I’ve wanted to be in real estate for more than 20 years, but the time just wasn’t right. Until I’d had enough life experience to allow me to serve a broad client base and relate to them on a personal level, the doors just wouldn’t open. I’m thankful that time finally came after I reached my 40’s, got a little grey hair, and learned to listen to others with the singular goal of doing nothing more than helping them exactly where they were.
I’ve traveled the globe as a professional musician and spoken to audiences as a corporate and student speaker all over the U.S, but I always knew I would come back home to my favorite city, my hometown, and dig down deep. After playing over 1500 concerts, visiting 49 states (the missing one is obvious if you play in a band with a bus), and being gone from home an average of 150 nights per year, it was time to hang up the sticks.
I resigned from my former band Big Daddy Weave the week we had the #1 song in the country with Redeemed. I left the band without a solid backup plan. I just knew it was time to make the jump!
(Watch below to see me with a VERY different haircut!)
After leaving the band, I immediately got my insurance license in hopes of selling insurance to every person I knew. Needless to say, that did not happen. In fact, during my short-lived, four-month insurance career, I sold two policies. Both of them to myself!
As soon as I pulled the plug on my insurance detour, I began to focus more on growing my custom drumstick business, Custom Stix, which I started while in the band, and began getting more speaking requests from youth organizations and corporate clients as well. This was certainly a fun time for me, but I wasn’t connecting with my purpose in life like I knew was possible. I wanted so much more. I needed so much more! So, in a last-ditch effort to find what I was supposed to do in life, I traveled to Las Vegas for a 2-day mastermind group dedicated to pouring gasoline on your dreams while bringing clarity and focus to your path. Believe it or not, that is exactly what happened.
Flying home from Vegas, I began putting together a plan of how I would begin taking the next steps of my career. I knew I loved public speaking and I knew I loved real estate, I just had no idea how they would all come together.
The following week I began prepping for my real estate exam. Studying became my job and I often studied in excess of seven hours per day. After passing it on my first attempt with an A nonetheless, I sold my first property less than a month later.
Fast-forward to where I am today and you will hear me say almost daily how I am still in shock of what has transpired. Working in the real estate industry is like a dream come true. I don’t want others to think I have an unhealthy relationship with my career, but I could honestly do it 24/7! I don’t, of course, but I could.
I have come to realize the pieces of the puzzle were being strategically put in place one piece at a time. I couldn’t explain what was happening at the moment or how it would all work out, but I can see now that everything had a purpose.
Having a degree in psychology, running an international custom drumstick business for 11 years, traveling the globe and playing on stage in front of thousands, speaking to corporate America on the foundations of customer service, and shooting videos for my miniature baseball bat business have all prepared me for the career I now have. Each step brought its own set of challenges, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
In the pictures below you will see two things that are significant in my life when it comes to real estate. The first pictures show me as the number one agent at the Keller Williams office in Mobile. AL for 2021, 2022, and 2023. These rankings are only a reflection of how many people I’ve helped. That is it. The bottom picture shows my assistant Avery Smith. She is the glue that holds it all together. If you and I get to work together, she will become your new best friend. She allows me to spend time with my clients doing the things that matter most.
In the picture below you will see the reason behind why I do it all. I could not do it without my amazing wife Stephanie. She has put up with some crazy ideas through the years, but she has always believed in me. For that, I am eternally grateful. To my daughters, well, I can’t begin to tell what they mean to me. I can remember praying for a job that would allow me to be more involved in their lives. Today, I don’t take for granted that I have that exact job.
This is just a glimpse into how I ended up on this path. Each morning I wake up excited for the day to begin. I pray that never changes because I couldn’t dream of doing anything else!
