We were lucky to catch up with Janece Streeter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Janece, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?

As a realtor, a huge part of the business is relationship and referral based. We rely a lot on our SOI (Sphere of Influence), these are people who already know, like and trust us enough to allow us to handle their real estate transactions. When first starting as a realtor, we almost expect our friends and family to utilize us to help them. While most friends and family are very supportive, it is also sometimes hard for them to look at us in a professional capacity, especially if real estate is not our first career.

An appropriate way to ask friends and family to support my business is just to ask them to keep us in mind ( I say us because my husband and I run our real estate business together) when they they are ready to make a real estate transaction or they know of someone looking to make a real estate transaction. I think crossing a line would be trying to make a friend or family member feel guilty for not using our services, even if it hurts my feelings a little lol.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My journey really started while working for a law firm as a residential title examiner while working on my criminal justice masters degree at Georgia State. Soon after I was recruited to work for a large title insurance company. I got into the purchase and sale side of real estate after participating in a voluntary layoff program with my previous employer. Work dried up and they were looking for people to voluntarily leave the company. I had been praying for God to show me where I needed to be career-wise where I could make the largest impact, so when my job asked for volunteers, I was obedient and left. 23 days later I passed the Georgia Real estate exam and the rest was history!

Truly, I had always been interested in real estate and I love helping and educating people. I was honestly tired of living the status quo. We are taught to go to school, graduate, get a “good job”, and then work for the next 40-50 years of our lives just to help someone else build up their business. I figured, why not put myself in the position to do something that I enjoy and reap the benefits for myself and my family. My husband and I got licensed at the same time, joined on at Keller Williams and the Streeter Realty Co. was born!

We are a husband and wife owned real estate company. We help people purchase and sell homes. For us, this is about more than real estate – it‘s about a person’s life, their dreams and desired outcomes. Working with someone looking to buy or sell a home is not a one-size fits all process, so we approach each one of our clients individually, taking the time to understand their current situation, unique needs and lifestyle. With the Streeter Realty Company, it’s about more than just real estate, it’s an experience.

The thing I’m most proud of in my business is honestly customer service. I’ve prided myself on customer service way before getting into the real estate world. Providing people with an amazing experience within any industry should be the number one goal and I believe that this is especially true for real estate. People are trusting you to carry out one of, if not the most expensive transaction they will ever make in their lives and the easier and more enjoyable you can make that experience, the better.

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

As an entrepreneur and business owner, I had to unlearn the mindset that there would be someone there to tell you what to do and to mange you. After working for someone all of your life you become unknowingly reliant upon having a manager or a supervisor to help you along when you need it. In your business, YOU ARE THE MANAGER! You have to become self motivated, you have to learn how to manage your own time efficiently, you have to keep your own budget and manage your own P&L statements. I had to wrap my mind around the fact (and I still struggle with this) that I have to show up and work just as hard for myself, if not harder, in the same way that I showed up and worked hard for my employer day after day.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Well this one is easy, he is my husband! lol We’ve been together 11 years, married for 6 and been in business together for 1. It is definitely different working with your spouse. You already live and spend most of your time together. Learning how to effectively work together is important and every dynamic will be different. You just have to figure out by trial and error what works and what doesn’t.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://janecestreeter.kw.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janece.the.realtor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Janece.The.Realtor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janecestreeter/