The beautiful thing about real estate is there are many avenues to success and even more  ways to approach it. Bringing over skills from other industries can be a major benefit for people making a career transition into becoming a REALTOR®.

Just ask Ryan Elliott and Katharina Lenz, two REALTORS® who have experienced the professional and personal benefits of making the switch from previous careers into real estate. They share the motivation behind their move, the skills they were able to transfer into their new careers, and why the decision is one they’re proud of today.

Transcript

Shaun Majumder: You didn't realize how much blood, sweat, and tears you had to put into it.

Ryan Elliott: I had no idea.

Katharina Lenz: I've been always interested in homes, how homes are built.

Ryan: Put your hard hat on, Ronnie.

Shaun: Hard hat, Ronnie. I told you.

Shaun: Everyone's path to becoming a REALTOR® is unique. It's different. There is no one way to becoming a REALTOR®, but for those who choose to become a REALTOR®, they bring with them so many different skill sets, so many different experiences. To make that transition from the old life to the new life is amazing to see. Today, we're so excited to talk to two REALTORS® who left their old life behind and are now thriving in what they do as productive REALTORS®. They're here to tell us their story. I'm so excited to have on the show Ryan Elliott and Katharina Lenz. Welcome to REAL TIME.

You found your calling, guys. You are now REALTORS® and have been for a little bit, but you've not always been REALTORS®, and here we are. This is so exciting to talk about. You guys have not been REALTORS® your whole lives, then you jumped into this career a little bit later. As a lot of us do, we find new paths and new journeys. I'm really curious about why you guys chose becoming a REALTOR® as your next path in life. Also, tell me a bit about who you are, where you come from, and what it was that drew you to wanting to become a REALTOR®.

Let's start with Katharina. Sorry if I put on the accent because-

Katharina: Oh, that's perfect.

Shaun: -I just love the name. Katharina.

Katharina: That's perfect.

Shaun: I love it.

Katharina: My name is Katharina. Originally from Colombia, but been in Canada for 10 years. Moved to New Brunswick four years ago and decided to pursue the real estate career. I've always worked in homes. Also, I was a cabinetmaker and I was an interior designer before. It's a three-year apprenticeship in Germany, which I did before coming to Canada.

Shaun: Where did you come to in Canada?

Katharina: I started out in Calgary, but then moved to Victoria, BC. That's where I studied interior design and worked for a little while there. Until COVID hit, and then the house prices, of course, so I decided to move over to the Atlantic, just across Canada, drive for two weeks.

Shaun: Wait, you said you drive for two weeks?

Katharina: Yes. I have a bulldog.

Shaun: How long ago was this?

Katharina: Four years ago. It was during the pandemic. It was a fun drive.

Shaun: Yes, I bet. I've been there. I did that myself. Then you came to New Brunswick, of all places. Amazing province. Tell me about that transition.

Katharina: When I arrived here, I decided to pursue the real estate career. Obviously, it was pandemic, so it was a very hard transition, but I felt like I wanted to help families settle. For me, coming here alone, trying to get into the system, find any connections, it was really hard, so I wanted to be that person for the families here. They could have that one point where they could find support and help to settle down.

Shaun: That's interesting. You had your own experience to draw from. Was it an easy transition for you to get settled in New Brunswick?

Katharina: It was mostly, I think, hard because of the pandemic, so it was hard to actually go out and socialize. Once everything started opening up, it was a little bit more easier to actually connect with people. You could see the urge of people wanting to connect in person, wanting to meet up, wanting to talk, and finally come back to a normal life.

Shaun: What was it about real estate specifically that drew you to wanting to become a REALTOR®?

Katharina: I wanted to go into real estate when I was in BC. Since I decided to move, it didn't make sense to pursue it there because in every province, it's different. I've been always interested in homes, how homes are built, how families actually make a house a home. That's what drew me to start real estate.

Shaun: Did you find a lot of like-minded people when you got to New Brunswick?

Katharina: Actually, a few. Yes. My REALTOR®, which I used when I bought my property here, I started out with her. I joined her team. That helped me a little bit to start with the connections and actually start getting settled here.

Shaun: That's such a great Canadian story, too. It sounds like a Tim Hortons commercial, I’m not gonna lie to you. Girl leaves Colombia, goes to Germany, little woodworker, gets her skillset, goes to Victoria, starts becoming an interior designer, pandemic hits. Give me a double-double, and then she ends up in New Brunswick and becomes a REALTOR®. That's amazing. It sounds exactly like a perfect commercial. Now, Ryan Elliott, on the other hand, he was already out here. Ryan, I'm going to use the accent of your people to say your name. Ryan. Ryan. He's from Newfoundland.

Ryan: Exactly that. I've had family members, they just call me Ryan. I'm originally from the Northern Peninsula of the province, actually, in Bear Cove, if you know where that is.

Shaun: I do.

Ryan: Then moved to Mount Pearl. I always say that's where I made my mistakes. Grew up in Mount Pearl, and now I live in St. John's. Prior to that, I worked occupational health and safety.

Shaun: What does one do in occupational health and safety? I hear those terms all the time, but I never quite understood what an occupational health and safety worker does. Tell us about that.

Ryan: With that role, you are responsible for, I guess, managing a work site for safety, health parameters, environment as well. Just the overall management for the workers to make sure that they get home safe at the end of the day. I did that for 10 years.

Shaun: Would you be kind of like, "Steve, glasses. Steve, I told you about the glasses."

Ryan: It was exactly like that. Exactly like that.

Shaun: Oh, Steve, too.

Ryan: Put your hard hat on, Ronnie.

Shaun: Hard hat, Ronnie. I told you. Oh, very good. You were in a bit of an authoritative kind of place, but what were the skills that you had to do during that time? Were you in an office? Were you on the site a lot, dealing with people? How was that?

Ryan: From, I guess, to the end of that career, I started out in a work site. First was offshore. From there, I went to Western Canada, worked in the oil sands, and that was all site work. A little bit of office administration as well. Then from there, I came back to the province, worked with our utility company here. Again, that was, I guess, an equal share between site and office. You play that management role, so you're always dealing with people, you're always communicating, and also, how to have those hard conversations is really important.

Shaun: Like, "Steve, put on your helmet." You did 10 years of that. Katharina, you did multiple things, and then the pandemic hit. It sounds like the pandemic was somewhat of a motivator for change. I mean, it was for millions of people across the planet. Did that have something to do with this new realization that maybe becoming a REALTOR® is something that you would like to pursue? What were the things that triggered? What was the draw to becoming a REALTOR®, Ryan?

Ryan: For me, for the position that I was in at the time, it was 8:00 to 4:00 . My daughter was two years old, and she was going to bed at 6:00 . I was like, I got nothing else to do. I'm a little bored with my time. I went and picked up, at the time, two flips. One was a new build, one was an older home. When they were just about complete, I called my agent at the time and said, "Hey, I got these two projects. They're almost complete and ready for sale." He came back and said, "Well, I'm in Florida. I'm no longer an agent there." I could do this myself. I went and got my license, and right out of the gate in 2020, I did have two new listings. That helped.

Shaun: Did you have any inkling before of wanting to become a REALTOR®?

Ryan: It was always something on my mind. Again, where I worked away was something that I really couldn't do and fulfill. I think a lot of that comes back to ignorance at the time, because you look at it and you think, "Okay. Well, you're just showing houses, your phone's going to ring," but that's not the case at all. Now that I'm in this and I'm looking at all the hats that I have to wear, it's like, "Oh, wow. You can't have this job."

Shaun: No. I want to come back to expectations in a little bit, but I'm really fasc