We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Barry Overton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Barry, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

When you’re a real estate agent in a state where there’s over 30,000 licensed real estate agents, the chances are very strong that most people know one, two, or five real estate agents, and they definitely have options in regards to who to work with. So, it becomes very important that you set yourself apart from the masses. Branding and marketing are an essential aspect to a real estate agents business. And being able to brand yourself as someone that provides value, customer care, industry knowledge, and professionalism will certainly set you apart from the other 30,000. I’ve found that it was important to also have a good company that you are working with to achieve all of those attributes. I currently moved over to EXP Realty, which is really taking the real estate industry by storm and totally changing the future of real estate and how business and transactions will be done.

Barry, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

To understand where I am currently in life, I think it’s important to know where I came from. Growing up as a kid in Austin, Texas, I was on section eight housing, food stamps, and every day was a struggle to just survive. I always dreamed of having a better life as an adult. The beauty of dreaming for me is that I never had to stop. And even when one dream was attained, I always made the next dream even bigger. Simply by having big goals, I was able to become a sergeant in the US Army and serve in the First Gulf War in 1991, become a police officer and have a 26 year career, then become a real estate agent, which I’ve been doing for 21 years. Over the last five years I have conducted real estate transactions at a very high level, to be recognized as one of Denver’s premier Real Estate Professionals. And I’ve recently become established myself as a best selling author and a national motivational speaker. When I look back on all the things that I’ve done in life that were a success, it’s tied to one thing, service to others. That’s what I truly feel my calling is. It is to provide service to others that impacts their lives. Working as a real estate agent has allowed me to do just that in serving all different types of communities and demographics to help them in attaining their dreams of home ownership, or their dream home.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I like to refer to it as the deprogramming of the norm. I no longer ever stick with the status quo of living life. My biggest deprogramming occurred while working as a police officer. I learned to understand that once I chose a career, it did not mean that it must be the one and only thing that I did for the rest of my life. I always said to myself “follow your dreams.” And by doing so, it taught me to listen to the voice inside. That voice is your spirit, your passion, that’s leading you to your calling. And I’ve learned that once you’re working in you’re calling and you find happiness in that area, life becomes easier. When I spent 26 years in law enforcement, you would think that was where I was supposed to spend the rest of my life. But during my 26 years of law enforcement, I had several entrepreneurial endeavors and business opportunities.

One of them being real estate. While law enforcement was something that I was passionate about, because it allowed me to help others, there was also this entrepreneurial itch that needed to be scratched. Listening to the voice also led me down the path of becoming a best selling author and National speaker.

When I go back and connect the dots of my life, I realize that law enforcement played a significant role in making me better as an entrepreneur.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think anyone that is going to be successful in life, whether it’s working for someone else or working for yourself, personal/mental growth is a must. And one of those areas where it became very evident to me that personal development played a significant part in my success was 2016.

I retired from the police department in 2013. It was an exciting time, but it was a scary time. It was the first time that I didn’t have a guaranteed paycheck coming in every two weeks. And my income was solely dependent on my success in my business. The first couple of years were great. And then 2016 came along and hit me in the gut. It was the worst financial year of my entire adult life. I was behind on bills, my credit was declining. Everything around me was falling apart. But at that time, I had five years of working on myself through personal development. Mentors and books that I was reading and audios that I was listening to created an unbeatable mindset. And while this was the worst financial time in my life, it also created a belief for me of knowing I needed to experience this so that I can have an impact on the lives of others when I tell of this story. It ultimately led to me writing my book, Ignite Your Greatness, and using that as a way to impact the lives of other people that are going through challenging times.

Contact Info:

• Website: barryovertonrealtor.com
• Instagram: @barryoverton
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarryOvertonRealtor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-overton-871b892a/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpcJP3QDfEXHS6wIrZ8Hb4Q
• Other: Order My book at: Igniteyourgreatness.com

Image Credits
Zsanee Gaines of Zsanee Photography Merne Judson III of Merne Judson The Third Photography