Cathryn Childs: Five Years as Bolst's First Broker
Cathryn Childs practiced law for a little over two years before deciding it wasn't how she wanted to spend the rest of her working life. She's now Bolst's managing and qualifying broker, and this episode marks five years since she became the brokerage's very first broker, before the role had any kind of playbook to follow.
From Billing in Six Minute Increments to Real Estate
Cathryn's reason for leaving law was simple. Tracking every task in six minute billing increments wasn't work she was excited to spend most of her waking hours doing. She wanted something she genuinely looked forward to, since so much of life is spent working.
How a Postcard and a Cold Call Started Everything
Cathryn lived in Atlanta's Grant Park neighborhood, and when she decided to move into real estate, she started reaching out to agents whose names she recognized. Justin's postcards and listings in her neighborhood had put his name in front of her repeatedly, so when Justin later made a cold call to her, she was already primed to respond. She joined the Justin Landis Group and started selling houses immediately. In the group's internal chat, her feedback carried enough weight that a thumbs up from Cathryn became an informal signal that an idea was solid, an early hint she might be broker material.
Why the Legal Background Helps, But Isn't Required
Cathryn is clear that a law degree isn't necessary to succeed in real estate. What it gave her was comfort with contracts and a deeper understanding of what buying property actually involves. She's quick to note some clients simply like being able to say their agent is also an attorney, but she wouldn't tell anyone to go to law school just to become a better agent.
Becoming Bolst's First Broker
When Bolst launched, Cathryn had never worked as a broker before, and neither had anyone else on the founding team. She describes the experience as exciting but nerve wracking, with no guidebook to follow. The hardest part wasn't any single decision, it was the volume of questions she genuinely didn't have answers to yet. Her go-to response became, that's a great question, let me look into it, followed by real research. That habit compounded fast, and by the end of the first year, she and the rest of the team had learned an enormous amount.
What She Prioritized First
Cathryn's early focus split two ways: get the paperwork and compliance processes right, and make sure agents knew they had someone reliable to call. Bolst regularly surveys agents on broker support, and Cathryn consistently receives the highest marks in the brokerage, a direct result of how intentional she was about availability from day one.
Why Bolst's Brokers Still Work With Clients
Unlike a lot of brokerages, Bolst's brokers, including Cathryn, still work with real clients themselves. That firsthand experience means the advice they give agents isn't based on distant memory or secondhand reports, it's current and grounded in what's actually happening in the market right now. Cathryn sees this as one of the clearest advantages of being founded by agents for agents: pairing real legal expertise with practical, same-day advice for what to actually say to a client or another agent that night.
A Collaborative Culture, Built on Purpose
Cathryn describes the Bolst culture as deeply collaborative, something she credits to the kind of people a purpose driven brokerage tends to attract. Agents who care about their clients and their communities tend to be generous with what they've learned rather than guarding it, and Cathryn has worked to formalize that by facilitating agent panels where lessons get shared brokerage-wide.
Her Philosophy on Broker Support: Call Before It's a Problem
Cathryn tells every new agent to save her cell number, and to save hers in return. She genuinely enjoys hearing about agents' transactions and being a sounding board, and she'd rather field a quick question upfront than help clean up a mistake afterward. It's a lot easier to prevent a problem than solve one later, and she's adamant that no question is too small to ask.
The $30,000 Phone Call
Justin shares a story from early in his own career that shaped this philosophy at Bolst. A new agent at the Justin Landis Group had multiple offers on a listing and was about to advise his client to accept the first one, without ever asking for highest and best. A quick conversation prompted him to make that call, and the client ended up with roughly $30,000 more. The lesson Justin took from it wasn't that the agent had made a bad decision, it was that he'd never been taught the move in the first place. That reframing shaped Bolst's entire approach to training: assume agents don't yet know what they haven't experienced, and build the support to catch it before it costs someone money.
Five Years In, Looking Ahead
Cathryn notes that she recently hit the five year mark as Bolst's very first agent onboarded, agent number one. As she looks toward the next five years, she's most excited about scaling what's already working: more markets, more agents supported, and continued growth on the foundation the first five years built.
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Justin Landis is the founder of Justin Landis Group and Bolst, two of Atlanta's leading real estate companies. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three daughters and has been selling Atlanta real estate since 2008.
