I’m just so exhausted once I have a chance to finally breathe.

[Taley]
100%, that’s exactly what it is, you know? And I was just in this mode of like, I do not want to fail. And the ball had started rolling.

And so it was like, we can’t stop it or it will never pick up again, which is loony, right? Like it would have, but I didn’t know any better. And I was just scared of not being able to, I don’t know, I guess be successful for some reason or another.

And so it just felt like I had to just muscle through and I did. The next year I sold 86 houses and I did have six hours of childcare a day during that time. But that’s still a lot for somebody who still has, you know, a one-year-old, it’s a lot.

[Mattias]
Yeah, that’s a lot.

[Erica]
Taley, you were a force.

[Mattias]
Was there a distinct moment in this really difficult period, parenting, having a kid, being in the hospital, writing a contract, was there a specific moment where you were like, I need a team or something to make this not be this way, have some help? Because that’s something that you’ve done now. You’ve created a team.

And I was wondering if there was like, yeah, just a distinct moment there that you were just like, draw a line in the sand. This is it, I need to do something else.

[Taley]
It actually took me a very long time to feel that way. So when I hired, so my first hire was childcare. I had somebody come in and take care of my daughter for six hours a day.

And then at the same time, I hired a per transaction TC. In that year two, for context, this is the year that I sold 86 houses. So the big change was I had six hours a day to myself.

I had a TC who was doing my paperwork. And then I hired just an admin, just somebody in my office to like help me with showings or whatever I needed to step in, right? And then I kind of got it together a little bit more formally the next year.

And that year I sold 145 houses as a solo agent with admin help. So year three, 145 houses, me, a showing partner who was dedicated to just doing showings, a TC, a virtual assistant. And my husband at that point was not active duty anymore.

So he was around to help with the things that we needed with. And my daughter was getting into full-time care at that point. I avoided starting a team for a long time because we were in, and when I say starting a team, I mean like bringing on agents to work with me.

I avoided starting a team because my husband had just quit his job. So we were now a one income household. And so the last thing I really wanted to do was cut my income in half by bringing on agents and like passing off the business.

And I had a real limiting belief of like, I don’t have enough business to pass off. I mean, I was selling 145 houses and I felt like I don’t have enough business to pass off. But my showing partner really wanted to be a producing agent and I like her a lot.

And so I said, come work with me. And that was the first big thing. And at the beginning of that, that was at the beginning of 2024, I wouldn’t say that I was the best leader.

You know, I was still very focused on hitting my goals and making sure that we had enough and I was closing enough. But, and I wrestled with it for the first six months of the year. I was like, why can’t I just sell 100 houses a year, make a good living, like just have some admin support.

But then I went on vacation in 2024, a big, huge family vacation for a week. And I worked four hours a day every day. And I was like, I cannot keep doing this.

Like I don’t even have the freedom to go take a week off. What is the point in building a life if you can’t leave it? And so I decided from that point forward, I was gonna restructure my business.

I brought on two more agents. And in less than six months, I’ve pretty much completely stopped working with buyers unless there’s like a reason. And now I’m focusing on listings.

And my goal is to be out of the service side of the sales by the time I turn 30 so that I can become more of a leader on my team and be the person who’s building the brand.

[Mattias]
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. If you don’t mind, I would like to hear a little bit of the details of how you started these hires. So was transaction coordinator, admin person, was that an hourly thing?

Did you have any kind of commission splits with the showing? Was that showing person also an admin?

[Taley]
Yeah, so I’ll break it all down for you. So my first TC was profile. And eventually she quit because she said we had too many transactions to be able to handle, which was totally valid because she had two kids at home.

And so it was just not working for her anymore. So when I hired my current TC, we hired her salary because I knew that the volume of business that we were doing and the business that I wanted to create, I wanted exclusivity and I did not want her working for anybody else. And so we hired her salary and that’s, you know, she’s our team’s TC.

And then the first admin that I hired, that lady from my office, I just paid her a monthly fee and I can’t remember what else. I can’t remember, but it wasn’t a lot, right? Like I was just kind of like saying, here, help me do whatever.

Then my showing partner, I paid her a split at closing and a small monthly fee too. Like a fee to, I think of it as like a, she doesn’t do any admin work, but I think of it as like, you’re putting a ton of miles on your car, right? Like here’s like just a fee.

And so I pay a fee and a percentage at closing. And then my husband is now our DOO, so he’s on salary too. And then I have a virtual assistant from a virtual assistant company that works with us too.

I think I hit everybody.

[Erica]
And just for me, DOO is what?

[Taley]
A director of operations, yeah. So he handles all this stuff that I’m not good at. Like he meets with our tax people and he reviews our P&L every week.

[Erica]
And that’s what I am.

[Taley]
And he does anything that needs to be done. And he also handles the investment side of our life. So I went from making $41,000 a year on salary to in year three of my business, making over $1.2 million in income. And like, we don’t know what to do with that money. And so he’s really taken charge of making sure that we are setting ourselves up for the future. So all of the real estate investments that we do, he handles all of that.

[Mattias]
Wow, that’s cool. This is weird. This is like our story almost, but kind of flipped around.

I mean, I was thinking about how it was with me when you had kids and how I couldn’t really stop and how I was having to handle things in the hospital and all that kind of stuff. But I wasn’t actually the one actually giving birth.

[Erica]
Yeah, small detail.

[Mattias]
Yeah, it’s funny how that, yeah, it’s just something that you can’t really turn off or you lose momentum. And one of the things that I was also thinking about as you were talking and thing that you seem to have worked through and struggled with, but have kind of overcome is this whole scarcity mindset. Like, at the beginning, I can’t stop the ball from rolling because there may not be something tomorrow.

We need to make sure this keeps going. I need to get this thing to be successful. Then I don’t have enough business to help other people get successful as well.

There’s definitely a scarcity mindset there. I know people that won’t hire admin, won’t hire anybody because they think they’re just training their replacement. And that’s all this fear-based approach.

And I think that’s really prevalent in real estate.

[Taley]
Like it’s- It is. I think it’s a competition versus community mindset, one. And I also think that people are nervous to lose what they’ve built.

And I mean, I’ve come to grips with the fact that any agent that I hire could learn all they want to from me and then leave, right?

[Erica]
Right.

[Taley]
They could do that. I’ve come to grips with the fact that in order to have more of my life, I have to give up more of my money. But what I’ve learned is that I have switched my mindset from what if these people leave me and go and create their own business to how cool of an opportunity is it that I get to raise the future real estate leaders, right?

Like how cool is it that I get to be the one to teach people how to build businesses that they’re proud of? And how impactful is that? Like I’m not just working for myself.

I’m helping other people leave their own legacies on the world. And then also understanding that I would rather, I’ve gotten to the point to where I can trade time for money. And because I’m not in the weeds of always being the one selling every single house, it gives me an opportunity to step into my power, which is to take massive action.

And I think that anybody who’s listening to this needs to think about the mindset switch that can come with when you stop thinking about you, you, you, and start thinking about the world around you and the business that you’re building and how it can create a life for not just you, but your family, right? Like it doesn’t matter how many houses I’m selling. It doesn’t matter how much money I’m making if I can’t spend time with my daughter.

And that is where I was. I was in a space where I had all the money. I had all the clients, but I didn’t have a life.

And I never want to feel that way again. And so I would 100% rather hire and leverage out my business so that I can have more time at home. And the way that I think about it is like you are sacrificing something, either you’re sacrificing money or you’re sacrificing time with your family.

Like what do I want to say no to, right? Like I don’t want to say no to my family. And it took me a while to get there.

But the reality is is that when you start being able to have more leverage, if you use it to be able to focus on how to be a better team leader, if you use it to be able to focus on how to get more business, if you use it to be able to focus on how to build your brand, more business will come, you know. And now we have the good problem of we have so many leads that I’ll probably end up having to hire another agent or two because we are, you know, like 65% ahead of where we were last year already.

[Erica]
It’s crazy.

[Taley]
That’s amazing.

[Erica]
Tell us about your brand. It’s very clear Pink is involved. Yeah.

I’ve seen that in your Instagram. Tell us about your brand, what it means to you, how you’ve built it.

[Taley]
You know, when I look back at how I’ve built my real estate business, it is very obvious to me that building a strong personal brand has been pivotal. Even when I didn’t realize that’s what I was doing, that’s what I was doing. And I feel like it’s so important for real estate agents to understand that the brand that you build has to be authentic to you.

You can’t really always look at what someone else is doing and think I want to emulate that because when you do that, you’re really not attracting people that are authentically attractive to you, right? Like the best clients that come to you, come to you because they know, like and trust you because of the brand that you’ve built. And for me, my brand is all about being a empower of women.

It’s all about having a community mindset, giving back and getting involved. It’s all about being a toddler mom, all about being a wife. And then of course, it’s all about pink, right?

Our listing signs are pink. The wall behind me is pink. I wear pink.

And that is just putting a bow on it, right? But the core values that we have are faith, family and service. And everything that we do, our messaging, the way we show up in the community, the way we give back to our clients, it is all driven by our core values.

And I think that’s what makes a really good brand.

[Erica]
Totally. Yeah, absolutely. And even a pink car I saw too, right?

[Taley]
Yeah, I forgot about that. Yes, I did. I bought a car this year and I had it wrapped pink.

And that’s really cool because then people get to see you coming from a mile away, you know? And it’s just fun.

[Erica]
Totally. And you got to be a real calm driver, right? Real kind and courteous all the time.

[Taley]
Yes. People say, are you going to put your logo on it? No, because the last thing I really want is for somebody to just Google me and then leave me a bad Google review like you did.

[Erica]
Right, right.

[Taley]
Absolute moron. We don’t want that.

[Mattias]
Right. I had always joked that when the Cybertruck first came out or was announced, I had joked about getting one and wrapping it and saying like, this car may be ugly, but your next house won’t be.

[Taley]
Yeah, I don’t like the way they look. I was just watching TikTok this morning and I saw Theo Vaughn said, it looks like you’re driving an email. And I said, that’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.

An email?

[Mattias]
That’s good.

[Erica]
That’s so funny.

[Mattias]
I’m curious a little bit about your investments. You mentioned that. And obviously that is one of the big things we preach is I think often agents don’t really know much about real estate investing and don’t practice a lot of it.

There’s a lot of agents that don’t have any houses maybe their primary. So yeah, I’m just curious as to what you all have gotten into, what kind of property, if you’ve followed any specific strategies like Airbnb or flips or anything like that.

[Taley]
I bought my first investment property not because I really wanted to invest. I mean, obviously we did, but that wasn’t the primary reason. One of the agents on my team needed somewhere to stay and she couldn’t find anywhere.

And there were some new construction townhouses available right down the road. And I said, I need to buy a house anyway. It’ll help our taxes.

We can do a tax reduction for it. I can’t remember what the word is called, but I said, we can do this thing.

[Mattias]
Appreciation, yeah.

[Taley]
Yes, yep. And I said, we’ll just buy it. So we bought a town home and that’s where she stays.

And then my husband is the one who really takes the lead, but we bought two more properties last year. And then one was supposed to close in December, but closed out in January. So we have three other single family homes, not in our state, just across the country.

And they’re long-term rentals. So we haven’t gotten into Airbnb or short-term yet, but that is what we want to do. And we’re really doing it, one, for a long-term wealth, but also for the tax benefit as well, to find ways to make sure that we’re investing our money instead of always having to spend it on taxes, which is super helpful.

So there’s that benefit. We would like to get into short-term rentals, Airbnb, stuff like that. We’re just kind of taking it slow.

And last year, we would have bought more, but we were buying a new primary residence. And so we were trying to be careful about what we were doing.

[Mattias]
Sure. No, that’s awesome. One of the things that, I mean, you’ve been talking exactly what we preach, right?

The holistic approach to life through real estate. I mean, that’s the goal, right? And one of the things that we believe is, there is the long-term wealth, there is the tax benefits of real estate. There’s also the opportunity to build a legacy, creating stability for future generations through smart investments. From hiphop to housing, the journey is about leveraging financial literacy and cultural influence to empower communities. Real estate isn’t just about property—it’s about freedom, ownership, and generational impact.

It just makes tons of sense to invest in. But then there’s also just kind of helping to balance out that fear, right? If you can start covering some of your expenses with your passive income, then you don’t have to be quite as worried about making sure you have that, yeah, that somebody else doesn’t come in and steal your business or whatever the scarcity mindset is.

So yeah, and we’ve also talked a lot about syndications being a really good, more advanced kind of thing that people could get into that basically- We did that this year. Yeah, yeah, great tax benefits. And you don’t really have to do much with it, which is also nice.

Short-term rentals might make more money, but they’re a lot more work. So it’s just kind of what you want.

[Taley]
Which is why we haven’t done them yet, because we just already have, I don’t really need another job is the way I look at it. And I love that there are ways to have somebody else manage or whatever. But I feel that when we get into that will be when we’ve been able to step out of this just a little bit.

Not that I never want to sell real estate. It’s just, I want to be in a different, I want to go from agent, team leader to CEO. And having that passive income is super helpful, not necessarily because we need the money, but just for the mindset.

If something happened, would we be okay? And right now we’re in this phase of we’re trying to get to a space to where we’re making at least six figures totally passively, which is great. And then going up and up and up from there over time.

[Mattias]
Yeah, no, that’s awesome.

[Erica]
That’s great. I did want to ask you, this is going back a little bit, but you had some postpartum anxiety early on after your daughter was born. And anxiety is often something we talk about with lots of people in this podcast in general, because whenever you’re dealing with money, it seems to be just like a sidecar that comes along for a lot of people.

And I was just curious what your experience was with that and how that impacted you during that time.

[Taley]
It was really hard. I think it was postpartum anxiety and then just anxiety in general of life because we were in such a transitionary period. And I mean, we were broke.

We had a mortgage payment and paid the same amount every single month in debt. And we were on this journey of paying down our debt and getting our finances together, making sure that we had just things together in general and feeling a lot of pressure of like, when you have a child, it’s not just about you anymore. So I think the parental pressure and then the fact that I was trying to run a business or do a job, really, it was not a business, it was a job.

And also have my daughter with me every day. Your wires kind of get crossed of like what’s important and what’s not. And so looking back, I grieve that time a little bit because I wish that I would have spent more time with her.

I specifically remember being annoyed. It’s really sad to say, but I remember being annoyed because I was in a call like this on a Zoom call and she was sitting on my lap and she was pulling my hair and she’s an infant. And what are they supposed to do?

And I was just so aggravated. And I called my husband and I was like, this is so annoying. Like I don’t have any help, I can’t do anything.

And looking back, I wish that I would have been like, oh, she’s a baby. Like she wants to be with me, that’s normal. But in the think of it, you just don’t even think about it that way.

And so I would say that my postpartum anxiety manifested like stress and annoyance and headache and exhaustion and just being totally depleted. And I remember towards the end of the year, I had just finished up my first year and I was laying in my bed with my husband and I was looking at my phone and someone on Facebook said, I’m looking for a real estate agent in Columbia. And I looked at him and I said, I hope nobody recommends me because I’m freaking exhausted.

Like I cannot do this. I’m so tired. And that’s when I knew that I gotta figure out how to show up for myself more and not just for the business.

Like I’ve really got to leverage out a little bit. That’s when I decided to get some childcare because I knew that I wasn’t being the best mom that I could be. And I thought, well, if I can step away for six hours a day and really focus on this and I can come home and be with her.

[Erica]
Yeah, yeah, totally. I love that you mentioned that you felt annoyed and frustrated with your daughter because that’s something that a lot of new parents struggle to say out loud because it comes along with a side of guilt too. Like I shouldn’t be feeling that way.

But it’s so common. And so it happens all the time to feel so frustrated with them crying or getting it in the way or keeping you from sleeping. And so many parents feel that way.

And it’s really cool that you paid attention and noticed that that was signaling you that maybe something could shift and could be different. You didn’t just feel like, oh, this is going to be this way forever and I just have to do it.

[Taley]
Yeah, I mean, I was miserable, you know, and I was like, I am not about to be miserable forever. And it took me a long time to get out of that. I mean, there’s no way and somebody could have a different experience.

But in my mind, there’s no way you sell 145 houses a year as a mom with no other agent bearing that load and not having days of like straight up misery. You know, I had so many leads and clients that I didn’t even know what to do with it. And it was a lot.

And I was thankful for it and proud of it too. Like, cannot believe I’ve been able to do this. But it did come with a side of, gosh, this is a lot.

Like, do I ever want to do this again? And I never want to do it again. I never want to do that again.

I would much rather have help than do it all alone.

[Erica]
Totally. Where do you feel like you are now on the balance between spending time with your daughter, your husband, work, things, you know, spending time for you?

[Taley]
A lot better. I’m going to get a facial after I get off this call today.

[Erica]
That’s awesome.

[Taley]
I try my best to be gone at least three days a week by 3.30. I, because I can focus a lot more on listings, even though we’re doing a lot of them, like I’ve gone on 15 listing appointments this month, which is just wild because we’ve always been real buyer heavy. I have more time to spend with my family now than I ever have before. Last year, we went on 10 Disney vacations.

So I was able to like step away. And it’s not like I didn’t work while I was there. I mean, you can’t go to Disney World 10 times a year and just cut off your phone when you’re running a business.

Like you can’t do that. But I was able to not physically be here. And so my next goal is to be able to have every day where I’m done by 2.30. You know, my daughter goes to work and I’m able to accomplish everything I want to. I’m sorry, she goes to school and I’m able to accomplish everything I want to while she’s at school. It’s a lot better. Like I don’t have anything on my agenda this weekend.

Once I finish with my listing appointment today, I’m done for the rest of the day. And I’ve gotten really good at boundaries, you know, like I will even get an opportunity for a listing appointment. And instead of booking it over the weekend, I’ll say, are you available on Monday?

[Erica]
Because I’m okay.

[Taley]
Like if they don’t want to work with me because I don’t want to work on the weekend, I’m okay with that. That’s not to say that if a client calls me, I won’t answer. But I have more of an ability to reserve time for my people, right?

[Erica]
Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, you have learned a lot.

And I did, I’m glad you mentioned Disney because I wanted to ask you about that. So you’ve gone what, nine, 10 times this last year?

[Taley]
Yeah, I went 10 times last year and then we’re going on a cruise, a Disney cruise for my daughter’s birthday and then we’re going again in May.

[Erica]
Wow. Do you have Disney down to a science at this point?

[Taley]
Gosh, there’s so much that we still haven’t done. I mean, it’s absolutely huge. There’s so much that we haven’t done, but we know what we like to do when we go.

We’ve stayed at almost every, we like resort hops. So we’ve stayed at almost every resort. There’s a few more that we want to hit.

But we love it. And I think that, when I think about the psychology behind it, I think that it is giving my daughter the attention she didn’t get from me for a couple years and just saying, let me just give you the best childhood ever because you do feel a little bit of that guilt for the time that she doesn’t even remember.

[Erica]
Did you grow up going to Disney?

[Taley]
No, no. You get there and it’s like, that’s all you can think about it. When you, I mean, at least for me, and I think some people have different experiences.

Like if you’re working a nine to five and your kids are in school, the only time you can go is during Easter weekend or the holidays. It’s insanely packed.

[Mattias]
Oh sure.

[Taley]
That can be a little like miserable if you don’t like stuff like that. But we can go whenever we want to, right? Like I could plan a trip for the middle of the week in three weeks if I wanted to.

And so we have been able to experience that during slow times. I mean, as slow as it can get with Disney, right? Like where it’s not suffocating.

And also when we go, we don’t just do the parks. Like we love to go to the resorts, to Disney Springs to just explore. And when I get there, it’s almost like I’m not thinking about anything else.

Like I might dedicate a little bit of time to sit in the room and do whatever I need to do for work. But I’m just so in the moment that it gives my brain space to relax just a little bit.

[Erica]
Hmm. Love it. Sounds like it’s healing for your daughter and also maybe for you too.

[Taley]
Yeah. Yeah, it totally is. Like how some people like to work out every day.

I like to go to Disney and the spa. People say, what are your hobbies? I like to go to a spa.

I like to go get a facial. Like I just like to pour into me and my family. That’s what I like to do.

[Mattias]
Love it. You know, I was thinking as you’re talking about that about how you said you came from a salary of 41,000. Is that right?

Is that what you said? And then at one point you’re like, you know, I made 1.2 million. And then you were worried about, you know, losing some of that.

And if you like zoom out, right? Like if you zoom out to your purse, who you were when you’re making $41,000 and think, you know, like I’m not making up 1.2 or, you know, I’m delegating a little bit more. I’m running this company and I’m getting to go to Disney 10 times.

You’re like, sign me up. Yeah, I totally agree.

[Taley]
You know, when you really sit down and you think about it realistically. For me, I think it was a fear of like not having money because I knew what it felt like to not have it. And then I hired a coach who totally changed my world.

And he said, you know, why do you think you need so much money? I mean, it’s great to have it, but like, do you need it? And I was like, I don’t know.

So we, I really thought about like, how much do we actually need to live? And to live the lifestyle that we want and to be able to invest like we want. And it’s not a million dollars a year, you know?

And I’ve learned that I can make what I want and need to make without selling houses personally, if I want to, you know, if I wanted to be able to build a business where I was quote unquote out of production, you know, I could and I would still make what I needed to make to be able to have a happy life.

[Mattias]
Yeah.

[Taley]
We’ll see. But, but it’s just about leading with facts versus feelings all of the time.

[Mattias]
Yeah. And when I said that definitely you’re not unique in that, that you’re not like weird for having that. That’s everybody, right?

There’s that fear that you go through and it’s just good to have that practice of like kind of zooming out and be like, wait a minute, this is good. This is a great thing. Let’s, let’s, let’s build a dream life, you know, and being, you know, miserable, as you said, because you have so many transactions, you have so many things to follow up with.

You probably have, when you have that many transactions, you probably have a lot of problems you’re dealing with too, right? I mean, there’s just so much that comes with it.

[Taley]
It does. I was talking to my broker about that and I said, gosh, I feel like I have another issue every week and he said, well, you’re doing so many deals, like the more you do, the more you’re going to deal with. And it’s just so true.

And sometimes I’ll have things pop up. I mean, I was talking to my transaction coordinator yesterday and she said, oh goodness. And she told me something was going on with a deal and it’s, you know, it’s my deal, but it’s my agent who’s taking the lead on it.

Right. And I said, glad that’s not my problem, you know, and I would be there to support them if they needed it. You know, if they need, I’m always there to jump right into the fire with them, anytime they need anything to take over at any time.

I’m very hands-on and very supportive, probably more hands-on than like I should be if I want to build true balance, but accountability and responsibility is really important to me and making sure that I’m training them and being present in their businesses is really important to me. But it is really freeing to know that like it doesn’t have to be me who is the default problem solver. There’s other people that can handle things.

I’m not always burdened with it myself.

[Mattias]
Yeah. Yeah. And even consulting versus being the person, you know, in the trenches actually doing it is probably a different feeling then.

[Taley]
Right. Yeah.

[Mattias]
Yeah. That’s really cool. Like, I mean, so you have built a crazy business.

I know a lot of people that started the business in the pandemic and had massive success from how easy it was. And what I think is really cool about what you’ve done is you, like a lot of people slowed down, their business slowed down. They didn’t have things that they built that actually were gonna give them business outside of just like, there’s so many people buying because interest rates are 2%.

And so it’s really cool that you have been able to maintain, you’ve grown even despite the market turned down with, you know, you said it was mostly buyers and all of a sudden they’re paying like 5% more in interest. So like, I mean, that’s a huge shift in the number of buyers that were coming in. So you’ve really adapted.

You’ve really stayed the course. And it seems like the market swing didn’t affect you. You’ve just kept going up.

[Taley]
It didn’t affect me. And here’s the thing that anybody who’s listening to this, you have to understand that we were in a market where you could stick a sign in the yard and it sold.

[Mattias]
Yeah.

[Taley]
You could stand outside and buyers were flocking to you, period. So a lot of real estate agents didn’t have the need or felt like they didn’t have the need to learn how to actually lead generate or how to actually convert or to actually build a brand or actually build a business. And most people were just, you know, thought they were geniuses when really they were just a product of the time.

And so there’s a lot of agents who I feel are frustrated with the market because they were up here and now they’re down here and they don’t understand. And I’ve seen it firsthand coaching real estate agents and training them that a lot of people just got lucky and now they can’t even figure it out because they are struggling with wrapping their mind around the fact that they probably were not as talented as they thought they were. They were just lucky, you know, and that’s fine.

But if you are the agent who cannot figure out why your business is not thriving like it was, let’s say, three years ago, you have to figure out what can you actionably do to be able to get business. It’s not passive anymore. It is taking massive action every day, committing to it and being consistent.

So, you know, when you get done listening to a podcast, when you get done spending your quiet morning, what is your schedule? And I think every agent has to have that. Like, what is your day to day?

What is your non-negotiable? What’s the priority? What is the lead generation plan?

And if you don’t have one, you better make one or you’re not going to see the results. Right?

[Mattias]
Yeah. Yeah, that’s well said. It’s no good.

I was just going to ask if in this journey that you went through, did you come across any books that were revolutionary for you or fundamental for you or ones that you’re just kind of currently really enjoying?

[Taley]
So I’ll be honest with you. I’m not a reader, not a reader, but I will take pieces out of books, right? So I’m licensed with KW and of course the MREA has been real helpful to me.

The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. I’ll be totally transparent. I’ve never read the whole book, but it is a place of value for me.

So when I am trying to figure out how to structure my business or how to add in systems or how to make sure that I’m on track, I will reach for that as a resource. The economic model has been real helpful for me. How we provide leverage for ourselves as business owners, going back to what works and not just trying to reinvent the wheel has been real helpful for me.

What I see a lot of agents do when they become successful is they start to sell a decent amount of houses and then they think I need help and they immediately hire a real estate agent or maybe they’re getting busy and agents are coming to them like I want to join your team and they don’t have a team but agents want to join their team and so agents think oh this is so cool I want to run a team like it’s fun.

Running a team is hard work you know and so when I find that the downfall is for a lot of people is that they build out the side of their business where they have agents on their team but they don’t have strong admin, they don’t have strong systems, they don’t have strong support and so I learned that admin first. You hire admin first and you build your systems first and you get real strong on the back end so that you can support the people properly and lead them properly and so having resources through my brokerage have been real instrumental for me. I recently got sent a book called lead with prayer and I’ve been reading that and it is all about how to ruin your business with God at the forefront of it and so that’s been real helpful for me too because we’re going through a huge transitionary period and I’ve really decided that I don’t want to make decisions on my own I want to make sure that I’m consulting what I believe in and making sure that that aligns and so that’s one that I’ve been reading lately.

[Erica]
Awesome. Well Taley, thank you so much for joining us today. It has been so fun talking to you and I feel like this episode especially really covered just all aspects of your life which has been fun to hear about you as a parent changing careers, building your career, moving kind of onward and upward with that and your relationship with your spouse and just your self-care.

I feel like we covered everything.

[Taley]
Yeah, it’s great. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

[Mattias]
If people want more information about you, is Instagram a good place to follow you? Where can they reach out to you?

[Taley]
Yeah, so I have Instagram at RealtorMomCoach. You can also find me at TaleyHunt.com.

[Mattias]
Okay, cool. Taley, thank you so much for joining us.

[Taley]
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

[Erica]
Thanks for listening to the REI Agent.

[Mattias]
If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe to catch new shows every week.

[Erica]
Visit REIAgent.com for more content.

[Mattias]
Until next time, keep building the life you want.

[Erica]
All content in this show is not investment advice or mental health therapy. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.