Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tracy Cook. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tracy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

Great question! I am much happier as a business owner as opposed to when I worked at a company for another owner. I do work more hours, some weeks a lot more hours however, I’m working for myself. After almost 7 years now I don’t have the thought of going back so to speak, I’m not sure now that I could even go back to having a “regular job” That doesn’t mean to say that it’s always easy, there have been long rough months, difficulty in getting clients weekly especially during covid times.

Tracy, 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 started flipping houses in 2008. I did them differently as I lived in them as a single mom with a full time job as I updated and then sold them, I wouldn’t recommend this but at the time and situation that’s what was needed to be done. I got to a point where I needed some more knowledge and turned to Wake Tech and their Construction Management Program. That is where I met my now ex husband who was also in the course and a contractor. We started a business that we now both own and run. Once the business got sustainable he told me to quit my job and dive into real estate as he knew that was were my desire and heart to be was. I now work full time in both real estate and managing our remodeling business. I am a mom, my son is a disabled Air Force Veteran and is co owner in my real estate firm with me.
I love having the knowledge of both real estate and construction to help my clients through the process whether it be buying, selling or building their homes.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

When my husband at the time and I started our remodeling business I turned back to my Dave Ramsey single mom days of strict budget and spending so we didn’t use credit cards or take out loans or lines of credit to get started. We still to this day are very fortunate to not have had to take out a business loan with the exception of our vehicles to sustain or start our business. I kept my full time job and jumped in after hours to help him with the back end processes, balancing books, paying bills, marketing etc. A lot of long hours for a few years.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

We did a huge shift during Covid like many of our other business partners however, after that we were personally hit with one of our founders getting covid and being admitted to hospital, being put on ventilator and literally almost dying. When running a small business each person is like a leg on a chair and we literally had one of the legs of the chair cut off with no one to step in to full that position. We lost a few clients during the time but many stuck with us along with our workers who stepped up to take on more work and keep the business going. That brought us all together and solidified our business and workers and luckily my co owner was out of hospital in 3 weeks and back to work in a couple months full time. Although he still does suffer from long haul covid issues the business goes on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cfrealtync.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TracyCookCFRNC and https://www.facebook.com/bigmonkeyreno