Episode Summary

In this special episode of “Make Space for More,” host Melissa Swink interviews Lisa Susen-Sullivan, a seasoned real estate broker and multi-passionate entrepreneur. Tune in to hear a frank discussion of Lisa's journey into real estate, the impact of COVID-19 on the housing market, and the emotional aspects of real estate transactions. 

You’ll learn about Lisa’s experiences with outsourcing and delegation in her business, as well as her passion for travel and how she manages her side business. This episode is for you if you want to absorb wisdom about work-life balance, effective communication, and the value of seeking help to grow and scale a business.

Key Highlights:

• Discover why emotional intelligence might be your most valuable asset in building a successful real estate business.
• Learn how strategic outsourcing can transform your business from overwhelming to organized (while actually improving client service!)
• Find out why the most successful real estate professionals are choosing collaboration over competition in today's market.
• Understand how embracing technology and automation can give you the freedom to focus on what truly matters: Building relationships.
• Get the inside scoop on building multiple revenue streams while maintaining work-life balance.
• Learn why setting boundaries with technology might be the key to both better client service and personal peace.

About Our Guest: 

Lisa Susen-Sullivan is the Owner and Broker of Integrity Real Estate Team — a local, independent agency in Wisconsin. She is also President of the Lakeshore Realtors Association (LRA) and the Broker of Choice for Stepping Stone Homes, southwest Wisconsin’s largest new home builder. Colleagues and clients alike have described her as enthusiastic, communicative, and responsive — with a ‘get the job done’ attitude and great sense of humor.

About Melissa:

Melissa Swink, Founder & CEO of Melissa Swink & Co., has a team of virtual assistants who provide administrative and marketing support for small businesses and non-profits.

Since 2012, Melissa and her team have helped more than 100 businesses grow through the services they offer, and she is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs create profitable, scalable businesses they love.

Her work is all about doing what works (and eliminating what doesn’t) and driving real, measurable results. Visit www.melissaswink.com to learn more! 

Thanks for listening!

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Hi everyone, welcome to the Make Space for More podcast where we talk strategies for growing and scaling your business in a way that's authentic and aligned for you. I'm your host, Melissa Swink, and in today's episode, I am very excited to be joined by a long-time client and real estate broker that we work with.

Lisa Susen- Sullivan. I'm going to share a little bit more about Lisa formally in her bio in just a second here, but I'm super excited to have Lisa on the show today because she has been in the real estate business for an extended period of time. She's seen a lot of things over the years. She has been building a team. She, of course, has been leveraging all different types of tools to not only keep herself organized, but also to engage with her clients and promote the properties that she's helping people buy and sell and all the things.

So we wanna get into all of that. But then also, Lisa is a multi-passionate entrepreneur, like so many of us are, where we have kind of our main thing of what we do, but then there's also other business ideas that we have, or maybe there's some side businesses that we're running, in addition to kind of our main gig, if you will. So we're gonna dive into all of those things today. But before we do, I wanna formally introduce Lisa. Lisa Susen- Sullivan.

is the owner and broker of the Integrity Real Estate Team, a local independent agency in Wisconsin. She is also president of the Lakeshore Realtors Association, LRA, and the broker of choice for Stepping Stone Homes, Southwest Wisconsin's largest new home builder. Colleagues and clients alike have described her as enthusiastic, communicative, and responsive.

with get the job done attitude and a great sense of humor. I can attest to all of those things. Lisa, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today and share a little bit more about you and all the different things that you've done and have going on.

Yeah, thank you. I'm happy to be here today.

Thank you. Thank you so much. So before we dive into your real estate career and also, you know, additional businesses that you've got running and just all the things, how you keep it all straight and everything and keep things, you know, running, moving forward, just why don't you tell us a little bit about you?

Sure, sure. Well, I grew up in Southfield, Wisconsin. The brokerage does service Southeast Wisconsin. Married for 30 some years. We always laugh, we're like, it's 30 plus. We don't do the math anymore.

Yes. That's like when somebody asks you how old you are and you're like, wait.

No, right? Like what's important? Yeah. But I have a daughter that lives in Colorado, who's also an entrepreneur. She has her own landscaping business out there. She's 26. Yep. And my son lives here in West Bend, Wisconsin and just bought a house last year. So he's on the move. And my husband is newly retired. So it's a new home, working from home and being at home. It's a lot.

Right.

my gosh!

Yeah. So a lot of like a lot of life changes and things like that. it's, yeah, but it's from the, I would say the Milwaukee, West Bend, Sackville, Port Washington, Ozaukee County area, essentially. Yeah.

Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, I was gonna say you've got a lot of life changes happening in the house. mean, kids are, of course, becoming established adults and laying down roots with buying homes. And I had no idea that your daughter was an entrepreneur as well. That's very cool.

Yeah, yeah, very labor intensive job she has, but she loves it. So yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yes, exactly. If it's something that you're passionate about that just makes all the difference for sure. And your customers feel that too.

Yeah, oh exactly. I laugh because my dad's like, oh my daughter's the only daughter that asks for like tools for Christmas. He loves it. She wants a backpack blower and all that stuff. He's like, my grand boys don't even ask for that stuff. So she's a little tight with grand thought.

my gosh! Yes!

That's awesome. That's awesome. my gosh. And then husband is retired too. So that's new to have him around the house and you're working. And I know a friend of mine is in the same boat. she's like, it's just, it's a total adjustment where kids are out of the house and now spouses are at home.

Mm-hmm. And I have sent my husband out to Colorado to help her. So that's kind of he kind of a cool thing too. You know, I can go spend time with her, but it's free labor for her. So.

Yes, yes, a good day to a good way to like kill two birds with one stone, right? Like we're to help out and then we're also going to spend time, you know, father daughter time. So and then you can and then you have the house yourself. Yes, yes. Is there anything particular in particular, like any fun things that you like to do when you've got the house to yourself? I'm just curious.

Exactly, exactly. Exactly. There's a method to expand this,

So I do like reading a lot, like just sitting on the deck and reading. We do like watching the brewers and that kind of stuff. So a lot of it, and I really don't mind pulling weeds. Like that's my stressor reliever kind of thing. Like I'll just go out and pull weeds. Like, no, no phone are on me, no nothing. And just cleaning up the landscaping. So yeah, it's kind of just like, yeah, just chillaxing actually. Yeah.

I like it. I like it. And mentioned like phone free, just like taking a break from the phone, working with your hands, like even though pulling weeds, it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but it can be meditative too.

Exactly and the oakum looks great. You know your beds look better. So yeah, part of it.

Yes. Do you find that you also get a lot of ideas too when you just step away from technology and you're just working with your hands or you're out reading a book on the deck or just relaxing?

Yeah, I have a few aha moments, know, that when you don't have time to really sit and think about things or take time to plan or, you know, do a deep dive into something. Yeah, I'm like, that makes sense. I'm like, I got to go write it down. I got to write it down.

voice

Mm-hmm.

Yes, yes, I think that sometimes I was just thinking about this when I've got stuff to do around the house. I think it's a 50-50 split. Sometimes I'll get out my Bluetooth speaker and I'll listen to music or I'll listen to podcasts or something. And then sometimes I'm like, you know what, I just want some quiet. Like, especially if it's been a busy week and I could just feel my brain has just been buzzing all week where I'm like, I just need the quiet. Yes, yes.

Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you there.

I love that. So let's talk about real estate. When did you become a realtor? So can you tell us about what that journey was like, how you got into the line of work that you're in?

Yeah, well, for about 15 years, I was in the shopping center industry. went to school for marketing. I graduated from UW-Whitewater marketing. I worked in shopping centers for most of my professional life. And then after the kids kind of got older in high school and stuff, I had worked like 35 minutes from my house. So I'm like, oh, I think it's time for a change and tired of working weekends and holidays and stuff as you know how retail is. So decided to...

Yes.

test the waters and then was a PR position opened up in a local hospital here. kind of, took that for two years. luckily who got out of retail before Amazon hit everything. let's.

Good timing on your part there.

Yeah. And then worked at the hospital about two years and then they had consolidated. So then my position was eliminated, but then I was like, okay, I'm like, I didn't really like it anyway. It was more.

Isn't that interesting how those blessings kind of happen for us sometimes, even though it's stressful in the moment?

Yeah. My husband's like, you're the only person I know that was happy to lose their job. Perfect. And it happened in July. So I June, July, August, and September off because I got a nice severance package. And then I decided what I wanted to do when I grew up. So I had always did commercial leasing at the malls, temporary tenant leasing. And then I had a colleague in West Bend that owned her own brokerage from her husband.

left one of the bigger brokerages and had their own for 15 years prior. For the simple reason that they felt the in the day, the brokerages integrity. And so they started their own brokerage and had different philosophy and stuff like that, which really carried it through to today. I mean, the forethought back then. So I went into residential

Broker, I got my residential real estate license, and then you have criteria to meet before you can get your broker's license in Wisconsin. So I met that criteria and then they were ready to sell that arm of their business. So they sold it to me 10 years ago now or so. and then ever since then I've been, so I took over the name and everything like that. part of the name had to change a little bit for liability reasons, but, so continued on with that because they already had a name in the market kind of thing.

So then after I purchased it, then brought on a couple of agents, know, some go and some stay and stuff like that. But no, I feel we have a really good team of people that are collaborative. I always say we're collaborative, not cutthroat. What's best for everybody. We cheer for everybody. You know, we don't, we always kind of tell our clients, it's not about our pocketbook, it's about your pocketbook, you know? So being a smaller brokerage also.

Yes.

We can be pretty competitive commissions and different amenities and things like that, that, we can offer. So yeah, so that's how my journey kind of began to where I am today. So, um, and then pre during COVID we were real estate was necessary, um, um, uh, industry, which is awesome. And as crazy as it is the COVID years were my best years for business. Interest was low.

Yes.

I mean, we just wore masks to showings. We wiped everything down in people's house. left them and stuff like that. was just, it was a crazy, crazy busy. And that's when I realized, oh my gosh, I need, I need help here. And I can't do all this. So yeah. Yeah.

Yes.

Yes. my gosh. That was, you're right. COVID was very interesting. I mean, it was an interesting time in the world for sure. For a variety of reasons, but you're right. Every realtor that I've spoken to has talked about, you know, COVID just being the busiest time. It was almost like, why do you think that is? I'm just curious from your perspective, from my outside perspective, it's

Yeah. Yeah.

All of a sudden, people were spending a whole lot of time at home and they're like, we need a bigger space. We need a home office. We need a playroom for the kids. Or this house is way too big for us at this point. I think it's time to look for something a little bit smaller, more manageable. I think that being confined to your home really made you rethink your space.

Right. I think that led to a lot of it. would say half of my business then was already looking and didn't stop looking per se. And those are exactly those reasons when you're up like that for that long, you realize this may, I'm able to work from home 100 % now I need more space and the rates were decent back then. mean, totally decent back then. You know, not the two, 3%, but they were still at 4 % and still pretty

Okay, sure.

Yes.

Yes.

and stuff like that. And I mean, there wasn't enough inventory and there was more existing homes. new construction wasn't selling. Well, new construction that was already almost going to be completed where those builders already bought materials for those homes after COVID was done. We had the delay for everything, cabinets, buses, all this stuff that builders get from Canada, especially the lumber.

Yes.

So it was really the existing homes were the be all end all. it was, we were short inventory. So that's when we had 10, 12 offers on one house. And I'm telling people, you put through your best offer. I don't know why you didn't get it. mean, there's 13 other people that didn't get it either. mean, there's only offers on one house. It's crazy. Crazy. So stressful, but crazy.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes. do know a couple who bought their first home during COVID, and it was a very, like you say, very intense bidding war on these homes. they did end up getting the house, but they wrote a letter and they were explaining like, we're getting married this year, you know, we're excited to have a family and-

You know, we were we plan on staying in this home forever. We grew up in this area and they got the house. And so sometimes it didn't even come down to necessarily you provide like the top dollar. But it also, you know, if you had kind of that emotional tie as well, there were just yeah, it was just so interesting.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it was very, yeah, it a very fluid time. That's for sure. I mean, working until three, four in the morning, I could do not, I can not know how many of us that were in small independent brokerages that were like calls will be done, will return calls within 24 hours. Like we couldn't even return calls in a decent amount of time, but people were patient about it. So that was good. You know, they were, they got it kind of thing.

Right. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm thinking too that we even have a team member. I remember that her husband camped out in front of a home at four o'clock in the morning to get in line for a showing because it was going on the market with all these people. Now, this was not in Wisconsin. This was another part of the country. But I'm like, this frenzy is coming back to my mind as soon as you mentioned COVID and real estate.

Yeah, yeah. And sometimes I had that time too if had buyers that kept losing out, losing out. I'd be like, let's just take a week off. Like, this is not, because you need that little break. It gets stressful for buyers as well. Right.

Yeah.

Yes, yep, yep, that rejection stings. Whether it be putting an offering on a home or not getting the job or not getting the project that you've been on. Yeah, sometimes you just need to take a step back, take a breather for sure. Do you feel like sometimes in the real estate world, you're also part therapist sometimes? Or is it like, okay, talk people down off the ledge?

Right. Exactly.

Yeah, kind of thing. then I just laugh because some people share like way too much and I'm like, Oh, I don't need to. Like, like, okay. But you know, some, some people might be in a challenging position, you know, with marriage with family with that kind of thing. So it's just being patient, you know, that way as well. So yeah, totally. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's interesting you mentioned that because I would imagine you do learn a lot about a person or a family based on what they're looking for and why you're going to learn, you know, about their families, their kids. Do they have an aging parent that might be moving in with them or do they need, you know, you're going to hear all the things or I know somebody right now who's looking for a home because she and her husband are empty nesters.

and they love classic cars. So they're looking for a new home with like a huge garage. You're going to learn stuff like that about people along the way. Yeah, absolutely. So you, you know, acquired your company from the previous owners and then you certainly have been growing ever since. What was the first thing that you outsourced or what is the first thing that you hired out where you're like, okay, I'm, you know, I'm

Yes, totally. Exactly.

own this company now or maybe even before you own the company, I should say, but you are gaining success in real estate and you're like, I don't have time to do some of these things anymore. I'm just curious, what are some of the first things that you outsourced?

Well, the first thing that I did was I actually went to a remote office even before COVID to shore up some fixed expenses. I found even before that people, were using Zoom even before COVID doing things remotely or meeting at coffee shops or whatever. I would say a lot of my buyers and sellers at the time were very computer savvy. So was lucky that way that we could just do a Zoom and then share documents and fill them in as we go and that kind of

So I got rid of that fixed expense and then we started getting busy. The admin part of it, which is very important, but it's a time burner where I could be using my time elsewhere. So I hired a VA out of an international one out of the Philippines. So I had her for about a year and things worked out fine. Basic things, not the...

Yes.

Then they had the wherewithal to learn new things I found, like just didn't have the gumption for it. And then she ended up doing her own business. So we had parted ways and then through conversations with other vendors I use in Green Bay and stuff, your name had come up. So that's how I felt it was better using somebody from the USA versus another country with some differential.

Sure. Gotcha.

Okay.

you know, things that might happen with language barriers and kind of stuff like that. So that's when I realized that, boy, and we started getting busy that we needed help for general admin stuff. Like I said, which is important to do. Like that's probably what was keeping me up at three, four in the morning, you know, stuff. So when we started working with the VA from your company, then

Sure, yes, yes.

I think the hardest part was like, okay, what do I want her to do? Like I'm doing so many things. I'm like, what am I, I'm to take time to write down what I want her to do because she's not, she's not going to be successful as much as I can give her the direction kind of thing. So that was kind of funny in my own little office. Like, okay, I got to take four hours. I just got to write this down and what I want to shove off my plate that way. And so it worked out really good because.

Yes.

Yeah.

Marissa is just very smart, intuitive, not afraid to make calls to get more answers for me kind of thing. And then it just kind of, I mean, how many years have I been with you? I'm trying to think.

my gosh, we should, I wanna say four.

Yeah, someone's right. her role has transitioned a lot.

Yes, I would say three or four.

doing more with the real estate and admin for real estate, admin for the business and then admin for real estate as far as documentation flow, communication, internal contracts I need drafted, like that kind of stuff. So she's really meshed into that. And then then I'm like, Hey, how about doing social media? Well, she were working with it. So, you know, that was important. You know, we kind of finding out what,

Yes!

Yes.

Cause obviously I didn't have time to post. I'm showing houses, listings, that kind of thing. and she's better at it than me, essentially. So we searched out some different companies that some pre-populated things and rebranding, as far as that goes. then it meshed to with our website relaunched and doing proofing and stuff like that. So I think a lot of it is I have the, I have the, confidence in her.

to throw something at her, but I was asked, do you have time for a one? Because I don't know her other work, her workload. then, um, to kind of evaluating, um, you know, the evaluating everything that we do. In fact, she helps me with QuickBooks as well. Like she sets my budget every year in QuickBooks and does all that. Um, and she'll be, I just currently asked her, I'm like, let's take a look at my expenses. You as an outsider, where do you think I could compact?

Yes.

Where do you think it's not worth the money that we're spending right now kind of thing. So truly is. and she's also bringing things to the table that she learns from her discussions or other clients are, did you know about this? Or I just learned this, as far as that goes. So that was like, that was off my plate. Like so much. was just like, I'm not a micromanager. I'm like, I'm just giving it to you. If we all make

Mm-hmm.

Love it.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

No big deal. know, things happen. That's part of the learning curve as well too. So anyway, yeah, that was literally the first, I would say successful virtual assistant I had where I feel very comfortable totally throwing stuff at her and just getting her opinion and stuff. And her mom is also a real estate agent. So she's got a little insight into how I felt this.

Yes. Yes.

That's awesome. Yes, yes, I do know that she does have family and real estate for sure. There are so many things that I want to impact. So, you one thing I wanted to acknowledge when you talk about, know, I'm up till like three, four in the morning trying to get things done because in your business and in all of us, our businesses, our organizations, there are key things that absolutely take priority. So for you, that is working directly with your clients.

you're showing homes, putting in offers and all of these things. And so then what happens is all this other stuff kind of gets put on the back burner as it should, because you've got your priorities straight for what you need to be doing. But the problem is then then weeks go by and we realize we haven't posted on social media or then all of a sudden we realize that all this admin work is piling up. So then we're staying up late. We're working evenings. We're pulling,

Mm-hmm. Right.

Saturdays trying to get all this other stuff caught up when we could be doing other things. You know, like sleeping or going to kids activities or catching a movie with a friend or going out for brunch, you know, with your spouse, like whatever that is, you know, it all kind of spills over after a while. So having somebody else to help out with those things is huge.

Mm-hmm, exactly.

Right. And I think part of it too, we have standards for record keeping for Wisconsin. So that kind of stuff is between her and the, the second thing I parceled out was a transaction coordinator. So she handles things from contract to close. now there's communication between those two companies, the TC and the VA that are married together. Now we, with the VA, we kind of figured out the best way to streamline things so that

she would know what's happening immediately without me sending an email. You know, we can do it through real estate software. So that's really important too is if I've ever audited, I have my ducks in a row and things are.

Yes.

100%. And the other thing I want to highlight that you mentioned here is that you're also removing yourself from the middle of being that bottleneck for communication. Like I have my VA, I have my transaction coordinator. You two can talk. I do not need to be involved in everything. Like certainly bring me in if I'm needed, but otherwise you spend your time. Then when you work with multiple people, you...

Right.

You create a situation where you're air traffic controller and everything goes through you and that's a whole nother job in and of itself. Yeah.

Right, exactly, exactly. I don't need that. I trust the people I have in place kind of thing. And you have to, like I can't, I also just do it myself and stay up till four in the morning if you're gonna be meddling in their job.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's not and I mean, that's not sustainable. Like maybe, you know, the some it inevitably happens where sometimes we just get super busy. I have certainly spent, you know, a Sunday afternoon kind of getting caught up from my email from the previous week. If it's been meeting intensive, I've chosen to do that. It doesn't happen often. That happens. But, you know, when it's happening over and over and over again is a general rule. It's like, OK, maybe maybe we're not just going to get caught up one of these days. I'm going to get caught up.

Thank

I mean, we can only say it so many times.

Right, right. Well, sometimes I do like when I need that time to do that, like sometimes I just do just my auto office saying limited email availability for the next two days. People know that I'm not going to respond right away. And that's kind of like my, my me time to let not be, you know, um, not to have to keep looking at it. If it's an emergency, obviously they know where to go on that kind of thing. But I found that very cool. And a couple of, I think it was two years ago.

I started silencing my notifications on my phone. So I have no sound. I don't be like Pavlov's dog and like thing. And then I'm looking at it kind of thing. So I literally turn it off. So now I look at it when I want to look at it. And that has been over a long time. A great thing. A great, yeah. I just look at it when I want to look at it.

Yes.

I love that.

Yes, otherwise these things are just going off like crazy and they're designed to be like that. They're designed to grab your attention. know this.

Yeah.

Right, exactly. Cause they're like, didn't you get my text? I'm like, yeah, I did. I just didn't look at it and time. I that's how it is. If it's an emergency, I figured they'll call. Like if it's really truly an emergency.

Yes.

Yes. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes, 100%. Okay, so I think I've shared this on the show. And granted, this does not work for everyone in every industry. And I would imagine this might not be applicable to you necessarily because you have so many interactions going all the time with clients and with other brokers and just all the different people involved in a real estate transaction. I actually have not had

that's awesome.

I don't because here's what I found is that I found that I would mindlessly check it, know, waiting in line at the grocery store or after I put my daughter to bed and then I'd see stuff and then I'd be thinking about it. And I'm not in a place like I'm not at my computer. I'm not like in a proper place that I can handle any of the things or to, you know, tackle any of the things that are coming through. I'm like, why am I doing this?

Right, right, exactly,

So I didn't put it on and when I got a new phone, I got a new phone. At that time, I've gotten other phones since then. That's like several years ago. Now, I haven't put it back on. Now, certainly I can go in if I need to. If I'm traveling and my team says, hey, you know what, we really need your help with this, I can kind of through the back end of things get into my email if I need to, but it's just not sitting there on my phone.

Yeah.

you take sacs. That's a good idea too. Very good idea. Love that.

Yeah, yeah. But I could see like in your case, and maybe that doesn't apply to every industry where you're on the go so much with showing homes and things where you're not sitting at a desk for so many hours per day where that might not necessarily work for you. So if that's the case, then turning off those notifications is the next best step to be able to have kind of that interruption free or for you to have control over when you're checking this stuff. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Right, exactly, So those little things do make a difference for sure.

Yeah.

Huge, absolutely, absolutely. I think we could have like a subject or a, you know, kind of a secondary subject on this conversation has been like trying to give your brain space with the weeding and the no notifications and getting help from other people. Like this is how we get brain space.

Right? Right, exactly. my gosh, exactly. Totally. Yeah.

Yes, 100%. So I, speaking of brain space, I want to dive into you have, of course, real estate is your primary career, but you also have another company that you're running alongside your real estate ventures. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Yeah. Well, integrity, the people that I bought the real estate brokers from also had a travel company and they held onto that. and they ended up selling it to a friend of mine, about three years ago now since 2015, I started traveling to Europe or going across the pond every year. just said, my kids are older and I'm like, all right, I'm going to do this because I can walk. I can talk. I can see, can hear. I also do this.

And people are like, there's so much in the United States. I'm like, I know there is, but I'll save that for when I can't go over there. So that's my plan when I can't do well, hopefully I'll really do it till I'm 80, 85 years old or something. But unfortunately, you do get to see a lot for a really good dollar over there.

Or do both?

So I've been traveling, traveling every year. And then when my friend took it over, she's like, you should look at doing group tours. And like, I should do that. Because it would be fun because I have done some tours and some independent things. So two years ago when she bought it, she put me on as an agent. Works the same way as real estate a little bit. You have to be under a brokerage of travel to be able to have access to all these perks and stuff like that.

Sure.

Yeah, so we did our first trip in Morocco this year in January. We had the French Riviera coming up in October, Peru in February, and then we have working on Africa for next fall. So my goal would be to like to do four group tours a year. I have a great list of past customers that have come with me, fellow colleagues, friends and family that have joined me. It's really been

really fun because travel's fun. Everybody likes looking at pictures and what you can do and see and hear and it's everybody's happy on vacation and stuff like that. Happy to do it. So that's like my stress reliever too, because I'm like, where can I go? Like one of my things is every morning I go to Google Explorer or Kayak Explorer and I put in Chicago and I leave the destination open. I say travel within that six months and then it brings up the map of the world and then it tells you what airfare is for that day.

Yes.

my gosh.

So you can get on it and see all the flights and yada yada. So it's kind of just like, if I could go anywhere today and book something. I know those are two great resources I'm telling everybody about if you're just not sure where you want to go or just want to see what flights are for a particular location. Right, right. So I actually use the site for Nice France in.

Okay.

That is so fun.

where you can get a deal. Like, hey, I've got a long weekend coming up.

And I was able to save more money there than going to the airline directly. So their contract with Google was better than going to the airlines. yeah, so my goals to do four trips a year with friends, family, colleagues, past clients and stuff like that, more cultural, experimental, experiential, I should say, that we're not sitting around on a beach. Like I'm kind of done with those kinds of vacations. Those are kind of great.

I do like a mix of culture relaxation kind of thing. So I look for those kinds of things. So I set up a website called lisa, the travelers.com where we have our trips loaded up to, and then we have a separate social media page for it. And then my VA helps me with writing, doing the post for that as well and doing some blog writing for that as well. So that I thought is something I can do when I kind of semi-retire, but kind of get my dabbling, my.

Hmm

feet in that realm. So that's really fun. It's my side hustle right now because real estate is busy. It's my primary, but I like doing it on this. I like doing it as much as I like pulling weeds. Because it's just, you know, the world is your oyster kind of thing. And it's just what interests people and things like that. So yeah.

Yes.

Hahaha!

Yeah.

And if it's something that you're passionate about, people are drawn to that and they want to join you. They want to be part of it.

Yeah. Cause I always say, I'm like, we only want fun people on the trips. I always tell people something's going to go wrong. Something always goes wrong. Like my website is set up. like you have to be flexible, resilient, happy. We picked certain adjectives to describe what it's like to travel with me and, you know, be able to switch gears quickly and stuff like that. Cause always nothing ever goes a hundred percent the way it is, but that's just part of travel probably for any anywhere, you know, anybody would go. So.

Yeah.

Yes, yes, absolutely. And that's also part of like, I think going with the flow on vacation where I feel like, especially for me and those of us who are more type A where it's just like, we have our routines, we have things, everything's in their place. And then you go on vacation, just kind of like, whatever happens, happens. But in this case though, and you know, going on a trip with somebody like yourself or working with a travel agent, if something goes wrong, somebody else can handle it.

Thank

Right, exactly.

and help you fix it, whatever it might be. You you missed your flight or like what, like the connection or whatever. There's other people there who can help solve the problem.

Absolutely. Absolutely. That's the way we set it up too. That way Ohio has a backup resources for things like that for sure. So yeah.

Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. I love it because you've created that you have this passion and you've also created the space in your life to be able to pursue it, even when real estate is busy.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I love it.

That's fantastic. That's fantastic. Lisa, you have shared so many golden nuggets throughout, you know, sharing your story and just kind of how you work and how you manage things behind the scenes. I want to give our audience an opportunity as well. You have a free home valuation that you offer. So can you share a little bit more about that? Maybe, you know, is it restricted to a particular location? Are you able to assist, you know, clients from anywhere? Like, can you talk a little bit about that?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So if you go to Lisa, S U L Y.com, that's, we'll take you to homebot, which is you can put in your address and you can put in information about your home. So if the system doesn't recognize it through bedrooms too fast, you can go and edit it. It's very user friendly, but then every month you will get a report about your house, how it's trending within that market is for the whole country. So it doesn't matter. And by the way, I have my license in Florida also. So I am licensed in Florida and here.

but this site is good for checking your home's value. But once you set it up, you'll get a report the first of each month. But you can go in, you can change your mortgage payoff. You can go in and see, hey, if I take a Mediterranean cruise with my equity of my home, is that a good idea? So I always say, you swipe up, right, up and down. There's a lot of data information in there. And then if you feel that your home is like it's off, like you feel it's off for pricing,

Yes.

in Wisconsin, you can email me directly and just say, Hey, can you, can I just do a manual comp for your house? And I definitely do that. I can't do it for other States other than Florida. Cause I don't, I'm not members of MLSs. But it's a good quick peek at your house. And then, like I said, you get a report every month. So it works out really good. I don't stalk you. I don't call you or anything for your information. Thanks.

Okay.

Very cool.

Yes. I was going to say, so purely for informational purposes. So whether you're thinking about selling your home or not, or looking at, like you say, can I use the equity to do X, Y, or Z, it's just purely for your information, especially as people are looking at the year ahead and thinking about going on that trip or investing in that thing or moving. Upgrading, downsizing, whatever that might look like, it's just information.

Yeah, exactly.

Mm-hmm.

before they start having conversations with builders.

Right, and I always tell people don't be afraid to call me to do that work that you want done. It's okay, there's no obligation, there's no contract, there's no nothing like that. We pride on ourselves on the free service to be like just a real estate resource for people with no contractual obligations.

100%. Lisa, it has been delightful having you on the show. Thank you so much again for your time. I want to thank our audience as well. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. There were so many great takeaways, action items, maybe stepping away from the electronics, doing some work with your hands to clear your head, get the ideas, monitor the notifications, look at where am I putting things on the back burner and ...

I'm sorry.

See

When do I find that I'm having to get caught up on things? What are those things? All kinds of ideas for things that might be able to be outsourced, delegated. Lisa, you've shared so much with us. So I hope that our audience has taken away a few nuggets as well. So again, thank you so much everyone for your support of the show. And I am looking forward to being back next week with another episode of Make Space for More. Have a wonderful day, everyone. Bye-bye.

Yeah.