How Years of Professional Skiing Provided the Mindset Needed for this Competitive Housing Market with Athena Brownson: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01John Lee Dumas:Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be breaking down how years of professional skiing provided the mindset needed for this competitive housing market. And to drop these value bonds, I brought Athena Brownson into EO Fire Studios. Athena is a Colorado native with eight years in real estate and professional skiing background. She helps clients navigate the market and ensures a seamless buying or selling experience. The value bombs today are how to find a trusted mentor because they're going to call it your weaknesses, not just praise your strengths, how to understand your clients deeply so you can be their trusted advisor in major decisions, and oh, so much more.

0:46John Lee Dumas:A big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Athena and our sponsors. Fire Nation, is your business stuck? Are you looking to learn the proven processes and success systems that have been used to create thousands of millionaire success stories? Schedule a free consultation with America's number one business coach, Clay Clark, by visiting thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. Again, request life changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO fire. If you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. High Level gives you website hosting, funnels, email marketing, automation, calendar booking, payments, and course hosting all on one platform, plus award-winning 24-7 support.

1:26John Lee Dumas:Get a 30-day free trial and my full bonus stack that includes a 15-minute private call with me and much more at highlevelfire.com. Highlevelfire.com. Athena, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? JLD, thank you so much for having me. Fire Nation, this is Athena Brownson coming to you from Denver, Colorado. And I have been pondering this question for weeks, it seems, because I find there are so many keys to success, and I'm sure many could disagree with most of them. But I think that people often find that they think of success as these grand moments in our lives, really huge turning points in which success is bred from them.

2:22When in actuality, I think success comes from the small moments that are done habitually that we don't even necessarily realize are becoming or are the keys to becoming successful, really. It's generally not in traditional settings. You know, I think we think of success as something that you get after you go to college or maybe after, you know, you get the job that you want. But really, it's it's found in those small moments that you don't even realize you're getting successful by doing. How's that?

2:57John Lee Dumas:It's fantastic. It's obvious you spent some time on that. And I can resonate fully because I tried the traditional route. I mean, I was in the army for eight years. I went to law school, corporate finance, commercial real estate. I kept trying to force myself into this like traditional career path and nothing was working for literally the first 32 years of my life. So I get it. I'm all about that. And Fire Nation, we're talking about how years of professional skiing provided the mindset needed for this competitive housing market with Athena. So you have found success in very non-traditional ways.

3:36John Lee Dumas:Let's talk about that. Let's talk about your journey. I would love to. And it's so funny that you say that talking a little bit about your background, because as I was preparing for this, I thought so much about how life really never goes to plan. It never really goes the way that you think it's going to go. You know, you enter for you military or law. For me, I started out, you know, trying multiple jobs as well from interior design. I was a professional skier, like you said, but it's all of these little moments and things that we think are going to create the person that we are that usually don't go to plan.

4:20And it's all about our ability to pivot. And I think skiing really taught me everything that I know today as a business person and as a competitive real estate agent. And if I could go back, you know, 15, 20 years and talk to myself about how important and critical these moments in my skiing career would be in my future success as a business person, never in a million years would I have thought that the two correlated. But skiing taught me exactly what it means to be successful. And it's all about the small habitual moments that we do over and over and over again. And those are things that stick with us.

5:09and you become part of you naturally. So really, skiing taught me everything that I needed to know about real estate and I didn't even realize it was happening.

5:19John Lee Dumas:I love that. And I actually call it putting in the reps. It's all about putting in the reps no matter what you do. I mean, I have people that come to me, Athena, they're like, hey, I'm thinking about launching a podcast but I don't think I'm gonna be as good of a podcast host as you are. And I'm like, well, you're probably gonna be as good as I was 10 years ago when I launched. but I've been putting in the reps since then. I have over 3 ,700 interviews done. I've been habitually getting up and doing the right things, putting in the reps every single day for a decade. So no, you're not going to be as good as me day one, but you're going to be as good as me day one as my day one was.

5:57John Lee Dumas:Like that's the reality. Don't compare your today to my today if you haven't started yet. Compare your day one to my day one if you can do any kind of comparison whatsoever, although I'm actually a big believer that comparison is a thief of joy, that you will 100 % always despair when you compare yourself to anybody but yourself yesterday. And if you're beating that comparison, if you're winning that comparison more times than not of you yesterday, then you're going to win overall. And with your background, Athena, you could have chosen a lot of routes. Why real estate? You know, it's so funny you ask that.

6:36When I was growing up, I grew up in a small ski town, some people know as Breckenridge. And I used to joke that there were more real estate offices than there were t-shirt shops. And I said that as a cliche, I never thought that I would want to have anything to do with real estate. My dad was a residential real estate developer, so I grew up walking his job sites, being cold, thinking that real estate revolved around being cold on construction sites and cliche, you know, T -shirt shop real estate offices. Fast forward down the line, I graduate college, I have an amazing internship turned job in the interior design industry, and I find myself not feeling creatively pushed.

7:32I didn't feel I was fulfilling my potential. And I also coming from a skiing background, I like the ability to be in charge of my own success. So it all comes down to input. How much am I inputting into my success? Am I working hard and thus, you know, success, the sky is the limit, or, you know, if I'm slacking off, I'm not going to do very well. And I had a good friend at the time who said, Athena, I think you'd be good at real estate. Have you ever thought about it? And when I think about real estate, and when I thought about real estate, it really encompassed everything that I loved in life.

8:14And that is humans. I love relationship. I love spending time with people. I'm very social. I am an extrovert to the T. I love homes. I love interior design and I love to be my own boss. So when I looked at all of those elements that being a real estate broker was, I knew that, hey, this is actually something that I should give a try. And after having the idea spawned by my dear girlfriend, who's an incredible real estate broker in Bozeman, Montana. I quit my job the next day. I started real estate school as I recovered from my ninth ACL surgery. And I had one opportunity to pass the test because I was leaving for Africa to go teach sustainability and farming the next day.

9:11So I passed my real estate exam. And that was just eight years ago, a few days ago. I just had my eight year anniversary. Wow. So how's that for a path?

9:22John Lee Dumas:Congratulations. That's a heck of a path. I love that. But the real question I have to ask you is, do you love Selling Sunset? Guilty pleasure. I cannot tell you how many times I have watched Selling Sunset. I find it so entertaining. It's hilarious. I love the houses they sell. I love the outfits that they wear. It's ridiculous, but it's a guilty pleasure of mine. Do you like selling Sunset, JLD? Totally understandable. I love selling Sunset. I'm not going to lie. I've always enjoyed real estate. I actually did a little residential real estate myself in San Diego back in the day before Entrepreneur was on Fire.

10:03John Lee Dumas:And then I went to commercial real estate for a couple of years. So I really have both sides of the fence. So I've always been into real estate. I've always understood how it works and enjoy the process. And, you know, with me selling Sunset, like I get like why like a lot of people like it. I'm not as much into the outfits as some people are, which is totally cool. I do like them, by the way. I'm just not as into them as some people. That's probably okay. My one request would be I would just say, hey, can you guys just show me a few more houses? Because, man, I love like going through those houses and seeing how that process works.

10:34John Lee Dumas:Like that would be my one request to make it a little bit more of a real estate show. Right now, it might be like 70%, 30%, 70 % drama and clothing and fashion and then 30 % real estate. I go to a million-dollar listing personally. Yeah, that's great. A million-dollar listing LA and New York, I am addicted to. I put it on in the background when I'm working at home, and I like to think of it as productivity. It is productivity. Come on. You're putting yourself in the zone. You're learning to talk the talk, to walk the walk. I mean, everything helps. is all about putting in the reps. And Fire Nation, we're going to hear about what makes Athena unique and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors.

11:16Fire Nation, is your business stuck?

11:18John Lee Dumas:Are you looking to learn the proven processes and success systems that have been used to create thousands of millionaire success stories? See thousands of success stories and testimonials from real people just like you who Clay Clark has mentored and coached into prosperity at thrivetimeshow.com. Clay's proven business coaching program is month to month, and it costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Yes, it's month to month and costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Schedule your free personal 13-point assessment with Clay Clark himself today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO Fire.

11:50John Lee Dumas:Because Clay only takes on 160 clients and only allows 300 attendees on each business conference, you will interact with Clay directly. See thousands of success stories and learn about attending the Thrive Time Show two-day in-person workshops featuring football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, today at thrivetimeshow.com slash eofire. Become the next success story. Schedule a free consultation and request tickets to join football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, at Clay Clark's next business conference today at thrivetimeshow.com slash eofire.

12:22John Lee Dumas:Fire Nation, if you are building a real business, you need real infrastructure. That is why High Level is Entrepreneur on Fire's featured partner. High Level gives you a website builder and hosting, funnels and landing pages, email marketing, appointment scheduling, payment processing, course and membership hosting, and so much more. Everything you need to succeed all under one roof. No duct tape. No juggling five platforms. Just one clean system for your business. And their award-winning 24-7 support has your back when you need it most. When you sign up at HighLevelFire.com, you also get my exclusive bonus stack, a 30-day free trial, a private 15-minute call with me, JLD.

13:01John Lee Dumas:access to my weekly live office hours, a digital copy of my book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, my 50 Days to Something Execution Roadmap, and more. Visit highlevelfire.com and start building your something today. Athena, we're back. And as I mentioned before the break, I want to hear what makes you unique. Why would clients want to work with you in a market saturated with agents? Saturated is the perfect word. So in Denver, there are over 26 ,000 real estate brokers. Now you say this number and in actuality, there's about 1 % of agents that do 99 % of the business. So although there are 26 ,000 licenses out there, there are not actually a ton of agents that do, you know, the majority of the business in the city, but amongst the agents that do do business in the city, why would you want to work with me?

14:02I love my job and I hope that that comes off in absolutely every interaction that I have with clients, with really anyone I meet. My whole business is founded around relationships. So I believe so strongly in having a relationship based business in which my clients become an extension of even family, I would go as far to say. I want to know the ins and outs of my clients' lives to the extent that they would like to share, of course, to the point where I feel that I could be that trusted advisor for them in making some of the biggest purchases and sales of their entire life. I think often real estate can come off or be very transactional.

14:53It can be all about how quickly can I get through this transaction so I can get the commission and go on to the next client and never talk to that client again. And that's my nightmare. I want to create an experience in which I'm building a lifelong friendship with my clients. And they know that when push comes to shove, when negotiations are taking place, that they have someone at the table that knows them and is going to go to bat for them. And that's what I do for my clients. And I take a lot of pride in that. I know what it means to compete. I've got a background in competitive athletics for over a decade.

15:31and I know what it means to fight and I know what it means to really have to work for something. And I've learned that through other challenges that I've faced with my health in the last five years, which we can also discuss. But I put my all into building relationships with my clients and really having their backs at the end of the day. This is a big transaction. You know that from selling residential and commercial. This is the biggest purchase or sale someone will make in their life. You hope you have a good agent for that, right? I could just hope that I'm that person.

16:11John Lee Dumas:No, I love that for all of those reasons because Fire Nation, it comes through. If you're being genuine, authentic, transparent, if you love what you do, it's really gonna make a difference. Like we actually just had a podcast, it's Paradise Q &A. We do that once a month for people in our community. and the question was asked, literally, this was the question, like, what do you like most about your job? And I said, getting to talk with inspiring and successful human beings. And Athena, you're one of those and I'm immensely enjoying this conversation because you're an awesome person. You have a great background.

16:45John Lee Dumas:You've done some cool things. You're doing some cool things. You have a future of doing really cool things and I literally love doing that. So like these conversations for me, I look forward to them. They're easy because it's just me having a conversation with a cool person where like you're my sixth of seven interviews today. A lot of people would say I could never do it. Yeah. And that's, and that's a common response. And guess what? They say, I can never do seven interviews in a day. You're like, I'm talking to seven cool people. I'm talking to seven cool people and I love doing it. I could never do seven times a day what the person who asked me that question was probably doing that day because I would not enjoy that.

17:19John Lee Dumas:And hopefully they do. Isn't it neat when you find that path in life that you're like, this is genuinely what fills my tank? It's it. It's everything. And you got to keep just swinging the bat till you get there. Because I mean, I tried a bunch of things that didn't work. I mean, law school hated it. Corporate finance wasn't for me. Like I tried a bunch of things that I just wasn't into, but I kept stepping up and getting to a different opportunity. And I want to ask you, Athena, you've had a lot of success in real estate. Like you've done a lot of cool things. If you could just take your favorite success that you've had since becoming an agent, what's that story that comes to mind?

17:57John Lee Dumas:Like walk us through that favorite success story that you've had in the past eight plus years. I have had so many neat experiences. But one came to mind the second that that came out of your mouth. And it goes back to actually my dearest girlfriend from skiing. She was a professional skier with me for a decade. And growing up around her, then I'm an only child. So I really, really, really love spending time with her and her sisters growing up because they were kind of my sisters. Well, fast forward to about two years ago, One of her older sisters and her family came to me and had a very unique request for just the property of a lifetime that they wanted.

18:52And of course, you know, when there's a very specific request for a property, it usually isn't on the market. So first of all, it means you're going to the drawing board and you are doing research on anything that could possibly fit their needs. And then it comes to an interesting part where you actually have to go knock on people's doors and see if they would ever be interested in selling their homes. Well, I found this property on the most idyllic street in Denver, and I knocked on the door, and they immediately shut it in my face. But as I was walking away from that property, I looked across the street, and I realized I hadn't looked into this property.

19:41It was this absolutely stunning brick mansion on a tree-lined boulevard near one of, it was where their kids went to school. in that neighborhood. And I said, you know what? I just got the door shoved in my face. That's fine. I'm going to walk across the street and see if I can spark a conversation. And it just so happened that the couple across the street had just been offered a job out of state or out of the country, actually, in Puerto Rico.

20:14John Lee Dumas:Wow. Yeah. Isn't that funny? So they had just finished redoing the entire interior of this property that was built in 1890. It was all brick and the brick factory used to be about a quarter mile down the street. So they had just spent about two years redoing the entire inside of the property to make it a little bit more modern while keeping the classic elements of it. And it was the perfect timing because they had literally just accepted a job and needed to move to Puerto Rico. So I was able to find my, you know, basically sister, the property of her dreams for her and her family. And it is a property that I still spend so much time at.

21:02So to be able to kind of have my skiing career, the relationships I made and what I love to do come full circle in such a unique way, I'd say that's my favorite story.

21:14John Lee Dumas:That's an amazing story for so many different reasons. putting in the reps. It's a cool one, huh? Yeah, not giving up after the first experience. I mean, there's so many cool things that are in there. And I want to really make this, you know, end with a bang here because I really want your top tips for those people in Fire Nation, our listeners here, who want to pursue non-traditional career choices. Both you and I have done so. Many people that are listening have either done so, want to do so, or maybe don't even know where to start if they wanted to do that. So what would your top tips be for that?

21:47Absolutely. So this is something I'm extremely passionate about. And again, it's going to go back to my skiing career. But when you are in any athletic, you know, endeavor, or even non athletic, you have a coach or you have a teacher or mentor that is watching you, watching how you are doing absolutely every movement that you're making, and they can see from above where your blind spots are. They can understand where you're going and help you see what needs to be done in order to get there and are often finding the things that you don't know that you're not doing because you don't know. So the same thing comes in business.

22:35I am such a huge, huge advocate for mentorship. I think that the whole idea of apprenticeship has kind of gone away and is something that needs to be really brought back into how we learn and how we develop our skills in life. When I first got into real estate, I found an incredible agent who had 20 years in the business and I just followed everything he did. For about a year, I went on showing appointments with him, listing appointments, did his open houses, watched how he did market analysis, listened to how he talked on the phone. I watched absolutely everything he did and that's how I learned the basics, the foundation of how I was going to be successful in real estate.

23:26But once I stopped following him, I realized that it was time for me to find a coach. I needed someone that could have that bird's eye view on my career, on my day-to-day business, and keep me accountable for how I was conducting my day-to-day, how I was going to be developing as a human and as an agent, and really telling me where my blind spots were. It's so easy to get caught up in the busyness of day to day in real estate. Your phone's always ringing. You're running from one place to the next. It's really easy to just be looking down and forget where you're headed. So for me, coaching and mentorship is the greatest gift you could give yourself to be successful.

24:17So if you are in real estate or really any other business, I would highly recommend finding someone that you trust, that you admire, and that you know is going to call you out if you're not doing the right things. Because at the end of the day, you don't need to hear everything that you're doing right. You need to also hear where your weaknesses are, what you can work on, and how you can grow through that. And I've had a real estate coach ever since. And it's the absolute most important thing that I do in my business.

24:53John Lee Dumas:Keeps you accountable, Fire Nation. Hold your feet to the fire. I love to say, find somebody who is currently where you want to be. Because guess what? They know the path. They know the path to get there. So find that person. Now, Athena, you've shared so much great value. I like to say you've dropped value bombs galore in this episode here today. Take us home. What's the one thing you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from our entire conversation today? Then give us the best way to connect with you, any call to action you have, and then we'll say goodbye. Absolutely. And I appreciate that.

25:28I'm glad that I could give a little bit of value bombs. That makes me very happy. Fire Nation, I want to just tell you that life does not always go to plan. The plan you set out for yourself is generally not the path that's actually going to be laid out. And it is our ability to pivot and to grow from opportunities that we often don't even think are going to be presented. Usually the turns that life has in store for us are the greatest moments that are going to be formative in creating the people that we are, which then translates into your business. I think that you and I have talked so much about when you're doing something you love and you're authentic to it and you're genuine, it's going to shine in your day-to-day interactions and what you're doing.