The Real Estate Start…
Def: “Crystallization is the process by which a solid forms – separation of atoms or molecules are highly organized into a structure.”
I didn’t mean to become an entrepreneur. Life changer baby made that happen. My first son was a breeze. Easy pregnancy, easy bounce back to an even better version of myself, and magical time of life healing and unconditional love. Yes son #2 was difficult from the very start. It was a horribly difficult pregnancy, an emergency c-section, and a baby who refused to take a bottle and needed me at home. I was so bored out of my mind at home, crawling the walls with postpartum depression I would do anything to escape. I didn’t realize then it wasn’t boredom since I adored my babies. It was a trauma response like going back to prison would be for someone who already spent 6 years there.
Some people are born into a crystallized world of money and fame. The rest of us born into multi generations of pay-check to pay-check families must struggle out of those habits to reach our potential. Especially one like me, raised in a cult called the Shiny Happy People cult in Amazon’s hit docu series last year.
My early life was filled with separation & tension as I pushed myself outside my comfort zone again & again to achieve growth – financially, personally, professionally. It formed me into a solid person today and definitely one that has to stay organized to run multiple businesses while raising two young boys!
I was Marie Kondo’ing before it was famous, only I didn’t do it with prayer hands and an angelic sense of calm. I did it in a stress release tizzy at the end of a long week getting things whipped into shape in record time. We grew up in rural Alabama owning a cleaning business & farming in a family with 7 children & 1 bathroom. That introduction to life gave me the motivation to become the clearance shop-a-holic, Kohl’s cash queen, Hilton points accruing goddess cartwheeling out of Target home staging expert I am today.
So I became an entrepreneur by accident but in true Crystal fashion I had sourced the right connect, done the research, so when I purchased my first investment condo I was SO excited! I read 5 different property management company websites to determine every single thing a guest could want. We set up everything just perfectly and then the property management company GM came in. He laughed at me. I was shocked he didn’t find it as perfect as I knew it was! He pulled my karma sutra book off the shelf. He suggested I remove some of my knick knacks (they look beautiful). He let me know they would be removing the ceiling fan above my bunk beds (what did I want to do – decapitate a child?!). It was then I realized I didn’t know what I didn’t know – as a wise mentor once told me.
It didn’t rent well in the off season; it was too large for snowbirds and it wasn’t walking distance to the beach. But over the summer it did great. There were fees I didn’t expect on my statement; I found a teeth whitening tray on the floor after a clean and my stuff was never where it belonged. There were always new handprints on the walls, my rug was rolled up and put in a closet, and little things would break constantly.
What a hassle! And what lessons this taught me and what it led to was an entirely new way of life!
The journey continues….
