We were lucky to catch up with Diane Grimm recently and have shared our conversation below.
Diane, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My mom was an immigrant from Uruguay and came to Houston in the early 80’s. To be honest, she didn’t really want to come here, she was happy in her country and was hoping to open a boutique in her little town but didn’t really have a choice when my dad made the decision to move to the US to chase the American Dream. My dad got a job working in a hotel banquet department and my mom started selling hand made sweaters to all the neighbors in her apartment complex. Eventually they separated and my mom was left here alone with 3-kids to raise. She started working as a housekeeper cleaning rooms. She barely spoke English when the hotel manager approached her to promote her to the department manager but she was thrilled because it meant just a little bit more money to make ends meet. She worked hard and eventually became one of the best in her industry – winning her hotel’s several “Connie Awards” which is an award given out by Hilton hotel brands for the best of the best in terms of cleanliness and customer service standards. She even took on some consulting jobs to help brand new hotels get their departments set up and going. She was beloved by her employees because she took the time to really take an interest in their daily lives. Many of her employees were housekeepers and a lot of them didn’t speak English, she was always there to help the navigated issues at a doctor’s office or at a child’s school. She genuinely cared about her people, and they loved her for it. She was tough though, she didn’t put up with lazy people. Everyone knew not to mess with Doris. That backstory is important to get to know what helped shape me and the type of work ethic that I have. My mom made me come work with her in the summers starting at about age 15. She had me in the laundry loading and unloading those enormous industrial machines and then towards the end of the summer she had me cleaning and checking rooms. It was hard work every summer but she was determined to teach me some very valuable lessons. First of all, that’s hard work and second of all, you are NOT above that type of work. Everyone is just trying to make it and we do what we can. If you work hard, eventually you will get noticed and you’ll have opportunities to grow, but you have to work hard first. Those lessons really set the foundation for me. I went on to work in customer service and eventually became one of the youngest directors of sales and marketing in the business. After about 13 years and after having my first child I decided it was time for me to put all that energy and effort, all those long hours into myself. I took night classes and got my real estate license and it’s been a wonderful transition. Real Estate allows me the freedom to make my own schedule so I have time to spend with my kids. I know that all the hard work I put in every day is directly for me and my business – not lining someone else’s pocket. I get to decide how much work I want to take on. The lessons I learned from my mom – her work ethic, her empathy, her patience but toughness, her role as always being a problem solver has totally shaped how I do business today. There were so many times where she would just give me a look and I would quickly magically find the solution! haha! She was all about her children using common sense and being problem solvers. Today I am constantly faced with curveballs and I’m quick to start brain storming a solution!
Diane, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have been a full-time Realtor with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (BHGRE) Gary Greene since 2014 and before that I spent 13 years working in the hospitality industry. One of my biggest achievements in that industry was becoming a Director of Sales & Marketing at the age of 24 – one of the youngest DOSM’s in the industry at the time. With my hard work, dedication and an amazing sales team we quickly became one of the most successful hotels in the company’s portfolio. I enjoyed every minute of that crazy business – until I had my first child and I realized it was time to put all those countless hours of work into my own business. Real Estate was a natural transition! It is hard work but the flexibility it provides me is priceless.
My skills from my past career have helped me tremendously in Real Estate. From the professionalism I learned, to the negotiation skills I acquired from Hilton’s “customer focused” selling culture to the empathy, patience and work ethic I learned from my mom – it has been essential in my success. It’s important to me for my client to win, so I will focus on negotiating the best terms. With that being said, transactions run smoother and yield the best results when a little time is spent understanding what the other side wants. I will always keep my client’s financial goals in the forefront but if you don’t take the time to understand the other side you really haven’t opened up all the possibilities of creating that “win-win” type situation which results in a smoother deal with less future problems. I have a tremendous work ethic and I vow to work hard for all of my clients – it doesn’t matter the size of the deal to me. Being fully transparent builds trust and my goal is to become a trusted real estate advisor to all of my clients!
With over 42 million dollars in real estate transactions both on the buying and selling side – my clients can count on me for results. I’ve been through tough markets and I’ve been through hot markets, I’ve seen Realtors come and go. My success in continually getting repeat and referral business is based on my experience in facilitating the process, being trust worthy and providing exceptional service.
I went to the Hilton Conrad College for Hospitality at the University of Houston. I obtained my Certified Negotiation Expert® designation and I’m a preferred agent on our company’s award-winning Relocation Team & Affinity Team. I’ve earned our company-wide top producer Silver award for 2014-2017, the Gold Award 2019-2021, & most recently, our Platinum award in 2022.
When I’m not busy working, I enjoy spending time with my family. My husband I have two very active boys and we enjoy the outdoors, sporting events, and traveling when we can. We’re a pretty competitive little family!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
A lot of people have said to me, “Oh, I don’t know how you do all the things Diane! You are at your kids events, you’re closing deals, you’re at all the social things! How do you do it all?!” When I hear them say that I’m always a little surprised because I feel like I’m just barely making it day-by-day. But the reality is, they don’t even know what I actually deal with every single day. But maybe that’s the resilience. Maybe just making it through the day and not even flinching is the big feat.
In 2009, my very last year at UofH, I was incredibly stressed out. There were lots of issues at work and lots of issues at home. My mom (who had divorced my dad and re-married) was getting a divorce from my step-dad and it was pretty nasty. I was working as a full-time sales manager at a hotel in Houston (where my mom actually started her career) & a full-time student in my last semester of college. At my hotel there were a lot of changes taking place and my boss (the director of sales and marketing) was fired and I was doing her job as well as mine. I was also one of the only Spanish speaking managers there so all of the Spanish speaking employees that didn’t speak English came to my office with their complaints. They were incredibly angry because they weren’t getting paid, they were getting harassed by higher level managers and it was just complete chaos. Meanwhile I’m trying to study for my finals and my ex-step dad moved in across the street with the lady he was having an affair with and I was probably on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I didn’t have the nervous breakdown…
Sometime in May I started having issues typing – just that I was making a ton of mistakes. Then I started having issues with my handwriting, I would joke and say it looked like ax murderer handwriting. All the while I was having dizzy spells constantly. I went to see my doctor and we were able to eliminate vertigo. We were in the process of trying new things like changing my diet etc when I had one of the scariest moments of the my life. I was driving home from work (a route I take ALL the time in an area that I’ve lived in for years) and I could not remember which way I needed to go to get home. I recognized everything but my brain was unable to process if I should take a left or a right. It took my 2 hours to get home that day. I called my doctor and he recommended an MRI. After my test, I got a call at 6:30pm on a Friday from my doctor. (That’s scary enough when you get a late call from your doc!) He tells me that he thinks that I have Multiple Sclerosis and need to go see a Neurologist. I had no idea what Multiple Sclerosis was! Honestly, I thought it had something to do with muscles or the spine… I started researching it online and that was the scariest and loneliest night of my life. Everything I found online was terrifying. I cried and cried that night thinking my life the way I knew it was going to be over. I fell asleep that night feeling pretty low and when I woke up I was thinking about my grandmother and my mom. My mom was diagnosed with Lupus a few years prior and was managing her illness and my grandmother had a quadruple by-pass at 77 years old in Uruguay and survived it! She was about to be 90 years old! I remember telling myself, “You cried it out. Now you gotta deal with it. Put your big girl panties on and let’s move on!” and that’s pretty much what I did. The journey has been tough and there are so many challenges with this illness but I’ve adapted and learned to manage as best as I can. The scary part is the unknown because with MS you just don’t know where your condition is going to take you. It all depends on which areas of your brain are affected. Will you be blind one day? Will you be unable to walk? Will you be unable to hold your bladder? Will you be unable to think clearly? Will you lose your memory? It’s scary not knowing and you can feel pretty lonely. It’s called a “silent disease” because depending on what stage you’re in people often don’t know that you have anything wrong with you, you appear totally fine but really you just want to curl up in bed and sleep for 24 hours! (But who doesn’t?! ha) The fatigue has been the biggest challenge for me. There are literally days where I cannot get out of bed. So, I have to adapt. On those days, I grab my laptop and I work from home and I try to eat super clean on those days because I know I need all the energy I can get to get through the day. Sometimes, I don’t feel like socializing – depression is also a symptom of MS – but I push myself to “just go for a little while” and when I do I always end up enjoying myself and making a new connection. I have learned to say no and to try not to take on more than I can handle. Stress is a trigger for attacks and attacks impact my future condition. Sometimes I have to just take a break, and force myself not to feel guilty about it – easier said than done! BUT I’m working on it! I’ve always felt like if I start acting sick, I will get sick! So I just try to stay positive, take it day by day and give myself some grace. I think that’s probably true resilience. Not many people know about my condition and for me, that’s adapting and making the most out of the cards I was dealt. I always tell myself when I’m feeling down – it can always be worse! Put those big girl panties on and lets go!
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I love to watch documentaries about great athletes or just successful people that have overcome adversity – those stories always inspire me to be better and to work hard. Their strong mentalities remind me of my grandmother and my mother. It’s so important to not get down on yourself, just stay positive, move forward, grow and adapt!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dianegrimm.com
- Instagram: www.instagram/dianegrimmTXrealtor
- Facebook: www.facebook/dianegrimmrealtor
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/realestatewithdiane1661
Image Credits
Alondra from BHGRE Gary Greene took my professional work shots.