Sales can be an excellent career field for women who are ready for the hustle. The inconvenient fact about most sales careers, however, is they can be difficult to continue on for a long time. Between capped sales commissions and moving quotas, the hustle doesn’t always turn out to be worth it – not to mention long hours away from friends and family.

The founders of The N2 Company felt the same way and turned their desire for true flexibility and uncapped earning potential into a sales role set apart from the typical corporate sales job. We talked to three Real Producers Area Directors who publish magazines in their market and found a second sales career that works for them.

Kristin Brindley, Publisher of NOVA Real Producers and DC Metro Real Producers

Kristin was one of the first seven Area Directors for Real Producers magazine. For most people, this would have been a pretty daunting endeavor. As with any new business, programs were still being perfected – but she dove in headfirst. After all, the main task was building relationships with real estate agents and local businesses, and this she knew she could do.

Kristin grew up “in the middle of nowhere Michigan,” where she was the first in her family to graduate from college. In her early 20s, she began working in sales – an industry she believes prepared her for her current role while also providing a bevy of life skills. Post-college, Kristin wound up managing a location for a national sales company in Arizona, where she met her wife, Kellie, a 20-year Navy veteran. The two have relocated to five different states in five years and welcomed a daughter after they settled in the D.C. area. That’s where she heard about the Real Producers publisher opportunity.

For Kristin, it’s been a journey of neat surprises and exceeded goals. And though she rightly anticipated the positive impact an RP magazine would have in her area, it didn’t make its reality any less exciting. “You can know it’s going to bring influence and going to be amazing,” Kristin said, “but the feeling of it actually happening was a great surprise.”

“I feel like I’m made to do this,” Kristin shared. “I love that my dream aligns with the way Real Producers is run. I barely see it as work – it’s challenging but so fulfilling to help businesses and connect professionals.”

Jessie Wright, Publisher of San Diego Real Producers

“Go make a name for yourself.”

It’s what Jessie’s dad would call out to her every time she left the house. Because this calling has been so deeply imprinted in her mind over the years, it’s become her mission, guiding every venture and aspect of life. In a way, making a name for herself has become a gauge for the way she deals with life’s twists and turns.

In 2017, Jessie decided to give Real Producers a try after watching friends and previous work colleagues find success with the product. The magazine, and the RP program as a whole, was still very new and had kinks to resolve, but she believed it could work. So much so, she moved from Boston, Massachusetts, to San Diego, California, for a coveted territory. Her ramp-up wasn’t easy, but she wasn’t ready to quit – she knew she was there to make her name known.

Despite juggling her RP business and a side hustle, Jessie is determined to continue making self-care a priority in her daily life. Jessie dedicates the first moments of every day to reading, journaling, working out, and meditating. “Spend time on personal growth and on yourself,” Jessie says. “It’s the most important aspect of this journey, in my opinion.”

Her advice to anyone starting their RP publishing journey? If I could rewind ramp-up, I would have had way more fun. On Mondays still, I’m always a little overly stressed. I put myself through a lot at the beginning of the week [in order] to have a really stellar week, but if I focus on having fun through consulting and really helping people, it becomes a lot easier. We’re only on this earth for a short amount of time, so have some fun! Personally, I like meeting people, so it’s not work for me. For networking events, I like to have a drink, cut a little loose, grab someone’s business card, and go network with all the people there. Enjoy your community, get involved, and give back.

Alexis Brinkley, Publisher of Triad Real Producers

For Alexis Brinkley, launching a Real Producers magazine was as selfless an act as any. Her husband’s decade-long career as an engineer just didn’t make him happy anymore. And Alexis most certainly was not the “suck it up and bring home a paycheck” kind of partner. So, in the fall of 2017, she encouraged him to make a change; not a small one, like waiting to secure a new job before putting in his two weeks’ notice to avoid any gap in employment. No, she wanted him to immediately start pursuing his dream of flying planes for a living – even though it would mean years of training on his part and would require her to become the family breadwinner.

Alexis knew such a change would be a huge investment of time and money, and didn’t shy away from the reality that she would need to work full time once again. After college and a five-year career in medical sales and marketing, she had worked as a high school biology teacher and even supplemented her income through real estate photography. By the time they decided he should quit his job and start pilot training, the Brinkleys had a 3-year-old son and they had a second son less than a year old.

She heard about Real Producers from an old high school friend and asked what locations were open nearby for a magazine. The Triad (the greater Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point, North Carolina area) seemed like the best fit, so she decided to relocate her family, go to training, and ramp-up Triad Real Producers.

With so much riding on her success, she managed to collect enough stories and partner with enough advertisers to print her first publication in less than four months. But the journey wasn’t easy, and she leaned on the Real Producers leadership team for support.

“My friendships with these real estate agents were way unexpected! I have friendships with many agents in the market who I even trust my own kids with,” Alexis explained.

“I have a lot of liberty as an Area Director, which can be your undoing or your greatest gift from God. Overall, this is the best role I could have,” said Alexis. “I want a steadfast path that I can take my kids down and hopefully have a little less eventful of a future. It’s not been easy and there have been major sacrifices, but I know I’ve grown as a person, and my husband has, too.”

Triad Real Producers is connecting the local real estate community and enabling the Brinkleys to live a life of freedom and fulfillment.

If you’re looking for a supportive culture, a proven training method for success, and are willing to put in the work (on your own terms), learn more about the Real Producers Area Director role, pay structure, and how to get your magazine to market.