Today we’d like to introduce you to Barrett Raven.
Hi Barrett, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
In 2012, I was happy as a clam being a middle school math teacher at a private school. I thought I was going to be an educator for the rest of my career. Then, our son, Wyatt, was born with major heart defects. When he was two weeks old, he was flown to Dallas where he had open heart surgery and everything changed. Things were pretty touch and go for the first year of his life. We got to the end of 2013 feeling assured that our son’s heart issues were mostly resolved. But we also had a mountain of medical debt that was literally more than double my annual teaching salary.
So, I had a friend at church who recommended looking into being a real estate agent. I took a couple of hours to look at licensing requirements and just try to wrap my brain around what the job would look like – it was just not something I had ever considered. So, I took a leap of faith and used what little money we had to knock out those licensing classes and got hired on at a small boutique brokerage in East Austin as a new “part-time” agent and kept my teaching job. I did both jobs for about a year and a half and I quickly realized that I could replace my teaching income relatively easily by just selling a house or two each month.
In June 2015, I finished out my last year of teaching and jumped into the real estate deep end (oh, and two days later our daughter was born!). It turns out, going into this business with the mindset that “failure is not an option“ was a huge asset for me. I knew that I needed this to work so that I could provide for my family and pay off the medical bills from our son’s extensive time in the hospital. I learned quickly to seek out mentors who had been in the business longer than I had and who were operating their businesses in a way I liked. I learned that there are so many people out there who will take the time to help if I just ask.
Fast forward to 2022 and we launched our own company, Harpeth Realty, and I now have a team of five awesome employees who have a mission to grow and to shepherd our clients well.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would say the journey has been 100% smooth all the way through. NOT!!! ☺️ I would say the biggest struggle I have had in the last nine years is work/life balance. I think that’s some thing that almost everyone goes through who starts a business and who wants to grow. I mean, when you were first starting out, you don’t have experience, skills, or confidence. All you really have to offer is your availability. And it’s really hard to walk that back once you have built a reputation on being always available. So, learning to set boundaries and set extremely clear expectations with clients, other realtors, and my team has been a pretty big challenge.
Also, learning to let go of things I can’t control is hard. I can’t control when a home inspection goes terribly. I can’t control when a pipe bursts inside of a wall. I can’t control when a client changes their mind for no apparent reason. But I am learning every day to trust the work/process and let the results take care of themselves. One of my favorite quotes is: “Do the right things long enough and you will be rewarded. Do the wrong things long enough and you will be exposed.“
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
We sell real estate! I’d love to give some super creative or unusual explanations about what we do. But it’s pretty simple: we help awesome people buy and sell homes in the Austin area! Essentially, we work from Liberty Hill to San Marcos, and Bastrop to Dripping Springs. Without a doubt, I am the most proud of my team. It is so fulfilling to pour into them and watch them grow into total epic real estate assassins.
Any big plans?
Well, we just launched our own real estate company back in July and that took a ton of work. So, for now, it still feels like the next big objective is to keep things running well on our own and continue to build awareness of our brand. We are trying to change the way real estate is done in central Texas. We are trying to inspire a generation of real estate agents and teams to have respect for themselves. We are trying to prove that you can build an absolutely massive business while showing up for your family, friends, and community just as much as (if not more than) your clients!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.harpethrealtytx.com/
- Instagram: bvonraven
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barrett.raven
- Youtube: (Austin Real Estate) Barrett Raven
Image Credits
Annie Ray
