We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Liz Fagen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Liz below.
Liz, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
My mission, for many years, has been to help others in any way I can. After decades working in National Sales, I made a change and started my residential real estate career. The change was very scary but I have not regretted it. I am able to help so many people with a huge decision in their lives – home ownership. I work with every type of home buyer and seller and have been able to support them in this exciting, stressful, and, sometimes difficult, life change. It is a blessing to help first time home buyers who never thought they could have a home of their own. I love seeing the excitement on my clients’ faces when they get the keys! I also help those who may not want to move but have to due to financial difficulties, transitioning into a smaller home due to age or health issues, or selling homes of loved ones who have passed. No matter the reason, I want to be the individual they can trust and depend on. This passion for helping others has allowed me to branch out beyond real estate and become a part of many other organizations serving my community, starting a community project to bring positivity to my town, and helping small business owners succeed with their own dreams.
Making this life change was something that has changed me in so many wonderful ways.
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?
For those who have not worked with me or met me, I live in Big Lake, MN and have been here for 18 years with my family. My husband, Kyle, and I have been married for 21 years and we have two sons – Ethan (19) and Cade (16). When I’m not working, I love being a “sport mom” on the sidelines of Cade’s lacrosse team, spending time with my three younger sisters, reading, photography, and bonfires by the lake.
As I mentioned, I am a Real Estate Agent and own Liz Fagen Home Group – RE/MAX Results. I entered real estate 4 years ago after decades of working in National Sales for large corporations, such as, General Mills, Holiday Corporate, Zeiss and CHEP. I chose to leave corporate America and become a realtor when I realized my true passion was to help individuals and that desire was not being full-filled at a corporate level.
In addition to real estate, I started a program in Big Lake called The Faces of Big Lake. I partner with a ‘parent’ company – The Faces Of – out of GA, that provides me website support and marketing assistance. The project is not an income-based position, but instead, is solely focused on bringing positivity to our community and introducing residents to one another. The Faces of Big Lake is one of the most rewarding and uplifting initiatives I have ever worked on. My community has embraced the idea of meeting one another, nominating other residents, and spending time focusing on what is positive versus negative. The project utilizes social media to spotlight people who have been nominated as a Face of Big Lake. Nominees meet with me and tell me about themselves, their upbringing, families, careers, hobbies, etc.
Both real estate and Faces of Big Lake make me very proud. Running my real estate business certainly presents more challenges – market changes, lending issues, home inspection problems, etc. – but each time I have encountered one of these challenges, I have learned something to help me and my clients in the future. This industry is a roller-coaster and you must be willing to take the ups and the downs. It is an easy industry to get into but can be a difficult industry to succeed in. That said, I have been incredibly blessed with a strong support network, the most fantastic clients, and a wonderful brokerage that will provide training and tools to help me succeed.
My measure of success in real estate is if my buyers and sellers feel I have been trust-worthy, dependable, and taken care of them throughout the entire process. I happily go the extra mile for anyone who works with me. This may be helping clean a home before listing, power-washing a deck, organizing contractors, helping load/unload a moving truck, or driving 2 hours to open a door. Because of those who have worked with me and trust me, I have been the recipient of numerous industry awards, such as, Executive Club, 100% Club, Super Real Estate Agent, Minnesota Best Real Estate Agent, Top Agent Award, Superior Customer Service Award, Rising Star Award, among others. All of these awards and accolades made me proud, but I much prefer the joy of joining my clients at the closing table!
When is comes to The Faces of Big Lake, I feel proud every single day that this project exists. Bringing it into my community was an uncertain leap. They would either love and embrace it or ignore it entirely. Big Lake has not only embraced this project, they have turned it into a community movement! Every time I see someone recognized, I feel immense pride. Local newspapers and publications have picked up on this project and reported on its success because Big Lake is a phenomenal place to live and each Face of Big Lake is a reminder of this.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
Being a successful realtor means staying connected with your past, present and potential future clients. There are plenty of methods to stay in touch with your database, but I prefer some methods over others. I am a creative person by nature so I use that when I design marketing material to send out. I love to drop off small, unexpected gifts to neighbors and clients. I also enjoy hosting community events. This Fall I hosted a Fall Fest at a local apple orchard with free family portraits, giveaways, crafts for kids, cider and apple treats. An important aspect of working with others is to simply remember them. I keep track of birthdays, house anniversaries, momentous occasions, and celebrations that others are having and send a card or gift. I also use video whenever I can. Many people worry about their videos being perfect but ultimately it’s about just being yourself. No one wants to see a dry, monotone message so if you create video, just be yourself. Supporting non-profit organizations is another area I am passionate about. I will sponsor events and fundraisers whenever I can.
In order to keep in touch with my community for The Faces of Big Lake project, I stay consistent. This means every Tuesday and Thursday one person will be the “spotlight” Face of Big Lake. Their story is shared to over 15 social media forums and sites. I also want to keep recognizing these important residents by dropping off branded coffee mugs, car window stickers and framed certificates. I commonly post additional stories about those who have been selected as a Face of Big Lake when I see them doing more good works on social media.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
My career has not always been easy! As I mentioned, I left a long standing career which guaranteed I had sufficient income, among other things, and started something brand new – real estate. The decision to make the move, alone, was difficult and incredibly scary. I chose to join a small team to start so that I could work along side other realtors and learn the ropes. I quickly realized that I wanted to grow my business in a different way than the team I worked with so 6 months after becoming a realtor I chose to go out on my own. Real estate is a career where you actually pay to work. Each brokerage has its own fees to join (and you have to belong to a brokerage), but the National, State and City real estate associations also charge you fees. Additionally, you pay for your own signs, lock boxes, computers, phones, etc. If you are not buying or selling homes, you are still required to make these payments. I had a moment of self doubt about 7 months into my career as a realtor. I was standing in my garage, looking at all my For Sale and Open House signs and I was in a complete panic. The fees were all coming due, everyday living costs needed to be paid, and sales were slower than I had hoped. I looked at my husband and he and I both had the same thought – “Was this a bad idea?”
At that time, we sat down and reviewed our financials, looked at what I had been doing to market my business, and put together a plan. I had to make changes – some outside of my comfort zone (like that video I referenced earlier) – and I had very little time to kick start the business before I would need to throw in the towel and head back to the corporate world.
This is the point when a lot of realtors choose to give up. It is very common to have many agents choose to leave the industry. Like I said, it’s very easy to get into the industry but it is difficult to succeed.
I began to look at career positions being posted which would return me to flying around the country all week, selling product and services to large corporations and leave me feeling unfulfilled. I just about hit “submit” to a couple of these job postings but something held me back. I realized I was not ready to give up. I had to believe in myself before anyone else would believe in me so I deleted the career posts and went back to the realtor “drawing board.” I changed my strategy, stepped up my communication and ventured outside of my comfort zone. And thank goodness I did! Within the week I had two new clients lined up and I took off running from there.
There are still days that leave me feeling defeated, but ultimately I know that if I stay focused on my goals and stay true to my mission, I will succeed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lizfagenhomegroup.results.net/ & https://thefacesofbiglakemn.com/
- Instagram: lizsellsrealestate & thefacesofbiglakemn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizfagenremaxresults
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-fagen/
- Twitter: @fagen_liz