I don’t enjoy talking about myself, recording videos, or trying to convince the internet that I know real estate. I’d much rather celebrate our team’s success, solve problems behind the scenes, or spend my time supporting our agents than figuring out the latest social media trend. 

Unfortunately, professional marketing has changed dramatically over the last decade. The internet and the rise of social media have fundamentally changed how we discover businesses, evaluate professionals, and ultimately decide who we trust. Most of us carry around a device that knows what we search for, what captures our attention, and somehow manages to serve up exactly what we’re most likely to engage with next. Whether our phones are actually listening or the algorithms have simply become remarkably effective at predicting our behavior is a debate for another day, but the outcome feels the same. We’re consuming information almost constantly.

I’ll be the first to admit I’ve fallen into that cycle myself. What starts as catching up on the day’s news somehow turns into forty-five minutes of doom scrolling. If I’m fortunate enough someday to build a business that no longer relies on social media, I’ll gladly retire from it. I have an entire soapbox about what constant consumption is doing to our attention spans, our relationships, and frankly our ability to think critically, but that’s a conversation for another day.

The challenge with social media advertisement is determining who to trust in an environment where everyone has a platform, everyone has an opinion, and algorithms, not necessarily expertise, often determine who gets seen.

If one of my articles or videos finds its way into someone’s feed, my hope is that it answers a question they already had, offers a perspective they hadn’t considered, or helps them feel more prepared to make a decision about their real estate needs. Marketing is simply the introduction to a relationship that’s built through conversation, which is why every one of my client relationships begins with an in-person or virtual consultation.

Everything I share online ultimately comes back to the same philosophy: how we approach the real estate business. For us, that begins with education.

Buying or selling a home isn’t something most people do every day, and every transaction brings its own challenges. Over the years I’ve found myself navigating clouded titles, estate sales, divorce situations, cross-country relocations, complicated buy-before-you-sell timelines, properties requiring significant repairs, and homes where thoughtful improvements before listing created a substantially better financial outcome for the seller. None of those situations come with a script. Each requires thoroughly understanding the problem first and then building a strategy around the people involved.

The second piece is transparency — gathering as much information as possible before decisions have to be made. It means reading old disclosures to understand what previous owners completed about renovations, calling attorneys when legal questions arise instead of making assumptions and spending far too much time talking with county offices, researching permits, confirming zoning, or understanding easements because the details matter. Our responsibility is to do the homework first so clients can move forward with confidence. Ultimately, they’re not my decisions to make — they’re theirs. My responsibility is making sure those decisions are informed.

Being in my clients’ corner also means having uncomfortable conversations. For example, a seller receives a lengthy repair request after inspections and feels offended. The natural reaction is to reject all repairs because the negotiation has become personal. My responsibility is to shift the conversation back to the bigger picture. If that contract falls apart, many of those items become known defects that may need to be disclosed to future buyers. Suddenly the discussion isn’t about pride anymore; it’s about protecting equity and making the decision that best serves the seller’s long-term goals.

The same principle applies on the buying side. Every buyer hopes to find the perfect home at the perfect price. Occasionally that happens but more often, it doesn’t. When someone consistently shops outside the budget they established or repeatedly submits offers that simply aren’t realistic for the current market, disappointment becomes inevitable. Returning to the original goals —t he budget, the timeline, and the non-negotiables — replaces frustration with a strategy that gives them the best opportunity to succeed.

If you’ve worked with me before, you’ve probably noticed that I’m fairly even-keeled. I inherited that from my dad and it’s served me well in this business. Real estate can become emotional very quickly. Inspection reports uncover surprises, financing changes, and timelines shift. My job is to bring everyone back to center, revisit the goals established at the beginning, and evaluate the situation based on facts rather than frustration.

Consistency is probably the greatest value I bring to every professional relationship. That same mindset extends beyond working directly with clients. Over the years I’ve realized I have a difficult time walking past opportunities to improve something, whether that’s a process, a system, or simply the way people work together. I also have a hard time staying quiet when I see an opportunity to help someone grow. Those instincts naturally led me into leadership roles at The Parker Group and Mustache Mortgage, where much of my focus is building stronger systems, supporting our agents, and creating a better experience for the people our organizations serve.

None of those responsibilities feel separate to me. Helping a first-time homebuyer understand the process, coaching an agent through a difficult negotiation, improving an internal system, or solving a problem that hasn’t been solved before all stem from the same belief: people make better decisions when they’re given better information and the support to use it.

If you’ve met me professionally, you’ve met me. There isn’t a work version and a personal version, although the professional version probably uses slightly better language. Whether we’re talking over coffee, negotiating a contract, teaching a class, or running into each other at the grocery store, you’re getting the same person.

Which brings me back to marketing myself in this business. Marketing isn’t my passion. I’d much rather celebrate the people around me, quietly solve problems, or spend my time teaching than thinking about algorithms and engagement. The reality, though, is that people can’t work with someone they don’t know, and they certainly won’t trust someone they’ve never been introduced to. This is simply one of the ways to introduce myself before we ever sit across a table from one another.

If my online posts help someone better understand the process, avoid a costly mistake, or simply feel more prepared to navigate one of the biggest financial decisions they’ll ever make, then every uncomfortable moment spent online has served its purpose.

Now that I’ve probably used the words “I,” “me,” and “my” more times than I have in my entire career combined, I think I’ve officially met my lifetime quota. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. I genuinely hope we have the opportunity to meet someday.