Margaret "Mo" Smith: Bringing Soul Back Into Your Business

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE ON:

If you want to feel inspired and motivated to take the next steps in your business, spend some time with Margaret "Mo" Smith! Prior to her time in the real estate industry, Mo worked at the Seattle Art Museum and was an Assistant Volleyball Coach for Northwest University and obtained her Masters in Social Work Degree. She then became the Director of Operations for Pickett Street Properties in Bothell, WA before launching her own company called I Love It When, which does coaching, retreats, workshops, and so much more. In addition, she utilized the FHA 203k loan to help purchase and renovate 2 duplexes, making over 95k on her first property. Mo shares her journey of discovery in launching her own business and inspiring and empowering leaders to be exactly who you are!

In this episode hosted by Mike Swenson, we discussed:

• How Mo learned to the lesson to listen internally to make changes in her life before it get to a point of frustration
• How she found a real estate job that she thought would be temporary, and allowed her to maximize the skills she had yet hadn't used in her previous jobs, and turned it into a role she held for a long period of time.
• How Mo has worked with and helped other admin in the real estate industry to realize their power and helped herself to realize her own power too along the way
• How Mo took the risky first step in investing by purchasing a duplex that she fixed up and expanded her buying power to do additional properties in the future
• Knowing how you can add value to other people's lives
• How soft skills are so important and how most people can use them to create successful careers
• Importance of incorporating play into what you are doing
• Being more present through meditation, starting with just 5 minutes, really helped to impact her life

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro To Mo's Career
1:50 - How Mo Got Into Real Estate
7:50 - Important Lessons Real Estate Admin Should Know
13:26 - Importance Of Being In The Same Page As Your Boss
18:29 - Mo's Journey As An Investor
27:58 - Launching I Love It When
31:58 - Soft Skills Vs. Technical Skills
35:15 - Mo's Advice For People Who Are At A Crossroads
37:25 - How To Find Mo

FOLLOW MO:

https://www.facebook.com/MargaretMacaulaySmith 
https://www.iloveitwhen.org/ 
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-love-it-when/id1631024059 
https://www.instagram.com/i_love_it_when_llc/ 
https://www.instagram.com/the_margaret_smith/ 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-smith-866927b2/

✅ SUBSCRIBE HERE IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO BUILD WEALTH THROUGH OPPORTUNITIES IN THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY

📈 GET STARTED INVESTING TODAY AND ACCESS OUR DEAL LIST!

💵 PARTNER WITH US ON BIG DEALS!

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 BUILD YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT CAREER WORKING WITH INVESTORS HERE

🎙️ LEARN ABOUT REL FREEDOM & HEAR MORE REAL-LIFE STORIES

💵 FREEBIES: DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE FREEDOM FOUNDATION BLUEPRINT

🏠 LOOKING FOR A REAL ESTATE AGENT ANYWHERE IN THE US? FIND A TOP AGENT IN YOUR COMMUNITY HERE!

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦  JOIN OUR FACEBOOK COMMUNITY

🎧 SUBSCRIBE TO THE REL FREEDOM PODCAST 👇
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify

🔗 LET'S CONNECT 👇 
Facebook
Instagram
TikTok
Minnesota Real Estate

Read the full transcript here:

Mike Swenson
Welcome to The REL freedom podcast where we inspire you to pursue your passion to gain time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate. I'm your host, Mike Swenson, let's get some real freedom together.

All right, welcome everybody to another episode of The REL freedom podcast where we talk about building time and financial freedom through different opportunities in real estate. And what I love about pursuing opportunities in real estate is it doesn't have to take a standard path. And people have different stories, different ways that they go about it. And it's part of why I like exposing different stories from different people, because I want to inspire you to find a story that resonates or a person that resonates or part of a path that resonates. And you don't have to do the thing that everybody says you're supposed to do. And so today's guest, Margaret Smith, her life has taken a different journey in ways it's not necessarily Hey, I started here, and I moved in this linear direction to a little bit of a background about you, you're from the Seattle area, had a background in working at the Seattle Art Museum, and you've been a volleyball coach, you have a master's in social work, you are director of operations for a real estate team. And now you found it, I love it when where you're really helping people kind of pursue their passion, live out their dreams and do what they want to do. And so because of your background, in real estate, there's a lot of connections you have in real estate. In addition to that you're an investor, you flip some properties, you own some properties, and we'll talk about that too. But I think that's the beauty of building your story is you have the ability to do what you want to do how you want to do it. So you're somebody that inspires people to do that. So welcome to the show.

Margaret Smith
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for having me, I just want to put you in my pocket. That was a great little introduction, I actually helps me to take stock kind of of what I've done. Sometimes I forget how much it's taken for me to get to where I am. So thank you. Why

Mike Swenson
don't you just kind of talk about for folks that don't know, you just talked about that journey a little bit. And then we can expand more about where you're at today. But how how those pieces of had been put together and how that path got put together for you.

Margaret Smith
Okay, yeah, I just start back at the Seattle Art Museum. And I was there around 2009. And I was there for about five years, actually. So before 2009. And the thing that I realised I think there was I loved working around the people I love art, I'm an artist myself actually also had a photography business for about eight years around that same time. But I realised that I was starting to have some sort of something similar to a panic attack, which I've never experienced before. But it was a like mounting frustration from projects not getting done and things not moving as quickly as I wanted them to move with different projects I was working on, I was an education department. And so the lesson that I learned there was I want to make changes in my life before I let it get so bad before I let it get to a point where I just like, I don't know what to do. And so from that point on, it really became a journey of me learning what it is that I really wanted more and more of, and making those changes and trying new things out before I got to a place of frustration. So I left that job, not knowing again, what I was going to do, but I just put the word out to my friends and family and said, Hey, I'm open to talking to anybody and everybody. And so I got an interview at a real estate team. I got an interview at an insurance company. I got an interview at some other place. And when I interviewed with Jesse Moore from Pickett street properties, I thought to myself well real estate seems really old school, I walked into the Keller Williams office in Bothell, Washington and even the the furniture the way the office looked, it just felt so behind the times, it's like the way I put it because I worked at the museum, which is very, at the forefront of all sorts of ideas and art and culture and everything. And so I thought, oh, I'll just be in this job for maybe six months before I find my next kind of career position. And before I knew it, I realised that a lot of the skills that I had been building when I got my MSW when I worked at the museum when I worked in the school district for Seattle, a lot of the skills I was actually able to use in the real estate world. So I was underutilised in previous jobs. And so when I started in real estate, I quickly realised, oh, there's a lot of leadership that's needed in this industry. And there's a lot of opportunities that I could take to be a part of that. And so I started teaching within a year, and started really learning how to run a small business. And so to make a longer, long story short, basically when COVID hit and I started working from home, I realised I'm at a point now where working from home feels really good. And I have had the opportunity to experience all the different pieces of a small business, the financials, the marketing, the hiring, the PR the events, all those different things and I can run a small business now myself and so each time I think I've gotten faster and faster at really isn't what it is that I want and making the changes before I reach rock bottom or what feels like a rock bottom to me where I get really, you know, when you're in something for a long time that you don't truly love, if you're in it for too long, you start to get resentful, angry, frustrated, and that starts to take be taken out and other people and I really wanted to avoid that. So I'm really, really happy with where I'm at. And I love the constant change I love like you said in the beginning, and the ability to create the life that I want. It's been really fun.

Mike Swenson
And I think in real estate, especially being on the operations admin side, I know for me, having been in a role similar to that, you just learned so much about business quickly. Because real estate moves fast, you kind of have that entire lifecycle of, you know, marketing, meeting new clients to converting those clients. And that can happen within a matter of days, it can be a matter of months or a matter of years, and then having to find a way to stay in touch with your clients for six 810 years before they buy a property again, you're handling financials, you're handling systems. And so it does give you a lot of great experience of how to run a business and how to do all those different pieces.

Margaret Smith
Absolutely. Yeah, I think I real estate, I often say helped me to get past any overthinking or any, like, just second guessing myself. I don't do that anymore. Because I didn't have the chance to like you had to move so quickly. Like you said that I learned that Oh, failing or doing something that didn't work out. That's okay. You just go try something different. And that has been instrumental and helping me as a small business owner. I know.

Mike Swenson
I often tell myself as an affirmation that I'm a recovering perfectionist, because before I got into real estate, it was it always had to be done. Perfect. Yeah, I was learning Done is better than perfect. And so I always tell people that But I told myself that to remind myself like, you can let go of some of those details. Yes, speed matters, that getting stuff done matters versus having it done in the perfect way.

Margaret Smith
Absolutely. And the thing, too, is we have all these, I love the book, Big Magic, which I'm actually rereading right now. And it's, it's been such a fabulous reminder of when an idea finds you, you want to create it and get it out into the world. And in any form that you can, like, it's so interesting to talk to people about what perfection means to them, or what that looks like. Because there's no reason for it to be completely done. Before you put it out there, you actually want to put it out there, whatever the idea is, and your audience will help you to continue to morph it and change it into whatever it's supposed to be or looks like, which happens a lot for me too. I think with with this podcast that you have or with my podcast, I find that that's a great example. Because part of the conversation happens with the people on the other side of the screen who are listening or watching us and it helps to kind of create as you go,

Mike Swenson
you have a background and still do work with kind of real estate, administrative type people. And so kind of talk about lessons that you've learned maybe kind of work that you do with them things that you've helped them to kind of think through and process through to help them be more successful and what have you learned from them? And how do you help folks in the real estate admin world that might be listening to this kind of wondering like, yeah, oh my gosh, like, I'm overwhelmed. And I'm excited. And it's ups and it's downs, and it's stress and all that. So

Margaret Smith
yeah, well, one of the things I do is I run a membership called Bu the inner circle with Kathleen Metcalf, who has just rebranded her company. She's a coach and consultant and a trainer for real estate agents and admin and their teams. And it's a monthly membership where you come and you have, like a mastermind with people from across the country. And we dive into different topics around self awareness around courage around listening skills around various leadership skills. We read books together, we bring in high level speakers, like we've had people from fierce conversations, that book by Susan Scott, we had somebody come in and speak on that we've had Gay Hendricks, who wrote the big leap was fantastic, like, really cool. It's a cool opportunity to realise your power. I think that's the number one thing that I've learned over the years from working with admin is working with real estate admin really started as soon as I started my job at Pickett Street, because I realised so many people didn't understand the power that they had to create change in their life. And that really helped me to realise my power. So often people kind of just go through their day or go through their job, just on autopilot, not really realising that every word they say every action they take has a ripple effect. And you get to choose how you want to affect your colleagues, your friends, your family, all of that. And so I started doing retreats for admin, and that was first called the Pacific Northwest operations retreat. And the purpose behind that was really to fuel and feed myself because I'd reached a level where I wanted more I wanted more resources. I wanted higher level thinking I wanted higher level people around me And I wanted to show admin that when you want something, it's possible, all you have to do is create a plan and start working on that plan and put it into action. Like I said, put it out there before it's done. And other people will jump to want to help you do it. And so that retreat is all about making the impossible possible. And so one of the ways that I did that was I brought in really high level speakers like Gary John Bishop, who normally costs $40,000, to speak to an audience for an hour. And Susan Scott and MA mangles and all these different speakers and created an experience that really helped them realise that it was okay to step outside their comfort zone, wherever they were at, they didn't have to be in the same place where I was where I was, like ready to bust out and start my own business. It could be as simple as speaking up at a team meeting and sharing your perspective, and realising that your perspective is valid and very much needed in the business. And so I think that's what I've learned the most from them. And what I've really wanted to help admin with is help them realise their power. And it's helped me realise my power along the way.

Mike Swenson
Yeah. What's interesting is when you talked about training them and helping them and helping them to grow, you didn't mention how to take a listing how to put a system together, now go from contract to close. But you're thinking bigger, and I think for people in the admin world, just yeah, like you said, understanding the true power that you have, it's all the other stuff, learning how to think learning how to do things, helps you do a better job of processing a listing, or whatever that is on the admin side. And so pouring into them as leaders as strategic thinkers as problem solvers makes everything better. Because if you ask an agent, like, Oh, I'm going to a retreat with other admin, they would be like, Oh, great, now you're gonna learn how to implement this process? Or how to Yes,

Margaret Smith
can you get like the best operations manual there, can you like, and, and so that's probably you've just nailed, like, what I'm really known for. And what I've been known for is, I don't talk about drip campaigns and databases, and all that stuff is necessary. But like you said, when you have the right mindset, and you have the leadership, sales skills, and you have the soft skills, this stuff will all it'll still happen, it'll take place. And it'll work out beautifully with however it's supposed to. But what I found is that a lot of people did not think that admin really needed all this other stuff, they don't need the leadership skills, they don't need the you know, we don't need to work on that we need to work on databases and drip campaigns. But it's really not true by working on this and becoming the best version of yourself, you will develop the best business as a result, that'll be the ROI of that. And so I'm really, I've always pushed for that. And I know some people don't agree with it, but it's where I found success myself. And I believe in it wholeheartedly. And so that's what Bu the inner circle is really rooted in is personal and professional development. Because I saw a lot of admin not getting access to the same resources, training opportunities that real estate agents get were Yeah, big, big thinkers. Like we don't talk about databases, we talk about how do we make all these things like come together? And how do we network to find the right person that we need for whatever it is that we want to do next? It's much different thinking in much different conversations, and I wanted admin to have that same resource, it's actually necessary for what a lot of real estate agents wanted us to do, which is run their business. And if you want me to run the business, I need to be around big level, big high thinkers. Yeah,

Mike Swenson
it sounds so fundamental. But you know, we get so lost in the weeds sometimes, but like, being on the same page as your boss, right? Yes. Like, they want to go do this, you think you want? You're like, I'm trying to decide, is that what I think I'm supposed to be doing? And even to deciding, like, okay, what are the three most important things that we need to be doing over the next three months? Is it one, two, or three in that? Or is it three, two, or one, and what you might find out is they're thinking 917, and 26, on your list, are the three that they think are most important. So so true for like, the critical thinking, and an assignment and making sure that you guys are moving in the same direction together is so important that, you know, in some ways, it's that yeah, the database follow up plan is so so small in comparison to the needs of what you actually need to figure out together. And like you said, you know, learning how to run their business. It Yeah, it's, it's funny, but yeah, you talk with an agent, and they're gonna say, hey, I need that database, follow up plan, and you're like, Yeah, but if we don't do the three things that are important before that, then then that

Margaret Smith
matters is going to be Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, you're so right, like just the simple simplicity of being on the same page being able to prioritise like someone who thinks at that level. It's a very different perspective when you're running a business versus when you're running the operations in the background. Like I wanted to understand it all so that I could really back him up and back Jesse up on what the decisions he was making. I could understand them, I could be behind them I could. The more I understand, the more I can do without any input from you like I can really operate and self manage, and I can run faster, and I can actually set more up for your business. The more I learn about how you think and what you want, and how high level thinkers process information.

Mike Swenson
And another key valuable piece is having people having your tribe, right, the people that ask under you and get you and you can go to for processing questions, yes, go to for help. Because when you're running a real estate team, that person that's kind of doing your job, like you might not exist in your market centre might not exactly in your city. And so to have somebody at that level that you can go to and be a friend and a colleague, and, and somebody that you can vent to that just listen to you is also really important real estate agents, are you tired of letting the busyness of life get in your way from achieving your real estate investing goals, I'm super excited to announce we've created the real freedom investor agent tribe, it's a place for you to come get educated and network with others, so that you can make sure that you're hitting your real estate investment goals. So find out more on our website, real freedom.com, click on the store link, we've got a membership, we've got a mastermind group and some private coaching as well check it out, I've priced it super low, the goal is to get you in not have price be a determining factor to keep you from your goals. So come check it out, schedule a call with me, and we're happy to see where your real estate journey is gonna take you.

Margaret Smith
It's life changing. And that's why very strategically, and intentionally when I ran my first retreat, I reached out and invited people that I wanted to spend time with people from other teams that were a step or two ahead of ours. And it was like that was changed my life right there. That was 2017. And that my trajectory just changed after that. Once I had those people around me that I could call up and say, Hey, how did you do this? Or what do you recommend I do for this changed everything.

Mike Swenson
And the value of and you understand this hosting retreats is getting out of the office? Yes, you know, some of the most impactful moments are Yeah, when you decide, hey, I can get out of this, I can push pause, and I'm gonna come back. And even though I'm giving up two or three days of what seemed as production is going to now propel me forward in our business much faster, because you had a chance to get away. And that's retreats and those events that you do.

Margaret Smith
Yeah, absolutely. I always tell people like I'd rather have you get to your destination in two or three steps versus 10. So like, when you slow down, and you actually reflect on what you're doing, or you take the time out of your week to go somewhere for two days and talk with other high, high level thinkers and high level achievers, you actually move faster, with fewer steps. And so I spent a lot of I got to go to all the different conferences, I had, I think three different mastermind groups I was a part of so I was away from my desk quite a bit compared to some admin. But because of that I went a lot farther faster. And so did our business as a result.

Mike Swenson
And being in alignment kind of give this example of you know, you're you're leaving a plane in New York, the difference between going to Seattle and going to Los Angeles isn't that much in terms of the degrees yet it's you're in Seattle versus Los Angeles. And so you got to figure out what's that direction, where you're headed. And the events that you do how you work with people are going to help people to see like, oh, yeah, I really shouldn't be going to Seattle, or I should be going to Los Angeles versus you know, vice versa.

Margaret Smith
Exactly. It could only be a 1% difference in in direction. But once you know that it changes everything.

Mike Swenson
So before we kind of get into more of of I love it when let's talk about the investing side and your journey. As an investor, you took a risk, a big risk in doing a rental property. And so we'd love to just hear your journey, figuring things out as you go and talk about that piece.

Margaret Smith
Oh, yeah, one of the huge benefits to working on a real estate team is getting to soak in all the information that I really knew nothing about, like I my parents were very much paycheck to paycheck. And so I didn't really learn what it was like to invest and how you can have your money, make money. And it all came down to my mortgage lender, who is one of the best in the industry. We had these monthly investor meetings because investors were about 30% of our business when I first started and we were buying auction properties and flipping and reselling. And so he took out an app. Yeah, and of course, it's like the napkin is like the prized part of the story and he wrote out what it would look like if I purchased a duplex triplex or four Plex. And that was the first time somebody had really taking the time to show me what how my buying power changed. And so when I looked at a duplex and saw that, Oh, you don't just count my income, you count the income that the other half of my house would bring in. So then the triplex same thing all of a sudden your buying power increases as you go on. And I was like, Oh, this, why doesn't everybody know this? And why isn't everybody doing this? Because as soon as I understood something, as soon as I understand something, I will take it and run with it. And that's exactly what I did. So I started a search the next day for duplexes. triplexes and for plexes, and it took about a year. But this one property had been sitting for about nine months. And I finally went to look at it, and it was a flat roof duplex, which I would not recommend in the Pacific Northwest. But this one happened to be okay. And I bought it for $325,000. And I use the FHA 203 k loan and put about $22,000 of rehab into it. So that's a loan where you can actually work in the money that you need to remodel the home. And so I just needed to do paint carpet and some basic stuff on the upstairs and downstairs. And then I need a new kitchen in the unit that I was going to be in. But I went ahead with it. And it was a fantastic experience. Like I learned, okay, wow, I think I ended up paying $50 a month for my mortgage. Because I had tenants upstairs, I had a roommate, and my life changed. And from that moment forward, I started teaching a class about the FHA 203 k loan with my mortgage lender and telling all of my friends about it. Because I was like, if you don't have a lender who is knowledgeable about investing and about the all the different options that you have, this might never come across your path. And everybody needs to know about this. So I made it my mission to really start educating people on the possibilities, especially as a single woman on a single income. I think at the time, I was making 55,000, maybe 50,000. And then two and a half years later, I was driving down the street to my brother's for dinner in this current neighbourhood that I'm in now and another part of Everett, Washington and I looked up at a house that had a sign for sale. And I was like, That house probably has a view of the Cascade Mountains. And I'm pretty sure it's a duplex, I think I'm supposed to live there. And the next day, I put my other duplex up for sale. I sold it in about I think two months it was sold and done. And I made $95,000 which was more money than I'd ever seen in my life, because I think I was making about 35,000 at the museum. And so again, more money than I had ever seen. And I was like, why isn't everybody doing this, and I took that and put it into this duplex did the same loan, FHA two or 3k. And this time I did about $250,000. And rehab, which was a huge project, which I wouldn't recommend for somebody who's brand new to investing. But it worked out. And that was the thing is, every step I took, I just took the information that I had, I asked all the questions that I had. And then I made it happen. I was I told my contractor who was just a gem of a human and I said, I'm going to be your assistant for the next nine months to help make this happen. I will take however many runs to Home Depot or Lowe's you need me to take. And it was unbelievable. And at the end of the experience, he actually said to me, if you ever want to invest, I will invest with you anytime, because he saw how I operated with such integrity. And I treated him as equal. And it was just it was a fantastic experience, and again, completely changed my life. So and I'm still living in the same duplex now six years later.

Mike Swenson
Yeah, I think there's some really valuable lessons there that that you were willing to take action, right, because it was a risk. And I think, you know, part of kind of what fires me up is people in the real estate industry that have all this opportunity. They have all this knowledge about the market and they don't take action, or they find excuses why they shouldn't take action. And you definitely could have had six reasons of why you shouldn't do it. And you're like, you know what, I see the benefit. I'm gonna do it. And then you came out the other side with a huge win. And then you went and did it again. Amazing. Congrats on taking that risk and having a great story to tell. And financially being so much better off because yeah, that risk.

Margaret Smith
Yeah, I mean, the second duplex was a much bigger project, but it's kind of in my perfect. My perfect place, meaning like, this was a house that was not complete, somebody had started to rehab it, they bought it at auction but hadn't finished the project. So first time homebuyers don't really want a home like this because a lot of first time homebuyers want to move into something that's completely ready and ready to go ready to move in. The other part of it about it was that investors didn't really want this property either because it wasn't going to make a tonne of money. If they flipped it. They'd nobody really wants to buy it and live in it. And so that is my that's my, like my area right there that I love. And yes, it was a risk. But when you look at what I always share with people is like when you look at the outcome, like what's possible with it. It really, when it makes sense, you know that it makes sense. And I knew that it was going to be a whole lot of different kinds of challenges that I'd never faced before. But I knew that I had the people around me and the knowledge around me to help me make it happen. And so yeah, I bought this one for for 25. And then the loan that I got was about 170,000 I believe and then the rest of the money I used from my previous sale and then I had to take out a personal line of credit but like, it all worked out. It all happened and I have zero regrets. It's like it's the best one of the best things I've done in my life.

Mike Swenson
It just bugs me when I hear people that have all these reasons of why they shouldn't oh yeah with an investment property and especially for people looking to get started The famous term is house hack. Like, you can do that, right? Like you can live in one side rent the other. And then what you did to is take on some other roommates. That's totally doable. And you know, I had a friend of mine or a colleague of mine that did that. And he had his mortgage paid for for 2345 years by. And yeah, there's people that say, I don't really know how to get started into real estate.

Margaret Smith
You just got to take the first step like I and I love sharing my story, because I always tell people, I am like, the best example of someone who really knew nothing about real estate, like I'd been in my admin position with picket Street for about a year and a half, maybe two years when this happened. When I bought my first duplex, I didn't know I had been focused on systems and operations and running the business, I didn't know anything about how to remodel or rehab a duplex or what was right or wrong, like, but you, it literally takes you through the process, meaning like, when you submit the paperwork, they tell you next day, we need this Margaret, like Go, go get a bid from a contractor. So you go get a bid from a contractor and you get them from preferably six or seven. So that you can really find someone that you like, and it just happens and it will you will get it done. And the benefits for building wealth for for a family is just it's never ending. So I agree with you. I think people find all sorts of reasons to back out of something or they want it to be perfect. And again, I'm not looking for perfect, I'm looking for what I can see is a value add to my life and to my investment portfolio that I want to build.

Mike Swenson
Yeah. And I think what what's hard to quantify and me working with investors, I'm trying to quantify this the best that I can is, yeah, the opportunity cost of not taking action, right? That's a great way to put it, you probably could have not done this. Yeah, he's still had success in your life. But now you look at how much more success or more wealth or or kind of opportunities that have come out doing that. The problem is, is you we can't go back to you at that time. And you know, choose the path of what happens if you didn't take action? Yes, it would have been fine. But these other things that you could have done are now open as a result of taking action. And that's the hard thing is people get stuck in inaction. And they talk themselves out of it. And then you can go back and see like, well shoot, I could have had this had I decided to take that leap or take

Margaret Smith
that oh my god. And that's where I love talking to people about like, we got our logical brain. And then we've got the more creative intuitive side of our brain. And when your intuition when my intuition says yes, it's a full body. Yes. Meaning like, my whole body's like, oh my god, I'm so excited. How can I say no to this? So even though there's that logical side that's got some fears? And like, how are we going to make this happen, I understand that this is absolutely what I'm supposed to do next. And because I made that decision, some of my best friends have come from roommate.com. Like I was in somebody's wedding from that first duplex that I lived in, and it's just the opportunities are there. And when you know it, you just have to trust yourself and take that next leap, like it's gonna work out.

Mike Swenson
So let's kind of move into you launch in your own company. And, you know, I think we can kind of see based on your past, how you've made decisions, how you've helped people, Hive inspired people, to kind of to move into you launching your company, so So chat about that.

Margaret Smith
Yeah. Again, when we talked about the real estate world, like you learn quickly how to run a business. And so I still took me it took me some years, though, to really have that confidence that I knew I could make something happen, because I didn't have a plan. When I left the team, I really I knew I was going to start coaching because I'd been coaching for probably six years at that point for free. And I'd been teaching classes and doing the podcast and running the retreats. And so I knew that I could add value. I had seen what I had been doing for different admin and real estate agents when I was teaching. And they were going and taking what I had talked about and implementing it and making money because of it. And so I knew I had value to add. But I really didn't know exactly what was going to happen. And so when I started, I have never had more than three or four clients at a time over the last now like two and a half years. More of what I've been doing actually is workshops and retreats for companies about vulnerability and communication, which has been like a huge topic since COVID hit and so many things have changed in people's lives. And so I've been doing speaking engagements, I've done a retreat for a video game company. I've worked with holistic healers, who don't know how to price their work, don't know what value they're adding. So helping people set up their business and come up with pricing that feels good to them. That helps them create a sustainable life. It has been a variety. And so I have I love what I'm doing. I share with people that I'm a speaker, coach consultant, and then I facilitate experiences retreats and workshops for companies that are looking for something to really bring the soul back into their business because I think that's something that COVID has shown us is that people really want more than just a nine to five job where they clock in clock out. They're looking for an experience to add to their life and so I love being that person helps companies realise they can do that they don't have to change a whole lot. They just need to be a lot more present and really aware of what they're doing and do it with intention.

Mike Swenson
Intention is really important. And I think what I'm also hearing is kind of depth, that there's more there behind it. And so it's exciting to see how you're doing that and how you're helping people and really kind of Yeah, wake people up. And it came in an interesting time in the world to because of COVID. To help people kind of see like, oh, maybe how I was thinking about life, how I was thinking about my job I was thinking about my career isn't what I should be doing. And so it was a kind of a Yeah, a merge of life events, and kind of personal and vision and what you wanted to do to see that all come together at kind of the same time.

Margaret Smith
Exactly. I tell people often like expand your definition, expand your definition of what does work mean to you? What does love mean to you? What does like that's something my mentor and my mangles always tells me is, okay, let's expand your definition on what travel is, let's expand your definition on what this or that is. Now I can see looking back how like my MSW is playing into my work. I mean, I used my social work degree when I was in real estate every single day, I may not have been an official counsellor, or a therapist. But as you know, you end up kind of in that role with clients all the time, because usually when they sell a house, they're either getting married, getting divorced, someone's passed away, like there are life experiences that come with the sale and the purchase. And so I've realised now how all these different aspects of my life have played into what I'm doing today.

Mike Swenson
My wife's a therapist, too. And so she, yeah, so just talking about like, all the the soft stuff, which doesn't get which doesn't get enough credit in real estate, right? It's all right. No, they LZ straightforward. Yeah. So you know, my wife often helps me to think differently about how I approach conversations with people, because I love that I mean, and we've had, you know, a lot of our friends are her co workers that are also therapists. And so I'm surrounded by a lot of therapists at times.

Margaret Smith
Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. It's interesting, because as I've been doing more and more of this research, and doing proposals for companies about what I do, and why they should hire me, there's different studies that are coming out, especially since COVID. But one, pre COVID was from Harvard, where it shares that soft skills are actually I think they say 85% of a reason you're successful in your career is due to your soft skills, not your technical skills. So that's listening, teamwork, communication, all of those things that are soft, that are actually the majority of how most people create successful careers. And so that's where we're really flipping, I think, and looking at where companies are spending money is less on, let's get, yes, have database training. But we also need to have, like, how do you have hard conversations training? How do you engage with your employees in a way that shows that you really do care, and that you're there to be to help them get to wherever they want to be in life. And so that conversation is coming to the surface more and more across industries in the last three years. Now,

Mike Swenson
one of the things that I've been thinking a lot about, and I'm going through coaching as well, in terms of, a lot of times people think and or right, like for me to be successful in this area, I have to sacrifice something. And so it's like, if I want to make money, I have to give up time or if I want this, I have to give up that and really be thinking about how do you approach it from a both and like, what would it looked like to be able to do this and have that at the same time. And so in terms of you know, kind of building wealth and having time and financial freedom, like you can do both things, and you can do do it through a job that you love and enjoy and want to show up for and still have good personal relationships and, and other relationships are really approaching life from a both and versus AND and OR and I have to sacrifice something to get something.

Margaret Smith
Yes, I love that conversation. I have that conversation a lot with my my current partner too. He owns a toy store in downtown Everett, and he's had an online toy store for 10 years now. And so we talk about how do you incorporate play into what you're doing? Because if we're not having fun with what we're doing on a daily basis, why are we doing it for so much of our lives? And so that's a huge conversation. Yeah.

Mike Swenson
And if you can incorporate play at a toy store, where can you? What are you doing? Yes, there's a store here. It's now closed down but as a train store, and and so they sell a lot of Toy Trains. And so we would always go there with our kids. And they just had like, you know, 678 different Playstations set up where you can go play with toys awesome. And strategically, it's at the back of the store. So you have to walk past all the trains to get nice, but it's a hangout spot. You know, kids love to go there. They hosted birthday parties there. Because who doesn't want to go play trains at a train store, and then it was also a business. And so that was a fun spot where all of our kids went to for hours and hours on end, and corporated that fun into the toy store.

Margaret Smith
That's a big piece of what I talk about to with clients is you know, what are you because sometimes people come to me and they're so focused on how do I make this much money? How do I do this and bringing in play. They're like, what's the point of talking about this? And I'm like, you're not having fun. and creating what it is that you're creating, then something's missing. There's a feeling of enjoyment with what I get to do every day. So the days fly by now, there's no, I'm not bored. I'm not looking for something else to do. I'm not, you know, there's a different, very different feeling there that I would love everybody to get to experience.

Mike Swenson
So what what would you share with people listening to this that are maybe feeling like they're at some sort of crossroads? Or maybe they feel like they can have more what they're doing right now maybe isn't checking the boxes for them? What would you encourage people to be thinking about, if they're kind of at that spot right now,

Margaret Smith
I would really encourage them to try meditation, if they haven't before. And if they have, and they didn't like it, I would, I would encourage you and challenge you to try it again. And the Miracle Morning is a great book that that's the book that actually got me to try it because I was very much like, I don't think I can sit still. And I'm a very patient person. And I like my quiet time. But meditation was something I really had not ever experienced until about eight years ago. And I tell people use Insight Timer, it's a free app, and then use headphones. Because to block out all the noise from wherever you're at in the world is a really important piece of this. But if you can tap in for just five minutes a day for 40 days, what I'll share with you is that you'll start to be more present. And when you're more present, you can start to recognise what you are enjoying versus what you aren't, and you might actually come upon in solution, it's kind of stumble upon it just by being more present. Because oftentimes, people have an idea actually, of what they want, they just haven't given themselves permission to try it or to play with it, or to actually go for an interview at that company that they've been thinking about for the last six years. Like people kind of know what they want to do, they just sometimes don't slow down enough to realise it.

Mike Swenson
The mini retreat everyday, right? It's getting, in many ways, focusing on yourself versus going somewhere and doing that for a week, you get a chance to guess five minutes, 10 minutes every day, your mini retreat.

Margaret Smith
And what you'll find is I found after about 25 days, I got that same feeling in my body that I get from when I get to lay on a beach in the sunshine, like the weirdest thing, but about day 25. I was like, Why do I feel like I just went to Hawaii and came back is that really relaxation and the stress leaving my body gave me a chance to really be present with myself and realise more and more of what I wanted. And that was really a huge proponent that helped me to have enough feelings of safety and security to leave my job not knowing how I was going to pay my bills. That's

Mike Swenson
awesome. So how can people find out more about you and what you're doing?

Margaret Smith
You can go I love it. when.org my website, check it out. I'm also really active on Instagram, my handles. I love it one LLC or the Margaret Smith. And yeah, I love to connect with people. So even if you just want to book a call with me to get to know more about what I do, I would love that.

Mike Swenson
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story and your journey and, and that yeah, things don't have to take this path that we plan out in our heads, but there's much more depth there and much more fun. Just being able to take risks and do things that people wouldn't naturally think of, for me, somebody that's kind of a financially minded person, an operation minded person, I tend to think in a line and it doesn't have to be that way. And you're a great example of that.

Margaret Smith
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Mike Swenson
Well, thank you so much. And yeah, check out her website. If you're uncertain. You're looking for clarity, definitely talk to Margaret