“I used to see all of the top independent agents and think I may have started too late to be at that level. But I’ve become inspired to believe I can get there, too, if I keep working as hard for my clients as I have been these past five years.”

 

Shelley has indeed worked incredibly hard these past five years to get to where she is today. She never planned to enter real estate, having worked her entire life in hotels. “It’s funny… I really don’t remember wishing I was an agent or dreaming of real estate. I wasn’t addicted to Zillow, which is what brings most people into the business. It was a pretty quick decision, but once it was made it was like a freight train. I had always worked and always had a paycheck, so I needed to succeed.”

 

While Shelley didn’t know much about real estate starting out, she knew about customer service and had an intrinsic desire to impress people. She recalled the first time she went “above and beyond” was while she was babysitting, at 12 years old. She remembers cleaning the family’s dinner dishes while they were away for the evening. Then, after getting her first waitressing job at a local restaurant near Youngsville, PA, she quickly learned the reciprocal relationship between good service, happy customers, and good tips.

 

With a passion for hospitality, Shelley earned her degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management from Penn State University and went on to work in luxury hotels. “In my hotel management positions, I learned how to provide exceptional service, how to negotiate large convention contracts, how to say ‘no’ without being nasty, and how to mix business, luxury, and service. I also learned to love a job that required long hours and a ‘do-what-it-takes’ attitude. All skills I use every day in real estate.”

 

While entering real estate seemed to be a natural decision for Shelley, there was a pivotal moment when she realized her “day-to-day work” of raising her two sons, Alex and Nathan, had come to a close, and it was an opportunity to start something new. It was when her youngest, Nate (who is now an engineer like his older brother, Alex, and father, David), was a junior in high school and working at a pizza shop. 

 

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘Nate works till 9. When he gets home, we can watch a movie together.’ Then I realized that Nate had a job, money, a pickup truck, and a girlfriend. He wasn’t coming home at 9 to watch a movie with his parents. He got home at 11:20 pm, and that was only because he had a junior license. And that was when I knew.”

 

Soon after that experience, Shelley bought the real estate licensing book and started her classes. She hadn’t read a textbook in 25 years, but she studied constantly and passed both her state and national exams with a 95%. She hasn’t slowed down since. 

 

Starting out, Shelley went to every training class her brokerage provided, binged YouTube tutorials, and learned about real estate anywhere she could find it. Then she did everything they told her to do to find people that wanted to buy or sell a home–networked, sent notes to her friends and past clients, used social media, showered her clients with years of customer service knowledge and experience, and showed tremendous tenacity advocating on their behalf. 

 

“The thing I love most about my success so far is that I know it is a result of the endless hours of hard work I have put into helping my clients and making them happy. More than once I have had listing agents tell me they chose our offer because of my persistence or encouragement.”

 

Even Shelley’s friends recognized how hard she has been working and have said she is the hardest working person they know. Inspired by her efforts, they’ve been sending her referrals and introducing her to their friends, neighbors, and co-workers as well. 

 

“Being an agent is a way of life, not just a job. So, having my family and friends be ‘all in’ and supporting me is incredibly important to me and makes me really proud.”