Reinvented at 51: The #1 Agent Who Started Over

Some people have a choice and they leave the corporate box because they want to. Yeah. But it ending was the best thing that could have happened. Well, it was. So I left that company, the engineering software company. I got recruited by this internet incubator. They were creating new internet companies right and left. And all the people that worked there were buying stock. They would buy the stock and they would become millionaires. Sounds like I had 100. This place was in the news all the time. On paper, I was worth about $7 million.

They filed to go public. We were in the IPO stage and then the NASDAQ crashed in 2000. And so I went from having this fantastic job with all these stock options, took a second on my house so I could do that and then the NASDAQ crashed. Well, 7 months number one in the office every single year. I want to understand what did you do differently? I knew nothing about sales or real estate. And so what I did at the very beginning, I went into the office every single day even though I had no clients and no business at all.

She spent 30 years as one of the highest paid executive assistants in Southern California. She's worked with CEOs. She knew more about running a business than most people with an MBA. And then she got laid off. And here's the part they don't tell you in the reinvention playbooks. She was absolutely terrified. Today, Donna Baker sits down with us to talk about what happens when the choice is made for you and what to do in the next 12 months that determines the rest of your career. This is outside the corporate box.

And before we get into today's show, a quick thank you to our partners who make this possible. Wise Agent, Subi, and the CE Shop. These are the companies that believe in us and what we're building here. We're grateful to have them in our corner. All right, let's get into it. The playbook is changing. The question is, are you changing with it? This is outside the corporate box. Real conversations with real leaders who broke the mold and built something better with your hosts, Jman and Jeffrey Scott Stanton.

Donna, welcome to the show. We've been looking forward to this one. Quick on the bio. Donna Baker spent the first half of her working life as an administrative professional, working her way from typest clerk all the way to one of the highest paid executive assistants in the LA area. She's worked alongside CEOs at Pacific Telephone, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and yes, even an internet incubator. Then at 50, she walked into real estate with zero clients and zero guaranteed income. And in seven months flat, was the number one agent in her office.

today. She runs the Ammon and Baker team at John Hart Real Estate and just celebrated 25 years in the business. Donna, that intro doesn't do it justice, but let's fix that right now. Thank you, J. Man, that was uh pretty good. You did good. Did we miss anything? No, I don't think so. Well, I'm sure that if you did, we'll talk about it. So, before we get the big change, what tell me what it's like spending 30 years in that corporate box, Lily, assistant to a CEO, working with the CEO.

Well, um, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a secretary. That's all I ever wanted to be. And I I used to like pretend I was typing on a keyboard and, you know, and in those days it was like really hard to type because you had to touch the keys click click actual typewriter. Yeah. And um, so I really concentrated my high school subject matter on um, clerical things like typing. I took shorthand. I take 90 words a minute in shortorthhand. Um general business practices.

So I really concentrated on um revolving my learning experience which I I hated high school. So um I was learning things that I was interested in. And um when I got out of high school, I immediately went to work. Uh I actually graduated at 17 years old because my birthday's in November. And I immediately moved out of the house cuz I was sharing a room with two sisters and I wanted to be a career girl. So um you know that was in the 70s late 60s early 70s and you know working girls were um not not that kind of working girl the nineto-five um corporate

world just really interested me I just felt like I really wanted to be involved in that whole um lifestyle you know just helping somebody run a business and it was different you're talking 60s and 70s so it was different for women in that corporate box in that business environment than than it is than it is now. And I see you moved through a lot of different industries. Know he was a boogie board manufacturer, internet in incubator from one to another. Te tell us what what was it like then being an executive assistant?

Um because I think what we think of as an executive assistant for a lot of people, especially people listen to us are real estate agents, they think of an executive assistant as someone who just handles their schedule and books appointments. So what was that like then? Like give us what that is and having the access to the CEOs that you did. Well, I I actually had to work my way up that ladder to the CEO position, but um so at the Boogie board company, that was my very first job and I knew the owner and he gave me a job and I did, you know,

reception and accounting and then I moved into um a shipping clerk position at another uh manufacturer and then I moved to LA County. Then I worked for Bell & Howell for a while in the business data products division. And so I worked for um executives that weren't actually highlevel executives, but they were teaching me how to be perfect. You know, that's what I like to put in quotes. Um yeah, all of the bosses that I had really saw the potential in me and so they trusted me and gave me a lot more responsibility than most of the other assistants that were working in the places

I was at. Um and then I ended up being very fortunate after the bell & how um position. I got laid off and I went to a small um insurance broker and it was a small seven person office and he needed an assistant and he was um from New York City. He uh Staten Island actually and maybe I know him. I knew you'd like that guys. and he was um a huge mentor to me and he taught me how he ran his business and he expected me to run it right alongside of him.

So he was part of the young professionals um I'm sorry the young president's organization YPO. I don't know if you've heard of it. Um and that's um presidents and CEOs of small and large companies that are under 40. Yeah. And I think he was like 37 when I started working for him. I was actually older than him. Um and so um he encouraged me to get involved in a professional organization and at the time um there was a comp a organization called professional secretaries international and so um later on they changed their name to administrative professionals um in in what was it called the um

organization for inter uh international administrative professionals something like that um and so um being part of that organiz organization really is also what taught me how to become a leader. So, I became a president of the chapter and I um I just learned how to um get people to do what I asked them to do without giving me too much push back. Um and it doesn't sound like that is too big of a deal, but it really did teach me and got me ready to run my own business because I learned how to handle every aspect of being a leader of people.

And our chapter was pretty big. It was like 60 members, I believe. And we had events and we had visiting speakers and we had panel discussions. And so I organized all of that. So between that organization and the bosses that I had who saw my potential and mentored me. Um I think that's why I was able to segue into real estate so easily. it was the the corporate background gave me the the um abilities that I needed to run a business. um and also gave me the confidence that I needed when I found myself jobless, you know, it was like I'm not gonna worry about

it because just that for a second and again and I'll go back just because the time between then and now is in like the 70s it really wasn't common for a boss to sit down with their executive assistant and say I want you to run my company like I run my company. So there there had to be something special there that he saw in you saying this is a person that could do that. And again, it's just because it's it's the way it was then. It wasn't the right way of doing things like now, but it it's it to me that's very impressive that especially

then that somebody else sat down and and you're able to bring that to the business aspect into real estate once you left the corporate books. Yeah. Um I think that um my my desire to learn has always been my advantage. Um and that I make it very clear that I am open to learning new things. I've always been uh I've always embraced technology. I've always worked for companies that were on the cutting edge. So when I worked at Bell & Howell, we created business data products machines, right?

So it was the uh check remittance systems that the banks used. So, and then I moved over to the the the corporate background that I was in was um gradually getting more and more technical, right? So, when I worked for the insurance broker, he did direct mail mass marketing. And so, I learned about the importance of marketing. So that to me was the beginning of my um abilities to be able to take what I learned from my jobs and save it for later when I needed it for my business.

Right. Here's what I want to know. At that level doing that work. Was there a version of you just thought like like this is it. I'm in my lane because it seemed like you excelled at to the top of your ranks if you will with what you were doing at that time. What happened was that um I I I don't know why I did this but I was always every time I had a review right because they used to do the reviews and everything and I always got exceptional and everything except for my um I had a tendency to judge people that didn't live up

to my expectations. Oh surprise. And so um sometimes I upset people because I expected more from them than they were able to give. And so that I always got a little bit of good but needs improvement there. But for the most part, I always got really exceptional reviews. But what I did was I sort of um got proactive and I would write a a a review of myself. So I would do a self-re here's the things that I've accomplished since the last time you reviewed me.

Here are my um goals for the next time you review me and I want a 10% raise. And I would tell I will tell you that most people were getting 3% raises and I got 7% raises. So every time I did that, I think every boss I had when I did that was so impressed that I took the ball and ran with it and and sort of did their job for them. I wrote my own review. So they were able to take what I wrote and make it into the review.

So I always got really big raises. And when I left that guy that had the insurance brokerage and I moved over to an internet engineering software company, another technical technology company, um I was I took a cut in pay. The guy laid me off because he promoted me to um vice president and I wanted a a raise and he wouldn't give it to me. He said I I was going to have profit sharing instead of raises. And I said, "No, no, you need to pay me what the VPs are making, not what a secretary makes, right?

Because you just promoted me." And so I started looking for another job and he found out I interviewed at a place that a guy knew him and he called him and told him. So he fired me. So I was jobless again. So um I started a job working for this engineering software company with a cut in pay because I had a lot less responsibility. But I worked for the um the son of the CEO. And so because I was doing such a good job, the CEO heard about who I was and how I performed.

So I was held in pretty high regard throughout the company. It was a pretty big company. I'd say there was a Yep. 900 employees maybe. Um but I was able to work my way up that ladder and when the company got they merged with another company and my boss got let go, I got recruited by the executive vice president in charge of sales. So I learned marketing in my previous job. I learned sales and I learned um how to um really technology, right? I learned all the technology and every company I worked for after the insurance broker was on the cutting edge.

So the engineering software company obviously I had a computer at my desk and we had email before anybody else had email. Um it was intranet but it was still email, right? we we were like, "Wow, we have we can send a message to somebody at Costa Mesa, you know." Um, so I was able to really um move up that ladder because of my abilities and my confidence. And I'm I'm pretty intelligent and I think that they saw that and they saw my um that I was able to do a job that most assistants weren't responsible for.

So they gave me more and more responsibility and I really was more of an executive level than an assistant. Your story is one that we're very familiar with as far as excelling in your career, being at the top of of everything that you do, but then the floor fell out. Fell out. Right. You you said in your intake like some people have a choice and they leave the corporate box because they want to. Yeah. It ending was the best thing that could have happened is what you said.

Well, it was. So, I left that company, the engineering software company. I got recruited by this internet incubator. Yeah. The I knew a head hunter personally and he called me and he goes, "I found you a job." And I said, "I'm not looking for a job." And he goes, "No, no, no. You got to go here." And this this place was sounds like a head hunter. Yeah. This place was at in the news all the time. So, it was they were um creating new internet companies right and left.

And all the people that worked there were, you know, buying stock, you know, they would buy the stock and they would become millionaires, right? So he was telling me, "You're going to become a millionaire. You're going to have all these stock options. They're going to be famous." And it was like, he really talked me into taking this job. And they paid $70,000 to hire me to this recruiter. So I, you know, I went to work for the COO who was married to the CEO and we worked side by side.

Um, and the woman who worked for the CEO and I had a desk together. We had one desk that made both that sat both of us. And within 12 months, I went from having this wonderful $70,000 job. And that was in 99. So in 99, that was a lot of money, right, for an assistant to be making. Yeah. Um, and I had 7,000 700 7,000 stock options that they doubled it and it was 70,000 or not doubled it, they increased it by 10. And I and on paper I was worth about $7 million.

Um, we they filed to go public. We were in the IPO stage where they were doing the dog and pony show and they couldn't talk about the company outside the dog and pony shows. And then the NASDAQ crashed in 2000. And so I went from having this fantastic job with all these stock options, exercised the stock options because we were going to go public, took a second on my house so I could do that and then the NASDAQ crashed and I saw the forest for the trees and I thought I was the oldest person that worked there.

where they were all tech techies, you know, with t-shirts and sandals. And here I come from this corporate background and I'm wearing panty hoes and dresses, you know, and um within 12 months I had no job and no stock options. And so my husband and I talked about it and he said, "You know what? This was November when right after the the crash. I think the crash happened in July. So, in May, I exercised my options. In July, the the stock market crashed and in November I got laid off.

So, um I said, I'm going to take the rest of the year off and then I'll start looking for another assistant job. But at 50 years old, I was old school, right? I took shortorthhand. I knew how to type 90 words a minute. But these young executives didn't know how to utilize my skills, right? They were self-sufficient. They did their own writing. They did their own stuff on the computer. They did their own spreadsheets. So, I was like floundering at that location because I wasn't put they weren't putting me to good use, right?

I mean, it was I have the ability here. You need to trust that I can do whatever you throw my way, but they just couldn't do it. They were just, you know, so focused on Well, I think that's one of the things about being inside that corporate box is you have to focus on what everybody else wants you to focus on and what they think you're good at and what they think you should do instead of just saying, "Hey, let me run it." run with it because I'm good at all these other all these other things.

So, what did you do? So, you took you were taking a year off. What? I didn't take a year off. I took I took a few months off. Um and in um I think it was December. Um my husband and I took a vacation up to Yoseite and we took a friend with us who was a realtor and um she That's how it starts. Yeah. So, she was sitting in the back seat. We were driving through Bakersfield and she said, "How much do you did you make as an assistant?" And I said, "Um, I was up to like $70,000 a year." And she said, "You

know, you could make a whole lot more money than that if you sold houses." And I said, "What? I'm not a saleserson. I can't sell a house." And I said, "I know nothing about real estate." And she said, "Donna, you could probably you you'll do you'd do really well in real estate." Um, I was on the historic preservation commission here in Monrovia and old houses are my thing and I grew up in a farmhouse in upstate New York when I was little and I just have this this passion for old houses and so um, she said this was all her, not me.

She said you should get into real estate and make old houses your niche because you can put your money where your mouth is and you can talk about we have what they call the Mills Act contract here where you can landmark your house and enjoy tax savings. So, I could talk about that with a lot of knowledge and experience. So, I talked to my husband when we got home. I said, "This isn't a nineto-five Monday through Friday, paycheck every other week kind of job. Are do you think I should do it?" And he said, "You know, I think you'd be really, really good at it."

He said, "You're a people person. You're confident. You're intelligent. I think you'd do really well." But he said, "Just promise me one thing. Please don't bring them all home for dinner." So, so I promised him I wouldn't do that because he knows I mean I go everywhere and I make a friend, right? So, um I did it. I I took the leap and I took a class that was um given at the local association of realtors and it was an eight-week class but since I had no job I was able to cut it into four.

I took a day class and a night class and luckily I had taken a real estate course in junior college which I don't know why I had done that but I had done it which qualified me for the certificate for the test. Mhm. So, I took the course. I took a crash course, a weekend crash course, which basically told me what the answers were on the real estate exam, and I passed. And I was the first one done and a three-hour exam. I was done in 45 minutes.

And I thought, "This I can't be this can't be um I can't be done, right? It's not it's not possible that I finished that fast." I went back through the test again, and I was still the first one done. And I walked out. I said, "I'm not changing my answers." And I left and I passed. So, while I was in that process, the local broker here, who was basically the only game in town, asked me to come in and talk to him, and he hired me, even though I didn't even have my license yet, he had business cards made for me.

So, it was like he just saw the potential, and he I I was pretty well known here in town because of my volunteer activities. I'm pretty involved in things. I was, you know, involved with the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club, and I was the president of the Monrovia Day Association. So, I I was involved. So, people knew my name, which is why I was able to move into real estate so successfully right away because I didn't have to establish myself. And that's a unique thing that happens to some people.

It doesn't happen very often. I want to back up just a second. before just before real estate you've you shared with us in the intake form like you never really shared how devastated you were in losing that position. Was part of that like why you took some time off to kind of just like what what was that actually at like what what was that like? Well, you know, I was on cloud nine, right? I mean, they recruited me. I had all these this potential money coming and I was going to send my niece and nephew to college.

I mean, I had all these plans and then the balloon broke. It burst and I was I was like speechless really. Now, what do I do? I was um smart enough to be able to negotiate a bigger package than what they offered me when they laid me off because I said, "You recruited me. You took me away from a job that I really liked and you talked me into taking this job and now you're giving me no job." So, I said I I negotiated a longer severance package.

I ne negotiated um more pay when I left and I got unemployment. So um I had enough money to survive while I was off and it took a while. I mean I I slept in every day for the first few days. I was so depressed and angry. Yeah. I mean yeah describe the feelings because we we know more than average the average person would what that what that feels like. I was like you actually have the nerve to let me go. You know, that was that was how I felt.

You know, I'm a valuable addition to your team and you don't see you're going to do this to me. How dare you? But would you It's almost like a Yeah. betrayal, grief. Like there's so many feelings that you go through. Yeah. And and most of the jobs I had, I chose to leave, right? I didn't I didn't except for the one where I interviewed and he found out and fired me. But um he wouldn't have done he wouldn't have fired me had I not done that.

But I I was so comfortable in every position that I held moving up that ladder that when it was like a slap in the face, but you know, it is what it is. And it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. But I didn't know it at the time. And my old boss there at the internet incubator company, I I every once in a while I reach out to him and I say, "Did I ever thank you for laying me off?" Because it was the best thing that ever happened.

But you know, you don't know that at the time. You just you feel worthless. You feel rejected. Rejected. Exactly. And I just couldn't I I don't like getting rejected. I I just don't like it. Which is why I'm good at real estate because I don't take no for an answer. Right. So So So jump back into real estate. They pretty much offer you a position before you even have your license. You get your license, you start with the company. And you had said the one advantage you had was that a lot of people knew you and you knew a lot of people.

So that's an advantage that a lot of people, you know, when you're inside that corporate box and you're thinking about doing it yourself, not many people have that advantage that, oh, I know a lot of people in I know a lot of people that will do business with me in my new in my new industry. So was there was there a time that you said to yourself, you know, I'll give real estate a certain amount of time to work or did you just jump right in and it worked for you?

Well, I my my husband and I had that discussion and he said, "Why don't you give it six months and see how you do and if you like it, you know, just stick with it and if you don't like it, go back to being an assistant." Um, it wasn't an option to not work, right? That that was not an option at that point. My husband was a a scientist at the City of Hope doing re cancer research. Um, that does not pay well, by the way.

So, here's this guy with this degree making less money than I do with a high school diploma, right? I mean, I went to junior college and I got an AA, but it took me 10 years going at night, right? So, my education was always not what made me succeed. It was just a side thing. Um, but so it wasn't an option for me not to work. I couldn't just say, "Okay, I'm 50. I'm going to retire." Um, so when I did the real estate thing and I I started right away, I started in April.

um two of the women at the internet incubator company where I worked um wanted to buy a house and they knew me and they knew I was intelligent enough to figure out how to do real estate and so they both hired me and I found them both houses within the first month. So I by um July I had my first commission check. And so I realized that I had to take that money and um leverage it. And so I and remember this is 2001. So the MLS was just going onto a modem on online, right?

It wasn't it wasn't uh the old books. You had to dial into the modem and log into the MLS. had the blue screen and you know all the listings were there and so um I came from this technology background. None of the other realtors had any technology experience especially if they'd not come from corporate and so I took the world by storm there. They were like where the hell did this woman come from? So I worked on websites right? I knew how to do web pages.

So I knew how to do HTML and I knew how to create websites. So I created my own website before I even sold a house. So, um, you know, it was it was just pretty amazing how I watched myself put level over level over level and make it a success. And so those So, I took that money that I made on that first commission and I created a flyer and, you know, nothing fancy at the time. It was just a word document. I knew how to do Word and I, it was two-sided and I trifolded it.

I took it over Staples. I copied it on green paper. money, you know, I wanted it to be green. Um, and it was about why you should have a termite inspection done on your old house. That's all it was. And so I sent it to I asked my title guy, "Give me the list of all the people that have old houses." So I sent it to everybody in Monrovia who had an old house. And it cost me maybe 400 bucks to send that out. And how long were you in the business when you did this?

Two months. Couple days. Well, April, May, June, three months because you already had you had that one closing from those two. Okay. So three months into the business. Three months into the business. I took that commission and I did that mailing and then the second time the next one closed a month later I took that check and I did another mailing and so I just started mailing to people and I also had 300 people on my database as well which you know most agents come into this business they have family and friends that's it um but I had all the people that I had worked

with I had people in the old house preservation group I had people that worked for the city so I had a lot of connections that I had on this on my contact, you know, my CRM and it was just an Excel spreadsheet, but that's how I know that's what I know how to use. So that's what I used and I categorized everybody and I where they came from and and so I just started mailing. Actually, let's talk about that for a second because that's a lot of things like you're moving and and it's not everybody listens to this isn't necessarily going in real estate.

They may be going a different direction, may starting their own company, but like just the is it because of that corporate background that you realize, hey, I need to organize this stuff. I need to have this list together because treat it like a business. Yeah. Yeah. And and I knew that. Yeah. My bosses taught me that you have to have you have to organize. You have to be you have to have a plan, right? And I I never really had a business plan, per se. I never sat down and said, "Here's my budget.

Here's what I'm going to spend. Blah blah blah." I didn't really do that um at the beginning. I do it now, but I didn't do it then. um I just knew the importance of marketing myself and branding myself and that's what I did and nobody had done that before me here and so I was able to segue that into a successful career and by so I was I started in April at the end of the year I was number uh 11 in my office and then starting in 2002 I became the number one agent in the office and I have been the number one agent

in my office ever since. Now, I have not always been the number one agent at my company because the last company I worked for previous to this one was a huge company and I always worked different stats, different Yeah, different stats. Listen, being number one in your office, being number one in your office, you know, you said a year into it was number one in number one in your office. Within a the next year, well, it was seven months, right? So, yeah, within seven months, I became the number one agent in the office.

So, um, I I I'm very competitive, too. And I think that's part of I mean, I know you're going to ask me about what's entrepreneurial, but I think being a competitor is you have to have that you have to have that drive and you have to have that desire to be number one, right? And that's the way I am. I always want to win. I want to be that person. I want to be the person that people think of when they think of real estate. And so, I made it a point to do that, to brand myself.

The problem was is that I branded myself as an old house person and people thought that's all I did. Did you Yeah. So I had to switch gears and that's another important part of being an entrepreneur. You have to pivot every once in a while, right? You have to say, "Oh, okay. That was a successful thing I did, but it may not go into the future as well as right now." Right? So I pivoted and I started saying I sell everything from mobile homes to mansions, right?

I didn't really want to sell mobile homes, but I had I for a mobile home, right? So I could say that. So I just said I sell everything mobile homes to mansions so that people understood that I'm not too busy for your real estate needs and also I do more than just old houses and that worked too. Quick shout out to one of our founding partners, Wise Agent. If you're in real estate and you're still juggling five different tools to manage your business, do yourself a favor.

Wise Agent is the all-in-one CRM that helps you manage your contacts, automate your follow-up, and actually grow your business without the tech headache. Built-in texting, email marketing, landing pages, task management, and real support from people who understand this industry. Check them out at wisag.com. Link in the show notes and tell them Jqu sent you. Well, seven months, number one in the office every single year. I I want to understand or let the audience understand like what did you do differently, you know, you have all these other agents, the other agents that have been in the business for a long time and like you came in

like I don't care nothing about nobody. Let's go. And just kept like I think that's so different than other, let's just say new business people, but also new agents. They come in, they're like, hi everybody. Like what what's what's the secret sauce? J man, I um I knew nothing about sales or real estate. And so what I did at the very beginning, and I think this is really an important piece of advice for new agents especially, is that go to if you have a location, right?

So I know there are a lot of uh companies now that are all online, virtual. I I could not do that. I I'm a person I have to go into a location to come into the office. I I get I get hyped up by being around other people and in an office environment and having people drop in to say hi and hey I want to sell a house or you know that that kind I have that's how I thrive. So I need a I need a brickandmortar location.

So um I um what was I getting at the difference? What made you different? Oh the difference. So what I did was I went into the office every single day even though I had no clients and no business what at all and I just sat around and I and we had floor time, right? Remember the floor time? Yeah. Opportunity time. Yeah. So I volunteered for all the floor time I could get. So I was there a lot and and I was able to actually convert a lot of that floor time into real buyers.

Um, and that's how I extended beyond the first two clients that I had was floor time, which another it's another thing that new agents don't have the benefit of of having. There is no floor time anymore as far as I know. You know, and I see this and from everything that I'm hearing from you is is you took opportunities when you saw opportunities. Absolutely. You know, it wasn't like, hey, even that, you know, that opportunity of real estate, you were like kind of forced out of your old opportunity and decided this one, but like even you said, hey, I took my first paycheck and I

spent $400 to do flyers and stuff, right? You know, because now spending $400 isn't a huge amount of money, but in 2020, at 2000, what is it, 2001 at this point? 2001, you know, spend $400 or $500, that's that's a good chunk of money to to spend on. I think the house I sold was like $300,000. So, I got like $6,000 check, right? I mean, it wasn't a huge commission check, but it was huge to me. That's $6,000 all at once. Good return. I sat there in that office and I listened and I absorbed like a sponge.

Right. So, I there was a top agent in our office who was um everybody knew who she was. Her signs were everywhere in town. And when the woman who recruited me said I should sell real estate, I said I'm going to give her a run for her money. And she laughed at me. She laughed at me. I'm sorry. Don't laugh at me when I make that comment because that's going to make me try even harder. Right. So, um, that woman left the company not long after I came to go work in another location.

And she did me a favor because what happened was after she left, I was the person in that office and I got all the business. So, um, but I listened to how she talked to people and how I would not talk to people. There were I mean, she was kind of a a witch, putting it lightly. And so, sometimes she would insult people or yell at people, and I was like, that is not the way I want to do my business. I want to treat people with respect.

My dad taught me as a kid, you respect everybody from the janitor to the CEO because you just never know. you might need that janitor to help unlock a door, you know? So, be kind to everybody because it'll come back at you, right? So, I learned that. So, I also listened to the other agents and how they did their business and, you know, there were top producers. They weren't like kicking ass, but they were good. Um, you know, they were what do you call it? They were consistent, right?

They would sell five, six, 10 houses a year. And that's okay. that that that's enough to make a living, but I wanted to be better. So, um, at the time I worked for Century 21 and I ended up in the top 100 in the country because I was so determined. Did you have one of the gold jackets? I did not have a gold jacket. Those were Oh, I was going to say, you know, she did. I was about to I do. I just took a picture of you with the gold jacket.

They brought them back. got a lot of cold. So, it's funny because we normally ask people like, "Hey, like what skill sets did you have from your previous that you brought over, but as I'm sitting listening to you is you sat there and you listened to an old CEO who went through and you said you listen to how he spoke and who he how he handled his business." And really from what I'm hearing is you went into real estate doing the same thing. I'm going to sit here and I'm going to absorb everything I can and I'm going to learn what I need to learn

and pick and choose. I'm going to take this from this person. I'm going to use this from this person and I'm never going to speak like that. And and I think, you know, I think it's smart sitting in the office and doing things like that. Um, we used to have an old CEO that used to say, sit down and just listen to the people on either side of you and just listen to their conversations because you'll learn more from those conversations than you're going to learn any place else.

And that way you're learning with their customers instead of trying to figure it out with your own. And I was talking really smart. I tell you the broker that I worked for saw the potential in me as I said before. And so every uh twice a week he would spend an hour with me and he would teach me real estate because it's a different language. It's it you know it's not something that you just know. Um and so he really guided me through that and I have to thank him for that even though we don't speak anymore.

Um but uh he did guide me into success and I have him to thank the the woman who recruited me and him both really contributed to my success and um I left for a smaller boutique company so I didn't have to pay franchise fees. They recruited the hell out of me and they opened a new office in Monrovia and I went over and I was able to negotiate because I was the top producer there. So I had a private office and I had an assistant and you know so um I did have to hire an assistant.

So in 200 so I left there in 2005. In 2005 I did 51 transactions by myself. Um and so I had to hire somebody. Yeah. I had to hire somebody to help me with the paperwork. And at that time nothing was computerized. It was all files and paper and you know and so um the two of us really did 51 sales that year. That was my best year ever. Not moneywise but transaction wise. Yes. And once you do that amount of transaction you need somebody to help you.

Um you had said in your your intake and this I found re I found really interesting that you believe entrepreneurialship and entrepreneurship is something you're born with. I think it was in my blood. Um, my dad was a salesman. Um, he sold hard molded rubber products. He actually invented the ladder shoe. So, those rubber things that go on the bottom of your ladder so it doesn't slide. My dad invented those. Oh. So, um, so that he was very Thank you to your father for keeping us safe.

There you go. It saved my life a few times. I know that for sure. Unfortunately, we lost him much too young. But um I'm very fortunate that both my parents were highly intelligent and I uh we all inherited that intelligence factor. I I'm proud to say um but he instilled in me um that competitiveness and the confidence and he always told me you can be anything or do anything that you want. Even from the time I was 14 years old he told me that and so um I believed it.

He he believed in me so much that he made me believe it. Right. So, I do have my dad to thank for a lot of that success as well. Um, but I I just I think that if you don't have that desire and that drive and that competition um in your blood and in your brain, um you'll you'll float along fine and you know, you'll have friends and family hire you to sell a house. But I mean, I walked into a house yesterday, a listing appointment yesterday, and um I was the listing agent when they bought the house 21 years ago.

Yeah. And they called me, not their agent, you know. So I it it feels like my name and my branding and my marketing. I I was on the shopping carts at the grocery store for 10 years. I haven't been there in 15 years, but people still think I'm there. So, you know, getting into their head is is where you have to go. And I think a lot of people don't understand that concept on, you know, I'm just going to sit here and wait for the phone to ring or, you know, I'm going to go work for a broker who tells me when to take lunch

and, you know, it's not help, right? They still want to be employees in the corporate box. That's that's what they want. And they don't realize and that's how you think 99 and 99% of the companies real estate don't work that way. It's corporate. They tell you what to do. Unless you want to work for like a company that pays a salary, right? And I think um there are companies, real estate companies out there that pay salaries, but I see J men's J men's jumping at the bed over here for a second.

Jeffrey does, you know, like I just want to push back a little bit because like if that's true, then like what's the point? What's the point of like a podcast or books or coaches or training if like if I'm not an entrepreneur then I should go back into the corporate box? Like are we just sorting people at this point? Like can you be taught entrepreneurship? Like I get it. I get what you're saying. Like you're a competitor. It's in your blood. I I have a mom who is a entrepreneur as well.

That's kind of what was instilled in me. But if what if I have two parents and the grandparents and everybody else around me that's worked corporate jobs. Do you feel like I can't be an entrepreneur or does it take a while to evolve into one? No. I I don't think that's the case. But I think you have to have that mindset, right? You have to say I'm going to be an entrepreneur. I'm gonna be a success and so I need to fi figure out how to do that.

I will tell you I have tried coaching on several occasions and unfortunately I'm not coachable. I'm just not I'm too hard-headed. Right. Can I coach you for a second? Let me coach you for a second. So basically I choose not to be coached. What was I going to say? Because everybody everybody everybody is coachable. Some people just choose not to be coachable and and that's fine. Some people listen, you say you're not coachable, but I'm going to challenge you on this one. Didn't your past CEO that you sat with didn't they coach you on how to run a business?

Yes. So, you are. It's just it's a lot of times this thing and I listen, we all know the and Donna, we've had conversations about this in our past lives that we all know the gurus in the industry. Some of those are just not made for a lot of people. They just need someone that's actually Yeah. Yeah. And so me me and you had us on sidelines years ago. We've had that conversation about, hey, that's not for me. And I totally totally get it. It it's but I think everybody's coachable if they choose to be coachable.

You may not want to call it coaching. It might be a mentorship. It might be having a mentor or having a that support system around you. Ability to learn. Yeah. The ability to learn. But th those raw raw rallies and you know you you go and you listen and you know they push stuff at you and they you know do this and do that and do this and do that and you're all co you're all hyped up when you leave and you're all like oh man I'm going to really put that and then you get back and you go how do I do that and

what do I do with that and that's kind of stupid. I'm already doing it this way. You know so it's like I I always just push back too much right? So, sure, show me all you got, but at the end of the day, I'm just going to do it the way I was doing it because it's successful. So, what would be the test for somebody who's listening now and they're like, I really hate this corporate job. I hate it. I can't take it. I've been wanting to leave.

What's the test, the litmus test they should run? Like the test is first of all, make sure you have a lot of money in savings or you have a spouse who makes a lot of money so that you're able to survive at least a year. What if I don't? Like I said, I was the exception to the rule. So, I was a success right away and I made money right away. Within the first four months, I was making money regularly. Um, that's not normal. And most new agents get into this business and they think they're going to hit the ground running and get rich right

away. That doesn't happen. And so, you have to be real. Donna made it look easy. I could do it, too. And you, you know, my old broker used to use me as an example. And I said, "Tom, you have to quit doing that because you're head setting their expectations much too high." Um, and you know, you need to be like Donna. Well, not everybody's like Donna. You know, not everybody not everybody has 25 or 30 years in a corporate environment learning how to run a business by observing people who ran great businesses and being involved involved in that.

I mean, that that to me that's that's a huge edge. And I think always the biggest thing of when it is to step outside the corporate box is and I agree with you. Some people going to do it have money in the bank. Other people do it just hey I I don't like my job anymore. I got to jump out. But I think you had a specific skill set that you were able to bring over with you. And I think a lot of people based upon the jobs they had before also have a lot of those a lot of the skill sets.

You know you've been in the business for 25 years at this point this year. It's a it's a long time. That's a long time. a long time in this business and be successful in this business. Is it a long time? It's a long time. It's a long time. Um, I will tell you that um, I love what I do. I love it. I love being my own boss. I love not having to get dressed up if I don't feel like it. I like get sleeping in.

I'm not a morning person. I let all my clients know, don't call me before 10 because I'm not answering my phone. Um, I love being my own boss and I see why people want to do that. I I totally get it. Um, but not everybody's cut out for it. And if you try it and you're not doing anything in a year, then yeah, that's that should be your your guide, right? If in a year I haven't made enough money to um thrive or to, you know, pay my bills, then it's not for you.

Um, there are great people. I see people come in all the time and I can tell that person's going to be successful. I can tell that person is never going to make a sale in their life. They have no desire. They have no drive. They have no no I they just don't have those are the people. Hey, I got into business because I like looking at houses go to open houses on the weekends like that. Yeah. I mean, and I honestly I used to go to open houses all the time because I really loved houses, but I never thought I'd be selling them, you know.

Well, it was different because So, and if for the beginning, you had a passion for the old h for the older houses. Yeah. Right. So, that's not just like, oh, I like houses. there was something that you involved in, something that you active that you were active in. Yeah. Yeah. Um I I just feel like all of my bosses contributed to my success in some way or form. Um whether it was they fired me for, you know, looking for another job or they taught me how to run their businesses without them.

I mean, the guy that had the insurance broker, he would take me in the car with him when he would go to the airport. He would dictate to me because he knew I took shorthand and so he would dictate letters to me in the in the in the limo and then I and he was the first person I knew with a cell phone back in the 90s, right? I left there in the 80s. It was in the 80s bag at that point. big old thing that went in his car console, you know, it was like um and then he would say, "Okay, I want you

to um type these these letters up and then at the bottom put my name and then put dictated but not read so that he didn't have to take responsibility for the mistakes that I made." Right. Oh, that wasn't what I told her. She just It's kind of like voice to text, right? That was it was a protective clause, right? Um, but he was a perfectionist and I had two three bosses that were perfectionists and not everybody can be perfect. You know, there's no such thing as perfect, but you can give it a hell of a try.

And so they taught me that. I love that. Yeah. I And I and I do that in everything I do. I try to be as close to perfect as I can be without being perfect because it's impossible to be perfect. You know, someone someone once told me, "You're perfectly you." And that's why they always think of people like me. You're perfectly you. And I'm like because you can never argue against that. You're right. I am perfectly me at this moment in time. I have had people ask me what do I attribute my success to?

And I always tell them what y that was going to be the next question. Oh, was it? Okay. Well, sorry I stole your thunder. Um I I truly think that my corporate background is the first answer I always give is that I learned so much from my bosses as an assistant. Um and I you know I was responsible for running small offices um parts of big offices. Um I ordered equipment and I did capital you know capital equipment purchases and I um I coordinated events. I did a a conference the in Long Beach for all the aerospace engineers in the area in the country and

around the world. They came to this conference that I was responsible for coordinating and I I did such a good job at it. They sent me to Munich to do the automotive conference with all the o so the the engineering software was mostly aerospace and automotive. So I learned I mean I just I just was a sponge whenever I was around I just picked it up and learned it. Um but I forgot what I was getting at though. We have some lightning round questions if you're ready.

Are you ready? Okay. Just don't think fast, fun, and okay. Furious, if you will. Biggest myth about being a top producing realtor. Uh, it's easy. That's a very big myth. It is not easy. We make it look easy, right? I like that. Okay. One thing, one thing your executive assistant days taught you that no one else in real estate knows. um how to be organized and how to negotiate and how to um talk to every level of people, even people that may not be on the same page as you politically or religiously or gender- wise.

You have to have an open mind and be able to work with people and tell yourself it's only 30 days and then they're gone, right? I mean, sometimes you have difficult people that you have to deal with, right? I try to make it not difficult for people and I try to get along with everybody and when people ask me what it was that um made me succeed besides the corporate background personality is definitely part of it. Um if you don't have an outgoing personality, you probably aren't going to do what I did.

So for I just want to point out so for everybody listening to this who are not seeing the video, Donna, what color is your hair today? It's purple and blue and pink and white. So for those you get like you look at Donna and you know she has a personality like it's just you just pick up on that that's I just want everybody people listening to this on audio just want to make sure it's you know she has personal and I've seen your hair a whole bunch of different colors by choice of course it changes all the time and that was when I first met

you I was like she's my person like her. Well I will it is my signature. Um people just know that I'm the realtor with the purple hair. It's mostly it's purple all the time, but um yesterday I had it done and I had her add some other new colors. It it fades away and then I do it again. You know, it's it is kind of fun and it it actually communicates to people that I am fun and I do have a personality and um so when and I have tattoos as well.

So, um you don't see those, but uh but I have them. And uh she's showing us her tattoos for those who can't see. and I'm 75 years old in November. So, you know, it's like the edgy kind of um hair and tattoos and the way I dress and the way I talk to people um is part of the reason why people embrace me because um they figure if she's confident enough to pull off that purple hair, then I want her as my agent, right? Okay, I like that.

Yeah. Now, corporate corporate job or commission only, which one's actually harder? Commission only is much harder. Um, but it's more fun. I love it. What What do you wish What do you wish someone told you at 49? Probably that life goes on. Even when you're thrown a little um What do you a sword that Yeah. Yeah. When you're throwing a curveball, when you're thrown a curveball, you have to roll with the punches, you know? You just can't take it to heart. You can't you can't um blame yourself and you can't say I'm a I'm a failure.

So, we got to fail every once in a while. We got to fall down, but we got to get back up, right? So, I always was able to pull myself back up. And I think that's really an important thing you need to know in real estate that you're going to have people punch you down and you're going to have clients that are not fun to deal with and you just have to roll with the punches and just say, um, it's temporary and get back up and go at it again, right?

I mean, it's it's it's personalities don't always jive and yet they want you as their agent because they know you're good. So, you just roll with the punches. Okay. Okay. And then your husband, supportive, nervous, or absolutely terrified at the beginning. Terrified for sure because commissions are few and far between, especially if you're just getting started. And so those first two commission checks were Yeah. Hey, hey, woo. I got two commission checks. Well, when's the next one coming? So, um, I mean, we were lucky that I could go on his insurance for healthcare and that kind of stuff because I had my own insurance when

I worked for the corporate background, right? Um, so I was able to move over to onto his insurance and so we were very fortunate that he had a good stable job, but he was terrified as was I that it wasn't going to work. And I didn't really want to go back to being an assistant at that point. You know, once I got the taste of being an entrepreneur and owning my own business and that's another mistake that new agents make. They don't understand that that's their business, that they own that business and it's not their broker's business.

the broker benefits from your business, not the other way around, you know. I mean, you definitely benefit from having a broker guide you and and you know, let you hang your license there. But this is your business and you have to look at it that way. You can't just say, "Oh, well, you know, somebody's going to tell me how to do that." No, you have to figure it out. And I'm a big AI person as well, even though I'm 75 years old, you know, from the technology experience that I've had over the years.

I mean, you remember J man? I was part of the um beta testing on a lot of stuff, right, at at our previous broker. Um I've always embraced technology and I think if you don't, you're a fool. Um and I saw a lot of agents when I got into the business and had my own website and did all that technology at the beginning when it was not common. Absolutely refuse to to learn it and to embrace it. And it was I had an assistant at one point who wouldn't do we we got computerized and she refused to learn how to scan the documents in because

of the barcodes and things and so I had to let her go because I needed somebody who was going to run with me not behind me, right? So you have to embrace technology. AI is definitely here to stay. Um, it's it's a little dangerous for sure, but there are ways to use it that'll benefit your business in every day. Every single day. All right. Now, I know Jeffrey has one more question. We try to end Troy because it doesn't always work. We try to end every episode of Outside the Corporate Box the same way.

So, you're standing in front of your standing in front of the mirror day one, freshly laid off, scared like you admitted before, maybe not admitted then. real estate license now gonna be? What do you say to yourself? What's that one bit of advice that you give yourself back then? Listen to what your dad told you. You can be anything and do anything and you're going to be successful. And that is what I told myself when I got my license. You're going to be do you're going to do well, Donna.

You just have to have that. You have to convince yourself, right? You have to just keep telling yourself that because if you don't and you give up, then you give up and that's not a good sign. Never give up. Love that. Pivot. Never give up and you can do it. So, Donna, where can people find you? Um, I am um I am a team member with my partner Gina Ammon. Our website is ammonaker.com. A mm mbaker.com. Um, and we are top producers here in Monrovia. We serve the entire San Gabriel Valley.

We go from Burbank to Ontario and um we uh we are really good at what we do. So give us a call. Um and my email is donnaandbaker.com. If anybody wants to ask any questions, I'm happy to answer them. That's another thing that I really want people to understand is that right, real estate isn't rocket science. Okay? And so when agents when top producing agents don't want to share, that's such a stupid mindset to me. It's like I learned from somebody else and I'm happy to help share what I know with you.

Pay it forward. And there are a lot of old older agents and and top producing agents who want to keep everything a secret, right? And it's like there are no secrets. It's it's cookie cutter, right? I mean, if it works for me, you try it. may not work for you, but at least give it a try. So, I I I'm always of the mindset that I I'm willing to share and mentor people and I've mentored a few agents over the years and um it's really rewarding for me to do that.

You know, Don, I just want to say it was a privilege. I mean, I've known you for years and hearing your background story. I knew little bits and pieces of it, but hearing the background and your background story, I really appreciate you sharing with us and and now I act now I understand one of the reasons why you're so successful in this business and why you've been so successful for this period of time. So, thank you very much. I really appreciate the time you spent with us.

I appreciate you inviting me. Thanks so much. I'm glad I saw your post. And thank you everyone who's watching and listening. If this one hit you the way it hit us, share it. Send it to somebody who just got knocked off their ladder because they didn't have the rubber on the bottom. Very good. Yeah. Uh and doesn't know yet that it might be the best thing that ever happened to them. Subscribe if you haven't already. And every Monday, we've got another great one that you don't want to miss.

But before we let you go, we want to say thank you to our founding partners, Wise Agent, Subi, and the CE Shop. They make this show possible, and they're building tools that actually help people in this industry. Check them out. All the links are in the show notes. And thank you, Donna, again, for spending time with us. And thank you to everyone for listening. That's not something we take lightly. Now, go make it happen. Have a good weekend. Thank you, Donna. Bye, guys.