We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marissa Lisky a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Marissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I decided to get my real estate license years ago because I was in a very bad relationship that I needed to get myself and kids out of and step one was to get a solid financial plan. Once I did get licensed I didnt have the support or network most new agents do. I tried many different mom groups and networking groups but didnt really fit into any of them. Networking groups are expensive, require commitment, ask for mandatory attendance and outgoing referrals, require you to dress professionally at all meetings, and of course do not allow kids. Many of the mom groups I tried joining were clicky, uncomfortable, not welcoming, and had a judgemental vibe. I was already in such an uncomfortable situation and was lacking any confidence that these groups just didnt feel great. I thought to myself I need something different. I need a group of women who get it. I needed a group of women who were all struggling in this incredibly vulnerable time of starting a new business while juggling raising babies, carrying the emotional and physical load of multiple people with multiple levels of needs, maintaining a household, all while trying to maintain realtionships and their own mental health and happiness. I needed a group of women to bounce ideas, share wins, express fears, and collaborate on personal and business growth. I needed a judgement free zone where I can vent and women would listen, where I could share exciting news and women would be excited instead of trying to knock me down. As, essentially a single mother, I needed to be able to bring my kids and show up in pajamas, with a high bun, a lollipop stuck to my ass, a screaming toddler on my hip most likely with one shoe, and potentially me in tears and guaranteed no make up. I needed a group of women that lead with love and crave the same in return. I knew I couldnt be alone, and I knew that this group was desperately needed, so I created one, Mother Hustlers. It was a tough start of me trying to put out coffee meetup invites in facebook groups. I would get nasty trolls saying “dont trust this women, shes obviously trying to trap you into buying her MLM”, or “I checked her out shes a realtor dont get sucked into this” etc etc. I was shocked and stunned, yes I am a realtor but Im just out here trying to create a space for all of us having nothing really to do with real estate or my profession, I do not sell MLM, but so what if I did!!! As a matter of fact I ran into so much negativity when creating this group, I almost quit. My first meet up had about 5 girls and the facebook page the same. And now we have about 800 facebook friends, 1100 instagram followers and hold 80 vendor events. We have monthly dinners, and many different events geared towards education, connection, and personal and professional growth. We are a free group with one main rule, to lead with love and always display a compassionate, non-judgemental vibe, all are welcome, come as you are when you can, and guess what your kids are welcome. At the beginning of 2023, my 10 year old Ruby launched Mini Hustlers. So we now hold double meetings and truly all women are welcome. You do not need a business, you do not need to be a mom.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As a realtor I gear my focus of clientele towards the needs of women, and women with children. Life is stressful enough, and I take my approach to being your realtor from the standpoint of fully taking any burden I can off of my clients shoulders throughout the process.
I have many tricks up my sleeve to involve children in our house hunting, or house selling. My kid buyers get a special coloring book, crayons, and house hunting checklists to entertain them on the drives between homes, but also while we are in the homes. My seller kids receive their own listing agreement as an opportunity for us all to sit down and have a little chat about what to expect and how they can help. They also get to pick their own “closing gift” gift card for all the hard work they put in to helping sell the house.
I also take care of the adults with a little welcome goody bag geared towards my clients personal interests.
As part of my buyer concierge service, I created my own app for home searching that pulls directly from the mls. Its an easy way to make notes on homes and contact me either by dm, email, text, or call. Its much better than everyones go to zillow for a number of reasons: 1. I do not share any of your personal info like the zillow or realtor.com 2. The home information updates in real time as opposed to the 2 weeks to never it can take with the other sites. 3. The tabs within the app give you direct access to my team of lenders, inspectors, and other home experts for questions and easy appointment setting.
This year I built a unique events trailer to not only take out to public events with Mother Hustlers and for my real estate team, but also for my clients open houses as an additional crowd draw for all eyes on my clients property.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Before getting into real estate, I was in just about as bad of a situation as you could possibly be in. I was in an abusive relationship and had absolutely no money. I could barely afford food for my children, was envious of my friends that could afford ziplock bags and anything from costco because often times I had to make my laundry detergent, etc. I worked for my partners business for zero income, and although he made multiple 6 figures a year refused to participate financially in the raising of his children in any way at all. I was not allowed to work and even if I was wouldnt have had the time working for him. I had to be very creative on how I could gather funds to provide for my children for over a decade. I scrapped together the finances to get licensed barely making it. Once I did finally get licensed, I committed every single ounce of myself and time into additional real estate education (which I still do to this day) in order to be able to give myself and especially my clients the extra sense of security and trust in handling such a major pivitol moment in their lives. I ended up selling 6.5 million in real estate in my first 6 months and was able to get my family safe and to start everyones journey to healing. I tell this story because if one women can make a change, any women can make a change.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Growing up it was an underlying theme of “you cant do it” instead of “you can do anything” This is a scary and extremely common theme among the women I meet every day. Imposter syndrome, or just a general fear of growth and trying new things. I challenge everyone to switch their mindset of failure, and instead of looking at failure as an end or an upset, view failure as it truly is, the quickest path to eliminating things that wont work and pinpointing the things that will.
Contact Info:
- Website: MarissaSellsAZ.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/motherhustlersaz/ AND https://www.instagram.com/marissalisky/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarissaHelpsYouMove/ AND https://www.facebook.com/groups/motherhustlersaz
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissalisky/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/marissalisky
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarissaAzRealtor
- Other: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/61e08c024cfe7529d668a891
Image Credits
Julianne of Julianne Marie Photo Amber of Cactus & Pine Photo