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Justin Landis: Welcome to The Justin Landis Show, your real estate podcast about having conversations, building relationships, and creating freedom. Today I have a special guest, Cathryn Childs, the managing and qualifying broker at Bolst. Cathryn, thanks for being here.
Cathryn Childs: Thank you, thanks for having me.
Justin Landis: You've got a great background for being a broker, you were practicing law before real estate. How did you decide to make that change?
Cathryn Childs: I'd been practicing law for a little over two years, and I realized it wasn't what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
Justin Landis: You don't like billing every six minutes?
Cathryn Childs: That was a big part of it, yes. Keeping track of every little thing you're doing throughout the day and figuring out how to charge for it was something I really didn't enjoy. I've said this to a few people, we have to spend so much of our life working, and my heart just wasn't in it. I wanted something I was more excited to spend that much time doing.
Justin Landis: We share that belief, we're doing this most of the day, we should actually like it. I've done a lot of marketing over the years, but this might be the best outcome any of it has ever produced. Do you remember how we got connected, and what made you reach out?
Cathryn Childs: I lived in Grant Park in Atlanta, and once I'd decided to switch to real estate, the main thing I did was reach out to agents. I'd gotten postcards, and I'd seen your face many times over in the neighborhood, and your listings. I thought, this seems like someone to call.
Justin Landis: For any real estate agents wondering if postcards work, listen to this. It was actually a cold call, I didn't know you, but you responded, and I think there's something fun about that for agents unrelated to today's topic. One, put the marketing out, you never know what happens. Two, make the cold reach out, you don't know what will come of it. Three, sometimes someone coldly reaches out to you and you respond, and something great happens. A lot of things had to line up for us to get to know each other.
Cathryn Childs: What you've always told me is that I was one of the most responsive people out of everyone you'd reached out to.
Justin Landis: That matters a lot for agents, you have to respond quickly. You came on as an agent, joined the Justin Landis Group, and were immediately successful selling houses. I remember in our internal group chat, if someone posted a question and you gave it a thumbs up, everyone treated that as approval, this is the way to go. Was that your first glimpse that broker might be a good role for you?
Cathryn Childs: Probably, yeah, I think so.
Justin Landis: Tell us how the legal background has helped, both as an agent and now as a broker.
Cathryn Childs: It's definitely not necessary.
Justin Landis: You wouldn't recommend agents go to law school first?
Cathryn Childs: If you already know you want to do real estate, you can skip law entirely. But it has been helpful. One, there's a comfort level with contracts, and a deeper understanding of what you're actually buying with real estate. And there is a degree of clients who just like being able to say their agent is also an attorney.
Justin Landis: You were selling a lot of houses when we decided to launch Bolst. You hadn't been a broker before, and you graciously agreed to take the risk of becoming Bolst's very first broker to help us launch it. What was that like, launching a brand new brokerage without ever having done the job?
Cathryn Childs: Exciting, but also a little nerve wracking, considering none of us had ever done it before. Mostly exciting though, I felt good about the group of people doing this, generally smart and capable, and I felt like we could figure things out. But there was no guidebook, it was just, what do we need to do, how do we figure it out, research it.
Justin Landis: Looking back, what was harder than you expected?
Cathryn Childs: Great question. I'd say the part that would catch me, not badly, but noticeably, was when agents would ask me things I genuinely didn't know the answer to, because there was a lot I hadn't experienced yet. My go-to became, that's a great question, let me look into it. So it was a lot of researching, and that all piled up, the more resources I found, the more I talked to people, the more I learned. We all learned a ton, especially that first year.
Justin Landis: I remember that first year, you were tasked with putting a lot of the big picture and vision into actual day-to-day operations. What were you most intentional about getting right at the beginning?
Cathryn Childs: I wanted the paperwork to be right, all the legal stuff, good processes for compliance and making sure our paperwork and instructions to agents on contracts were solid. But I also felt like my number one responsibility as broker was making sure agents knew they had someone to reach out to. Being available, giving good advice, actually researching things for people.
Justin Landis: You've done that amazingly. We run feedback surveys at Bolst regularly, and one of the questions is always rate your broker support. You consistently get the absolute highest marks, every time. It shows you set out to be intentional about it, and people really appreciate it.
Justin Landis: We didn't have a model to follow, this wasn't a franchise, we were building from scratch. What are some things you set out to do differently that you think have really benefited both agents and Bolst over these five years?
Cathryn Childs: That gets to how we thought about Bolst from the start, the whole founded by agents for agents idea. It's really about keeping the perspective of being an agent yourself. In the beginning I had more time to still work with clients and actually be in the game, and all the brokers at Bolst still work with some clients, which is different from a lot of brokerages. I love that, because you're seeing what's actually happening firsthand, not relying on what other people have said, or really old experience. Being able to say, I've tried this as an agent, and this worked or it didn't, it's more personable, more realistic advice.
Justin Landis: Because you have to marry the legal side with the practical, today side. You have absolute best in class knowledge of contracts and what happens legally, but we're typically not going to court tomorrow. What are we actually going to say tonight to the client and the other agent to get this figured out practically? You have to marry those two things to get the best outcome.
Cathryn Childs: Exactly, and I think being for agents and by agents is what's really let us do that.
Justin Landis: You've had a big impact on shaping Bolst's culture. What did you want it to be, and what would you say it is now?
Cathryn Childs: I wanted it to be, and I think it has been, a very collaborative brokerage. I always say I think we attract nice people, it's the whole purpose piece of it. Everything about it attracts people who really care about their clients, their communities in Atlanta, and want to do good through their job, and those people tend to be nice, and helpful to each other. I've loved that people are willing to give their time, they're not hoarding what's worked well for them, it's genuinely collaborative.
Justin Landis: It maybe goes without saying, but the type of person who joins a purpose based brokerage generally wants to help people, or they probably wouldn't join. But it's been cool to watch you facilitate agent panels, taking what agents share with you and passing it on to the rest of the brokerage. That collaboration makes everyone better at their actual job, which you clearly care a lot about.
Justin Landis: What's your overarching philosophy on broker support, when agents reach out to you?
Cathryn Childs: One of the things I always tell new agents when they join is, I'm saving your cell number, please save mine too. My personality genuinely enjoys giving that kind of validation, hey, that's the right idea. So I'm happy to be that person for others. Call me. If you're thinking about doing something and wondering if it's the right move, I get a lot of those calls, and they're honestly pretty short conversations, but I love it. I love hearing about people's transactions, my day gets more boring if I don't get to hear what's going on.
Justin Landis: You don't think agents should just call a 1-800 hotline and get connected to someone they've never met?
Cathryn Childs: No, I don't either. There's a real difference between that and actually having a relationship with the person giving you advice. It makes a tangible difference for agents moving forward.
Justin Landis: Another thing I know you love from a broker support standpoint is agents proactively reaching out, rather than causing a problem and then calling afterward. Why do you think that matters so much?
Cathryn Childs: It's a lot easier to prevent a problem than to solve one later. That's the whole idea behind, just run it by me first, no question is too small, I've heard it all.
Justin Landis: Do you think there's a broader fear in general of looking like you don't know what you're doing, and that keeps people from asking?
Cathryn Childs: Probably, but I'm the person you can just run it by, rather than making that mistake in front of a client. Especially for new agents, there's so much you haven't experienced yet, or don't feel confident in yet, and that's exactly why our brokers are here, along with our Elevate and Advance training, for that extra dedicated support.
Justin Landis: That reminds me of a story from a while back that really drove home the preventative side of this for me. I had an agent early on at the Justin Landis Group who'd gotten multiple offers on a listing. He called me, not really about the offers specifically, and I just asked, hey, how's it going, what are you planning to do? He said, we're about to take this offer. I asked if he'd called for highest and best, told the other party. He said no. I asked what he thought might happen if he did. He said, they might come up on the price. I said, maybe we should try that then. He called for highest and best, and they got about $30,000 more. He'd been about to advise his client to just take the first offer.
Justin Landis: My first thought was, that was a rough move he almost made. But then I thought, how could he possibly have known? There was no way, since it was the first time he'd ever had multiple offers. It really shifted something for me, when we bring agents on, it's our responsibility to help them do things the right way and get the best result for their client and their business. Ever since, I've tried to keep that on my heart, and in the team and the brokerage, help people do their best rather than assuming they already know something, because there's so much to learn in this business.
Cathryn Childs: I think that's so true, and there are so many examples of that. Having that collaboration is so key, having someone to run your plan by and get their perspective, since it's impossible to have seen every single situation yourself.
Justin Landis: Cathryn, you've built so much here at Bolst over these first five years. We're celebrating five years of Bolst right now. Looking forward, what are you most excited about?
Cathryn Childs: I just love the growth we've seen so far. Thinking about what we've accomplished, all the agents who've joined and made things even better in these first five years, and what we could do in the next five building on that, how many more areas we could help, how many more agents could get involved. That's what's really exciting to me.
Justin Landis: I'm excited about that too. I remember that first day we onboarded, it was around 30 people at the very start. It feels like a long time ago, but it really hasn't been.
Cathryn Childs: I actually got a notification today that it's exactly five years since I became agent number one at Bolst.
Justin Landis: Agent number one, I love that, it's a good nickname too. As people are listening to this, I don't know how someone could hear this and not think Cathryn would be an awesome managing broker. Give us a little sales pitch, what would you say to someone considering reaching out about Bolst?
Cathryn Childs: One of the things I love about Bolst is the real emphasis on support and learning, because personally, I love to learn. You get great support, not just from the brokerage itself, but from the other agents. I feel like we've attracted great agents who are professional and productive, and by professional I also mean they genuinely care about what they're doing and want to do it at the best level. It's a great team to join.
Justin Landis: It really is a great team to join. Thank you so much for all you've done to shape Bolst over these last five years, I'm looking forward to the next five with you.
Cathryn Childs: Thanks, me too.
Justin Landis: If you're listening to this and thinking Cathryn Childs should be your managing broker, she should be, and you can book a conversation with her using the link below to get on her calendar. For everyone else, thanks so much for listening, make sure you like and subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and we'll see you again next week.
