We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Caitlyn Martin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Caitlyn below.
Caitlyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Perseverance and courage.
My first year of being a Realtor was rough. Not only was it a huge career change, but owning your own business is not a walk in the park. There were so many times I wanted to give up because I saw others succeeding right off the bat and couldn’t understand why that wasn’t me. I felt like a failure.
Towards the end of 2021, I was at an all time low and seriously contemplating my life choices. Something needed to change or I was going to quit and need to find another career.
In the new year, I had an epiphany. I was going to change my mindset completely and persevere. I decided that I needed to give my business another chance and keep working at it, no matter how tough it got.
Shortly after this new mindset took over, I was fortunate enough to have an amazing Real Estate team at my office who wanted me to join their team. The thought of being on a team was a little scary, because I didn’t know what to expect and I felt that I would have to prove myself. Something in the back of my mind kept telling me to take the chance, so I did.
Being on a team really has helped me and my career tremendously. They have helped me continue to keep going even when this job gets difficult. And I’ve also had a lot more opportunities open up. This year isn’t over yet, and it’s already been far better than the last.
My definition of success has changed in the past year. It’s not about making an obscene amount of money, succeeding at everything I try, or being well known. It’s about the little accomplishments. Like when I try new things and keep pushing myself to get better, helping a family find that perfect home to make new memories in, and not giving up on myself when I’m having a bad day. Those are wins in my book and what I would call being successful.
Those that are truly successful, only become that way by pressing on, and having the courage to never give up.
You’ll never know what doors may open if you close them all.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I joined the United States Air Force at 19 years old. Moving away from home and everyone I knew felt like the worst decision as soon as I left. I ended up being stationed in Cheyenne, Wyoming of all places once my training was complete. That’s where I made some amazing life long friends, met my husband, grew up, and gained confidence in myself. Joining the military helped shape me into the person I am today. I will be forever grateful for my courage to leave home and serve.
I served in the military for six years before deciding to go back into the civilian world when my contract was up. My husband, who served in the Air Force as well, had already separated from the military, so we had to decide where we wanted to go from there. We wanted a fresh start.
I’m originally from Oregon and my husband is from Kentucky. Neither one of us wanted to go back to our home states. Instead, we thought it would be exciting to go somewhere new to start our next chapter. Tennessee was the happy medium for us both, so that’s how we ended up here.
We bought our first home in Columbia. Which being first time home buyers AND moving 1,200 miles away was incredibly stressful.
After we got settled I worked on transitioning back to the civilian world and applied for jobs. Which is a lot harder than you would expect when all your recent work experience is from the military. I lost count how many jobs I applied for and interviews I did.
I had no idea what I wanted to do or be anymore. My husband kept bringing up the idea of getting my real estate license and being my own boss, but I was too scared I would fail.
It took four months, but I finally ended up getting a job. Although real estate was always in the back of my mind.
One day I had enough and decided to finally quit my job in 2020 and enrolled in real estate school. I got my license at the beginning of 2021 and have never looked back. I am now my own boss and have my own business. Something I never thought would be possible.
My biggest reason for deciding to become a Realtor was to ensure others have a far smoother transition than we did when moving and buying our first home. Buying a home is one of the biggest purchases most will make in their life. While that is a stressful process, it should also be an exciting one! My mission is to make the home buying and selling process smooth, painless, and enjoyable!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
My biggest lesson I’ve had to unlearn is falling into the comparison trap.
I’ve struggled most of my life with comparing myself to others. Especially when starting at a new job or in a new situation. Which only became worse once I started my own business.
I wanted to be able to hit the ground running in Real Estate and really impress myself and those around me.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in my first year. Which is completely okay.
Last year taught me a valuable lesson though: Everyone’s timing is different and comparing yourself will only set you back. You don’t know what is going on behind the scenes for everyone or their struggle to get to where they are. Comparing will only cause unnecessary stress which is unfair to yourself.
This year when I changed my mindset, that included no longer comparing myself or my progress to anyone else. One thing I’ve found that helps when I feel myself slipping back into the comparison trap, I tell myself all the wonderful things I have going on in my life and what I have to look forward to. It’s not a lesson I’ve completely unlearned, but it’s a work in progress.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
It took me a while to start building my audience, but when I started posting everyday, that’s when I started seeing results. Also making sure to actively engage with my followers, using the right hashtags, and getting creative with my content. I like to follow the 80/20 rule on my business social media pages. 20% of my posts are promoting my business and 80% are more to entertain, but still have a little to do with promoting myself and my business.
Through doing this, I found that the fun and lighthearted posts get the most interaction. People like to see the real you. Even if it’s not the best photo, angle, etc. Social media has this horrible stigma that everything you post has to be absolute perfection which leads most people to believe that it’s actually a representation of your life. Which is not the case for anyone. People like to follow other relatable people. Which is what I’m striving to have my content be.
It also really helps that I thoroughly enjoy posting on social media and creating videos. It’s a great stress reliever for me. Recently, my new found love is making reels. Reels are huge on Instagram now. It’s a great way to get your page pushed out for others to see. Plus it’s a lot of fun making goofy/serious videos. I don’t have a large following by any means, but that doesn’t really matter to me. I absolutely love having social media as a creative outlet and it’s been a great source to meet others as well.
For those just starting their business pages and needing to build an audience, just know it’s going to take consistency and patience. It doesn’t happen overnight, unless you’re lucky. You have to post daily, so your content is continuously being pushed out for people to see. It’s always important to interact with your followers because that will boost engagement on your own posts as well. But, the most crucial component, just have fun with it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gilliggroup.com/meet-caitlyn-martin/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caitlynmartin_realtor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caitlynmartinrealtor
- Other: caitlynmartin@kw.com
Image Credits
Michael Gomez