Social Media, Serhant, and Stepping Out: Perrin Duvall’s Year of Bold Moves

My guest on today’s podcast is Perrin Duvall, a dynamic force in the Virginia Beach real estate scene and a personal friend. Perrin’s journey is both heartfelt and strategic—beginning in full-time ministry, pivoting through a career change, and eventually building one of the most recognizable personal brands in our local market.

In this episode, Perrin shares how she followed her instincts into real estate and soaked up everything she could to build a strong foundation early on. We talk about what it means to work on your business, not just in it, how social media became her most powerful tool, and the critical decision to step into solo entrepreneurship.

She opens up about the courage it took to hire her first team members, partner with Serhant, and build a brand rooted in authenticity, local love, and strategic risk-taking. You’ll also hear her thoughts on team building, overcoming comparison, and why she’s so passionate about mentoring the next generation of agents.

Connect with Perrin:

perrinduvall.com

@perrinduvallrealestate 

Transcript:

Welcome back to the Real Estate Success Podcast. I'm Leland Gross, certified financial planner and the founder of PeaceLink Financial Planning and Accounting, where we help realtors manage their finances and grow their businesses.

My guest on today's podcast is Perrin Duvall, a dynamic force in the Virginia Beach real estate scene and a personal friend my wife and I have admired for years. Perrin's journey is both heartfelt and strategic, beginning in full-time ministry, pivoting through a career change and eventually rising to build one of the most recognizable personal brands in our local market. In this episode, Perrin shares how she followed her instincts into real estate, We talk about what it means to work on your business, not just in it, how social media became her most powerful tool, and the critical decision to leave her team and step into solo entrepreneurship. She opens up about the courage it took to hire first team members, partner with Serhant and build a brand rooted in authenticity, local love, and strategic risk-taking. You'll hear her thoughts on team building, overcoming comparison, and why she's so passionate about mentoring the next generation of agents.

And so with that introduction, I hope you enjoy this episode of the Real Estate Success Podcast with Perrin Duvall.

All right, welcome, Perrin, to the Real Estate Success podcast. Thanks for being here. Thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited. Of course. Perrin has been a longtime friend of mine and my wife's. And I've told you multiple times that I just respect you as a businesswoman in our community because you're so, you're a powerhouse. So I'm excited for the listeners to hear your story. But first, tell the listeners who is Perrin Duvall?

Yeah. So I was born and raised in Virginia Beach and I love it here. I only went away to JMU and then came back quickly. But I was on staff with Young Life, a ministry that is throughout the country, throughout the world. And I was actually a leader at my old middle school. And then I was on staff for about three years and they wanted me to move elsewhere. So I won't get into that too much right now, but that's kind of where the estate part started.

But I have all my family here, which is why I wanted to stay here. My sister is five minutes down the street. My parents are five minutes down the street. And my sister has two nephews that I am super obsessed with. but yeah, Virginia Beach, born and bred and love it here.

That is awesome. So came back from college, hometown roots, and then had your job, but they wanted you to basically relocate you. And so you're looking for something else. Why real estate?

Great question. I was, it was a summer that I took to kind of figure out like, what do I want to do next? And some of you may have heard of the, what color is your parachute book, which is a book that helps people find what their career should be. And so I did that whole book and there's like, you you write your gifts, your skills, all these things. And, and so I still didn't get anything like any direction, I guess, from that.

And then I was at my sister's house one day, it was the summer, she had just gotten married. And I just remember sitting in her family room being like, I should do real estate. And she was like, what? And I was like, I should do real estate. Like I love relationships, that's why I'm on Young Life staff. And then side note, my mom started real estate when I went to college. So at this point she had been a realtor for eight or nine years.

And I was like, mom and I are wired very similarly. We love houses, we love design, we love people. And I knew I did not want a desk job after getting to be in charge of my own schedule. I really wanted to have that flexibility. And so I was like, I'm gonna study to get my license. And both my parents were kind of like, you know, there's a lot of fees upfront. Like you're not gonna make money for a long time. Like I think we're just a little skeptical of it maybe, but.

Yeah, I wanted to take the leap and so started studying and then I was able to pass the test, which I know there's a lot of real readers that listen to this. It's hard to do and but yeah, anyway, so I passed the test and then I was able to join Stephanie Clark's team.

So for listeners, we actually had Stephanie Clark on the podcast a handful of episodes ago, so you can go back and listen to that. She also has a really great story.

So you're taking the summer, as you were saying, like the, what color is your parachute book? I was like, I should link down the show notes. And you're like, it didn't really help. Okay, nevermind.

It is a good resource, but I feel like there's so much that goes into trying to figure out what your next career should be. Totally. So maybe it gave me some direction, but.

And then you're with your sister and you're like, okay, mom's become a realtor over the last, you know, six to eight years.

doing it, but then your mom had, it sounds like she was the one that was like, it's really expensive. made it like she had the apprehensions even though she was doing well at that point.

Yeah. Oh yeah. For sure. I think maybe their fear was that I was so young. At this point I was 26. And so I don't know. Maybe they were like, you don't have like friends that are buying houses yet. I don't know what it was, but yeah, they finally got over that now. And now they, when I tell this story, my parents both say, we did not, we were very supportive of you. I'm like, I don't know.

That is such a parent move. yeah. How the story changes looking backwards. And now your dad's in real estate. I know, it is. It's so funny. Okay, so you jump on Stephanie Clark's team. You're 26. What was that like? Okay, like day one, go into my new job.

Yeah, it was a big, transition to go from full-time ministry and then what felt like a very, to me felt like a corporate job. so I, but Stephanie is amazing. She, you should definitely listen to that podcast because she has so much wisdom and knowledge, not just about real estate, but just life. And so I respect her a lot as a leader. And the first day she had a big sign that said, parents. She had balloons. She had, you know, my desk all laid out for me. So it was really fun. And then she takes you and introduces you to the whole office. But I started shadowing her and she had very hands-on training, which I loved. So I got to follow her to every single appointment, whether it was in the office, at a house, showing houses. It was so good for me to see like how she interacted with clients and even just the way she spoke. Like I catch myself saying a lot of things even today that she would say in front of clients. So yeah, she was a fantastic mentor. My favorite thing is when I interviewed with her, the first question she asked was, what's your Myers-Briggs? And I think she still asks everybody, what's your Myers-Briggs and what's your Enneagram? Because it tells so much about a person when you know, especially the P and the J, that's where she would know if somebody was good fit for admin or would do well.

Yeah, my mom's a J and so she, or sorry, she's a P and so she always needs that like extra admin help. And so it was good to know as a leader, how are your agents gonna need that support? That's really interesting. And honestly, something that I feel like my team has said is like, we need to dig down into these things. Like, what are your strengths? What is your personality type? What are your weaknesses? To know like who should be in what seat. And if we're gonna bring on a new staff member, what seat are we looking for and therefore like what, cause I don't think I could even tell you what my Myers-Berg is other than like, I think there's an E in there for extravert. I'm like, I'm just like a 99.9 % there. That's about what I got there. Okay. So you come in with Stephanie, she's obviously also a powerhouse and is providing hands-on training to you. And what did that look like? Was it, you know, you're going to listing appointments with her, you're going to like, what did the hands-on look like? Because the reason I ask is,

So many agents come in and join a team because you don't know what you don't know and it's better to have a smaller percentage of a watermelon than 100 % of a grape. And so, you know, to be on the team really gives you that experience, that support, but some teams or some team leaders are just more helpful than others. It's not like all teams are cut from the same cloth, but Stephanie has a proven record of, you know, being able to help people. So what did that look like for you? Like what was helpful there? Yeah.

So we did the hands-on like every day, like she'd tell me like, let's meet here, let's, or, you know, come with me and we'll drive to this listing appointment or whatever it is. The other thing about being on a team that's so great is that you have, at that point, I think there were six or seven agents. So she would ask people to let me know when they had appointments and I would get to go and see them do open houses or watch them do a showing. Cause I think everybody has such different ways, there's not like a, know, one way's the right way sort of thing. So it was fun to see everybody's ways of doing real estate. But we would sit down for training for two hours every week and she had a manual that we would go through. And I am such a learner and I love like knowing things and so a lot of times even if Stephanie didn't tell me like I would go try to find the answer myself and one of the things I wanted to do was like memorize the whole contract and all the buyer disclosures and I can remember this one time Stephanie was gonna like quiz me on the buyer disclosures and she had a nail appointment and so she's like just come to my nail appointment. I was poor at that time. But she was sat there and I just like read off all the buyer disclosures. And I was like, wait, this is so fun. Like I'm at the nail salon and doing real estate. But yeah, so she just was so good about, and then I think one of the things that the training, what made training so beneficial was that at the end of every appointment, she would give me the why behind certain things she did. know, like when I went to a listing appointment, I took lots of notes because sellers like to see that you're really involved in like, you know, taking lots of notes about their house, things like that. So it wasn't just like watching her. was also explaining why she did certain things.

Yeah. I mean, that is so helpful. Lindy and I, my wife were talking even just parenting styles the other night and I was like, I don't feel like there were a lot of rules growing up and no one ever explained why, if that makes sense. so I'm like, for our kids, I really want to make sure that we're doing that. And same thing for my team as well, like translating into a work thing is like, it's helpful to instill like, hey, this is what I do. And this is why it's important versus just, well, this is how we've always done it. Or this is just, it is what it is. And I do feel like in business settings, you can get to the point where it's like the like deadly seven words, like we've always done it this way kind of thing. Versus, know, hey, this is why.

this is the importance of it and things like that. so not necessarily transitioning from Stephanie, but for you, you then really started taking off in your own regard and really achieving quick success. wasn't just it didn't feel at least from my perspective, it didn't feel like, just like flippant one good year, one big deal. Like you really got systems in place. You really got business focused and grew your business in your brand. So

What did that look like? Like what were the keys to success for you, even with Stephanie Clark team, but like building Perrin?

Yeah. Yeah. So I came in at 2018 is when I got licensed. So I had about two years before COVID happened. And then we all know what happened with real estate in those years. So it was kind of, it almost tricked me in a way, I guess, because I had so many clients from like 2020 to 2022. And I...

It was so busy that I barely had time to focus on anything behind the scenes. I was working on my business—or not working on my business, I was working in my business. And so a lot of my systems kind of fell out of place at that point. Beforehand I had been blogging, I had been really good about social media, but things were just so busy. So then when rates went up, was like 2023 I think was the year that my volume just plummeted and I was like, oh no. So I quickly realized like, okay, I've got to get these systems back in place. And so I decided blogging kind of wasn't my thing anymore. And I was like, I'm going to go all in on social media. And so I had to make that conscious decision of not to be fearful. Cause I think I just kept thinking like, what are others going to think about me if I, you know, put my brand out there and I feel like I was tiptoeing around being on social media, but I finally was like, you know what, I'm going to post, post, post, and people can think what they think, and if they don't want to follow me, that's fine. But it actually has been so great, and social media has been probably the number one thing to contribute to my successful past couple of years. So through being on Stephanie's team, I went all in on social media. I started really branding myself.

Focusing in on things like I eat out a lot. So was like, here's local restaurants, which I do post a lot. And then just like things to do, all of those sorts of things and made guides that people can download. so through all of that, I was like, okay, I'm getting leads through this and business through it. and then I also just kept a lot of my own system. So like the team had their CRM, but I had my own CRM. I would do my own like e-newsletters and mailers and things like that, in addition to what the team was doing. I kind of was able to still do my own thing, which I love that Stephanie gave us the freedom to do that, but also use what the team was offering.

And then, so 2020, 2021, great years, throw a rock and hit a home buyer.

Just everyone, yeah, bring it back. And then, know, rates go up, prices go up, volume dramatically decreases. And now it's kind of for you, you would say the catalyst to like, all I need to get some other systems in place, some levers that I can keep pulling to say, even if, you know, volumes down, my production is up, which led to your 24, which my understanding was very successful and.

I would say 24 was still a year, at least in our local market, where volume was actually, or like inventory was still very low. And so for you, that was, you would say like that was a lot of your branding and social media and just being active. Like when people are on, it's like real estate Perrin real estate Perrin, real estate Perrin. And then, so then when they finally are like, oh, I'm ready to do something or I need, someone's looking for a realtor. It's like, oh, I know a girl.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It really does help like, there were direct leads from it, but really staying top of mind was like the number one thing. Like people I've, you know, went to high school with that still follow me from those days. I've gotten to help a lot of high school friends, which has been so fun. Or college friends that knew somebody moving to Virginia Beach or moving to Virginia Beach themselves. Like it's just been the number one way. And it's the probably one of the cheapest marketing tools too. Like I don't really pay anything. So it's great.

How do you know? Cause I mean, and this is, like coming from hearing other people on the podcast and like my own, like I am totally the lurker on social media. I'm like, I will be the guy like in the corner just watching what everyone's doing, but not posting. And so I'm like, if you go to like my personal page, it's like a post three times a year. It's like my son's birthday, my anniversary and my wife's birthday. And I guess now it'll be like my daughter's birthday, but like four posts a year is basically what I do. But my experience is like the algorithm changes like.

It's hard to just keep up with trends. Like how do you, how do you manage that? Cause I feel like it can be a full-time job in addition to, I've got a showing and an open house and a listing and a listing appointment and you know, all the other pieces that you're doing. All the real estate stuff.

So I have a few people that I follow that are real estate, like marketing people specifically and I always have to give this girl a shout out because I think she's brilliant. so Agent Toolkit is who I use for a lot of my social media. So I don't want to take credit for some of it. I use her for some and then I actually hired somebody in March. But Agent Toolkit, highly recommend. Amber is awesome. She will give ideas for the content and then you put it together with your own videos and things like that.

But along with that, she also helps us stay abreast on all of the different changes. Because you're right, it changes so frequently. Like one day they're saying, reels will get you the most followers. And then the next day they're saying carousel posts will get you the most followers. And so she will email us and let us know anytime that those things are happening. And then we can tweak our content based on that. 

Yeah, so even I know there's like coffee and contracts a lot of people use. There's a lot of different, and it seems like there are more and more to fit different people. Like, you know, not everybody will relate to what Amber's posting, but she speaks like me and the things she posts about are very similar to me. But there might be another one out there for somebody else that might fit their vibe.

So I want to transition because you've had a very exciting year this year, which is amazing for the fact that you've also produced a ton this year amidst all of the changes. So why don't you share with the listeners kind of the latest and real estate.

Yeah, it's been a wild year and I going into 2025 did not see a lot of it happening or actually any of it happening. So it's been fun to see, just how it all has played out. So the first change is that I did leave Stephanie's team in July and it was really hard. Like I and I think you know a lot of people knew that it was going to come eventually but the timing of it I just didn't know when would be right but I had prayed about it a lot and just felt like the Lord was saying okay it's time and Stephanie and her greatness was like I knew this was coming too and she gave me her blessing and has cheered me on. it's been really fun to keep that friendship with her and working relationship with her.

So in July that happened and then I, so I did hire Caitlin who has done marketing for me back since March. So while I was on the team and since I have been off on my own. So then it was Caitlin and myself went for a couple months and then I hired my sister actually at the end of August and she is my transaction coordinator and kind of ops manager so she has been working for me part-time and then Shannon is also my stager and runner so she does a lot of the things in the field that I might not have time to do put signs out put flyers out all that sort of stuff so there's been four of us and then earlier this year I was doing coaching through a company called Serhant Some of you may know Ryan Serhant. He was on Million Dollar Listing back in the day and then Owning Manhattan is his most recent show. you gonna be on that? I am going to New York for the premiere party. That's fun. Yeah, I'm so excited.

But yeah, so he has a coaching program. And so I joined that in January and got hooked up with my coach, Kayla, who has been so great. my gosh, I don't even have words to say like how much she's taught me, how much she's pushed me, how much, I don't know, she just, I didn't, I was like, you know, I'm gonna take a risk with this investment and even if it gets me like one more sale, it'll pay for itself. So, but it like doubled my business this year. So it was totally worth it. Yes.

So yeah, so I did coaching through Serhant and then I met with Kayla in New York in March for brunch. Like I was up there for something else and I told her, was like, if Serhant ever came to Virginia Beach, I would definitely give it a chance. But I was thinking five years down the road, like three to five years, not thinking anytime soon. Serhant has been expanding rapidly. It's in 14 states now and they just opened in the DMV area including Virginia, in August, I think, at the end of August. And then they were deciding where their next market would be. And my real estate bestie, Jean, and I both signed up for coaching at the same time. Our coaches are actually best friends too. And so we all went to a conference for Serhant in September and met the broker of the DMV. Long story short, Serhant Virginia Beach launched.

And there's about six of us that are on this initial launch team. And it has been so fun. we, the group that I get to do this with I already feel like we're family and we get to go to this premiere party together on Friday. And yeah, I'm just really excited for what this brand will bring to my business and to my client's business. Just being so media focused fits what I've been doing with my brand and so yeah, it's very exciting.

So earlier this year, I don't think I knew this, when you originally stepped out on your own, risk number one, Serhant wasn't even on the plan yet. Wow, okay, because those really felt like back to back, like this must have been the plan, which I did have the thought of like, interesting that she stepped out on her own and then I wonder if that was like, you just had to have your own before you made that switch.

Wow, that is a lot to, I'm thinking about poor sweet Caitlin doing all the branding work, all the marketing. She's had content to put out. She has had content, but I felt so, when all this came, like we had finally gotten in a little bit of a groove since just being on my own. And then the Serhant thing came about and I told them about it. And my sister's eyes were like.

Okay, and I was like, well, she was like, maybe you shouldn't do anything until like January, you know, like, let's just like wait. But then Kayla, my coach was like, I really think you should be a part of this initial like team, you know, and be part of the launch team there, because she was part, she was Ryan's first hire up in New York. Anyways, and so I was like, are you sure? was like, it's been so much like chaos recently, da da. And she was like, well, why not add chaos to chaos? And I was like.

Okay, I know. Let's just get it over with. Throwing little bit more fire into a burning building isn't going really help or destroy it. So true. So true. Yeah, so we did it. And yeah, I'm glad I didn't wait till January. And they've been amazing. The whole team has been on board. And the day we launched, we had team meeting and we meet at my house and they got there early and I pulled into the driveway and they had champagne and balloons and we got to celebrate. So that is so fun. And so

What does that, and this is probably my ignorance, I know that every brokerage is different. Obviously, Serhant is very media focused. They also have, their name is blowing up. They've got this whole Netflix season two coming out, which is great timing for you guys to start a branch down here. But making this switch, how does that impact your business from, you already went out on your own. You already had your own team, LLC, at Remax.

Other than just like the name Serhant or kind of like the branding of Serhant, what does the flavor of the brokerage or the resources of the brokerage, how does that differ? Because you're already in the Serhant coaching world. So I guess what seemed to that?

Yeah, so, well, to be honest, and this might be beneficial to some of you who are agents, but I will actually make less money at Serhant than I did at Remax, which a lot of people would be like, well, how would you do that?

But the support and the backend tools that we get are so awesome. I have just finished my onboarding, which were a bunch of Zoom calls we had to attend, and they went through all the different tech and tools and media, all of those things. I'm like, this will make my life easier, and the hope is it'll generate more business. So I'm okay making a little less.

There's also, I learned a lot because they are not a cap model, they're a split model and a lot of brokerages have caps. So then once you cap out, you get to make or keep the rest that you make the rest of the year. But I do think there's something cool about having the split model, even though I'm giving them a portion every time I have a closing, but they wanna see us succeed because they're gonna constantly benefit from us.

To me, again, that's worth it because the tools, and their number one tool that I think is so cool is they have an AI app and it's called Simple. And it's able to, and it's just with Serhant, but they're able to do a lot of things that take us as agents a long time. And it's powered through AI, but also actual humans. So they work together. And so if I needed a market analysis, I could say, hey, I need a market analysis for this property and they'll turn around and give it to me in a beautiful format and I can tweak it and make it my own. yeah, so a lot of just that backend support and even with transaction management, the other week I had to do a postcard for a listing. It was so easy. They have awesome templates and it just pulls from the MLS. So just things that make streamlined processes and just give me back more time.

Yeah, we were talking in the pre-show about just in business, like being antiquated versus up to speed. And it really is just so helpful when you're like, it's 2026. We, you know, should be able to just say, put this into a computer and get out the beautiful thing that I need. I shouldn't be spending so much of my time doing that because time is money. And similar to, think, a team where you're like, okay, I'm going to give a split to the team.

but I'm getting the resources from the team. I would rather have 75 % of a watermelon than 100 % of a grape. So I do think many people would say, why are you taking less pay to make this jump? But part of it's like, you also take less pay to have staff. But the value that that brings is so helpful. And I think if you're only ever looking at what's the net pay, what's the net pay?

It's like unless you are just the most efficient, can do everything all at once person, like that's a pretty shallow or service level way to think about it. Like you really need to be thinking about like what's the value that my brokerage or my team or this employee or my, you know, all of the above, what's the value that it provides and is that worth the cost? And I think that makes sense where it's like, hey, now Serhant is bought in and they have to prove their value because there isn't a cap, you know, so they're like you're gonna be paying us more throughout a year, but therefore we need to be providing more value to our agents in order to justify that, otherwise everybody's gonna leave.

Right? Right. It's a hundred, like what you just said is when I hired Caitlin by Real Estate bestie Jean was like, I was like, am I ready for this? she's like, just wait, your business is gonna blow up. And I was like, what? And she's like, just wait. And I'm like, it has, like being able to hand off some of those things that you said earlier, you know, like, how do you manage all of this? I didn't, I, social media was the last thing to get done. but I knew it was so important, but obviously like when you have closings and more real estate pressing issues, like you've got to attend to those first. And so the social media, some weeks I do like three to five posts and then other weeks I do like one, it was just very inconsistent, but hiring Caitlin, like I know these things are going to get done. and she doesn't just do social media. She does so much more. We rebranded and went through, like I redid the website this summer and just lots of other things. But I can focus on real estate and know that all of that is getting done, which I think is huge.

And I think it's some of the ways that you've handled, I mean, this year has been like a key example of why I'm like, Perrin is a great business woman. You've taken big risks. It sounds like every step of the way you're like, I don't know what the timing is for Stephanie, am I ready to do that? I don't know, like, am I ready to hire Caitlin? Like, should I wait on Serhant But like, each time you took the risk, that is a really key component to being successful in any field, but especially in real estate, where it's like, you have to be willing to bet on yourself, and you have to be willing to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And I feel like you've done that well, and taken it in stride, and still seen your business, like you said, almost double this year. And it's like, on top of having to redo your website, hire people, go out on your own, change brokerages. You I'm like, you've had just like an auxiliary amount of, or like a huge amount of auxiliary other things that aren't just the standard business stuff this year. But I mean, I'm confident like, each one of these moves is going to be a key to your story. Like I can't wait to have you back on in three years to say like, yeah, remember you had just gone to Serhant like you just made this move. Right. Now look at, know where you're at.

So on that note, what's the future of Perrin Where are you heading now?

Yeah, good question. I actually, I'm really excited. I'm hiring my first team agent Wow, okay. Just keep throwing the fire. I know. Keep adding fire to the I know, keep, like, when are things gonna calm down? But you know what, I love it. And I feel my team knows what they're doing. I feel like we're ready. I think it's a good time.

And so I'm super excited for her. And part of what I love and how I've always been wired is I love education. Like I love educating people and then watching them thrive. hiring a team agent just gets me so excited because I will be, I know it'll be so exciting one day when I get to see her thrive and know like I got to train her and teach her what she knows, which maybe sounds a little prideful, but I feel like it's just fun to watch somebody else succeed. And so I can't wait to get started with that. So yeah, hiring her And then just continuing figuring out all the Serhant stuff.

And I definitely am going to like, would recommend coaching to anybody. So if you're on the fence with that, like invest the money for it. So I'll renew my coaching year this year. That's awesome. Yeah.

Okay. So you've had quite the journey from, all right, I'm in full-time ministry. Okay. I need to make a change because you my roots are in Virginia beach and I'm staying here to, I'm jumping in at 26 green on a team to, right, now I've kind of built myself successfully through the support of this team and now I'm going out on my own. Now I'm changing, like you've just had such an incredible journey so far. What has surprised you the most about your journey in real estate?

Yeah, that's a great question. I kind of alluded to this, well, two things. One, I thought I'd be with Young Life forever. Like I just always envisioned myself as one of those people that's on staff and has married another Young Life staff person, has the Young Life kids. Like that was my dream. So when that didn't happen, I was, it took me, like I had to mourn, I guess, the loss of a dream. But now looking back, I'm like, my gosh, like I can't imagine doing anything other than real estate. Like I love it. It just gets me so fired up. So that surprised me. But then through my real estate journey, kind of alluding again back to that year of like, okay, things were so good. And then that year of like, shoot, like I need to put some systems in place. That was like the year of comparison, like no other. Like I just looked around and all I could see was how well everybody else was doing. And they all, know, there's that line of comparison is the thief of joy. And I almost like could not even focus on my own business because I was so focused on everybody else's and where they were. So.

I have a great friend who has another small business and she was like, sometimes, Perrin, I have to just mute the people that are in my same industry on Instagram, just so I don't see what they're doing. And so I did that. And so for probably two years or so, I just stopped following any other realtor or muted them. And so it was nice because I was able to just focus on what I was doing and not look around. So I guess... surprising like was how much that comparison played into my journey.

Yeah, which would you also say that's the low point because the next question is what was the low point?

Probably. Yeah, I mean that for sure, for sure. I think in real estate too like 90 % of my transactions are smooth, are fun, are celebratory, but then there's always those transactions that and I can remember the properties, I can remember the clients, agents involved, that were just hard, whatever it was that just made them really hard. so there's low points within each of those kind of transactions. But I definitely would say the comparison thing is a low point. It's just like, you gotta stop looking around and just keep your head down.

Totally. So this is a podcast about success, but that word success means different things to different people. So how would you define success?

Yeah, Leland and I were talking before the show started and I was like, how do people answer this? he was like, mean, nobody really says like, it's because I hit my goal. And I was like, oh, okay, well, that is kind of how I measure success. But that is not the only way. I mean, I love, I'm a big goal setter and I love achieving goals every year. But for me, I got into real estate because of relationships. And so to me, like, seeing the relationships that have come out of this career has been, that blesses me so much. Some of my dearest and best friends were people that I've helped buy a house that I didn't know at all before. And now I have a book club of girls that are, a lot of them have been past clients and a lot of them come to church with me. And so to me, is how I measure success. It's like just seeing how others are, one of my gift sets is being a connector of people. And so even if I'm not their best friend, I love connecting them with other people that they, especially if they're new to the area and they don't have friends, it's just so fun to be like, cool. Now they're really good friends and have a circle. So the relationship to me really defines success. It's awesome. I love it.

Well, Perrin, thank you so much for giving us precious time out of your busy day and busy schedule.

I'm excited to have you on in a couple years to just see where this goes because you've already achieved such success but you're kind of on this new faster journey and so I'm excited about it. for being here today. Thanks Leland. It was so fun.