Alli Taylor, a REALTORⓇ with Keller Williams Richmond West, found her way to real estate out of a desire to help others.

 

“I come from a family of helpers. My mom is a nurse and my dad and brother are firefighters. I knew I wanted to make an impact on others, and while I’m not aiding people back to health or fighting fires, I get to help people with one of the largest financial investments or sales of their lives. That is not something I take lightly.”

Alli got her start in real estate in 2018, after years of working in alumni relations and fundraising. “It felt like I was just fulfilling someone else’s goals, and it didn’t really matter if I had my own goals or not,” she reflects.

 

When thinking about a new career path, the thought of an entry-level desk job was less than appealing. Searching for inspiration and guidance, she looked to the women in her life who had what she ultimately wanted: a successful work life and a prioritized family life. She discovered both of these possibilities existed in real estate.

 

Alli reached out to her college mentor, a former educator turned Realtor, and shadowed her while working on getting her real estate license. “I’d go with her to showings, sit with her while she wrote offers, and help her stage houses. Anything she wanted to teach me, I took in like a sponge. I loved every bit of it,” she says.

Making the switch to real estate was not an easy decision. At the time, Alli and her husband Alex were living paycheck to paycheck. “I didn’t really have an option to fail,” she points out. Despite the risk, Alli jumped in with both feet.

 

“I will never forget that I quit my job on Friday the 13th and was so worried that date would be an indicator of what’s to come. But I started my new career in real estate that Monday and I haven’t looked back since,” she recalls.

 

Alli still has the piece of paper with the goals she wrote for herself on her first day in real estate: 1) get out of debt, 2) buy a house, and 3) start a family. “Although all fairly simple and normal goals, they all seemed so far out of reach at the time,” she remembers.

 

Alli and her husband were traveling out of state shortly after she got into real estate, and she brought her car in for a state inspection. She learned they would need to replace all four tires. “We didn’t have the money at the time. I had two closings coming up but couldn’t wait until then.” A mentor in her office offered to loan her the money, but she didn’t take it.

 

“We put the tires on a credit card instead, and four days later — when I was paid for my closings — I immediately paid it off. I never wanted to financially be in a place where I had to rely on someone else to pay my bills. It was an incredibly kind gesture, though one I ultimately refused, but I don’t think she’ll ever realize the motivation her gesture gave me,” Alli says.

 

Five years later, Alli and her husband have a 2-year-old daughter named Arlee and a son on the way in June. They own a home in Chesterfield and an investment property in Glen Allen. “If I'm not working I'm spending time with my husband and daughter. We love checking out new places in Richmond. We also enjoy traveling and visiting friends,” says Alli.

Last year, Alli closed $12 million in volume, but that is not how she gauges the success of her business. “The ability to serve my clients at a high level and prioritize time with my family is my number one goal.”

 

Alli grows her business through her focus on family and relationships, estimating 95 percent of her client base is through referrals and word of mouth. “I knew it would take a bit longer and involve some heavy lifting in the beginning, but setting that foundation would lead to me being able to grow my business organically.”

 

“This is an industry that can be plagued by comparison. Numbers only tell half the story. For me, what’s most important is pulling back the curtain and seeing how someone is doing personally. That’s the bigger indicator of success,” she adds. “Looking back, I never could have imagined all of the things this career has afforded me, both financially and personally.”

 

According to Alli, this all stems from having a clear vision of the future she wants for herself.

 

“The key to any agent’s success is knowing their motivation and what they find joy in and building lead-gen sources from that. I looked around at my daughter’s birthday party, and over 50 percent of the people there were past clients. I don’t think I could have asked for a better representation of my goals being brought to life.”