We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Danielle Doty. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Danielle below.
Danielle, appreciate you joining us today. What’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?
Most people in my industry believe they need to lean heavily into the virtual side of things. While technology has given us the ability to be more efficient, it does not take the place of face-to-face interactions. Agents often give a large amount of their efforts to an enticing online presence and an overwhelming amount of prospecting and follow up through various platforms. The best connections for building trust are still made in person. My advice is to focus more on genuine connections than generated clicks.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Danielle Doty. I’m the broker and owner of Doty Real Estate. I’m a producing broker which means that I not only mentor agents in their real estate career but I also actively help clients buy and sell homes. I became an agent in 2018 after being a stay-at-home mom for many years. My cousin is an agent in another city and told me that I would be a great realtor. Thankfully, she was right and my career took off fast! My husband and I are local experts of our hometowns — Keller, Texas and Southlake, Texas. My husband, Josh, is the president and founder of Doty Construction. We are passionate about all things home related! My job requires me to put my client’s interest above my own while guiding them through the process of buying a home and a wealth building investment. I have great relationships with people related to this industry. I connect clients to the best lenders, inspectors, subcontractors, etc. I am most proud of my ability to grow such a successful business while also being an involved and present mother to my 6 children. I might be able to have a bigger career if I made different choices, but whenever my client’s needs are handled, I’m back to home to my family for some quality time. Home really is the most sacred place to me! I don’t take my privilege in this process lightly.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
There is no big, complicated plan on how I put together the initial capital to start my business. I saved as much as I could for as long as I could. I am a big proponent of living on less than you make. I started my career while living off of my husband’s income. As I continued to make more and more money, we still lived primarily off of his income. We are long term goal oriented people. I would much rather reach my goals than have instant gratification now. I see a lot of colleagues get excited about their paychecks and spend money on a lavish lifestyle. Real estate can be very lucrative, but also very inconsistent. I know that living below my means gave me the ability to scale my business the way that I always envisioned.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
My entire career is a pivot. I had plans to indefinitely stay at home and raise my babies. However, I quickly saw that doing so required my husband to work really long hours. I decided that it would be better for our family unit to have both parents working than to have one parent home all the time and the other parent rarely home. I had to adjust my perception of what it meant to ‘be a good mom’. I realized that there were things in my life that I was making a moral issue, when it was simply a preference. My job has added many positive things to my family’s life, and even more positivity to me as a person. My career provided the ability for my husband to pivot from his job of 14 years and start his company — which had been a dream of his since he was a teenager. I’m thankful that I allowed myself the ability to change my mind and pivot my perspective. I hope I give myself the freedom to do so again and again.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dotyre.com
- Instagram: @dealings_with_doty
- Facebook: Doty Real Estate
- Linkedin: Danielle Doty
Image Credits
Stella Images