This interview with Kristen D. Conti is part of Exeleon Magazine’s issue, featuring The Most Influential Women in Real Estate in 2023. Read all the stories from this edition by clicking on this link.
What makes you an influential woman realtor?
My entrepreneurial spirit has been with me since my teens. I have been called “a serial entrepreneur” and I take that as a compliment. I grew up in Rhode Island where a “New England” work ethic was instilled at an early age. I am tenacious, dedicated and a problem solver. I am a strong salesperson with excellent communication skills.
Nothing brings me more joy that bringing up the next generation of Realtors and entrepreneurs. I have always been a trendsetter willing to take risks and many of them have paid off richly. I have also been through some bitter defeats in the downturn of 2008. But got up and used that experience to help others.
Talk to us about your growing up years. What is your earliest memory as a leader that you can remember?
I grew up in Rhode Island and began working at the age of 13 as a Nanny. The following year I got a job at a grocery store and an ice cream shop. My earliest memories are of always trying to improve my workplace. I have the ability to see things that others don’t and to create lasting experiences for consumers.
In every job I held I would be out in leadership roles. Sometimes people were threatened my me because I have a strong confident personality. I am also extremely empathetic, so it hurts my feelings when people prejudge me because my intentions are always pure.
What prompted your interest and subsequently your foray into the real estate space?
Funny story here. I was working for General Mills as a Restaurant Manager. I met and fell in love with the man who would become my husband. Due to the excessively long hours and the fact that he too was an entrepreneur, we began planning to open our own restaurant. It was in a Plaza with several businesses, one of which was a real estate office. The owners were watching us at work and were very impressed with our tenacity and sales ability.
Once we did our business plan for the restaurant, we realized that we would not make the kind of income we needed to live the lifestyle we wanted to enjoy and create. The owners of the real estate company approached us and offered us a job. So, I headed to real estate school and the rest is history.
Talk to us about your journey in the last 3 decades in the real estate industry. What have been some of the biggest challenges?
Work-life balance is my greatest challenge. Workaholism has definitely been a part of my journey though I am recovering. Also having to wear so many different hats in the course of a day. Owning a real estate office is an up at dawn, down at dusk siege. Being a people-pleaser has also proved challenging. As I have aged and gained more experience, I realize that I need to be true to myself and realize that some people are not a good fit for me.
I hand select customers and agents to work with me now. This has given me so much more joy and the ability to give back to worthwhile charities and community events. Our business and personal lives were decimated in 2008. We lost our office and all of our personal holdings and had to start from Ground Zero rebuilding. We did this by becoming specialists in short sales and foreclosures which allowed us to create another highly successful company.
Having built an incredible reputation through this journey, what would you change if you were to start over again?
In all honesty, I wouldn’t change a lot. Every experience led me to where I am today which is a very good place. But I definitely would have taken less risk and been truer to myself. Often in my quest to grow my brand and make people feel heard and valued, I cared more about making people happy than following my own gut.
I also would have learned more from my partner and husband who is a very good judge of character. I was highly leveraged, and my husband was concerned. I am an eternal optimist and had not had a major failure until 2008 so I believed I was invincible. I would be more of a realist next time around and trust people who had my best interests at heart rather than those who wanted to take and not give back.
Finally, talk to us about your vision going forward for your brand (Peacock Premier Properties) and network.
Peacock Premier Properties is the final chapter in my real estate story. In 2018, I merged with a large corporate firm and became the managing broker for them. I realized in a very short time that I could not work in a corporate environment.
In the middle of COVID-19, I took a huge risk and resigned from that job and branched out to open my own firm again. My vision is for a boutique brand that delivers concierge service where customers and agents alike feel like part of a community.
In this world with too much technology, I am spending more face time with the people who refer me business. People are craving genuine care and competence. I will never retire as I love what I do. But beginning next year, I do plan to entrust my office to my team and take a full month and get out of the Florida heat. I will increase the time every summer until I can be here in my business 9 months a year, and 3 somewhere else doing speaking engagements and consulting while out of state.
Read Digital Version of the Magazine.
Visit Peacock Premier Properties Website.
Contact Kristen D. Conti on LinkedIn.
