Behind the Scenes of Genuine Hustle Seattle With Team Diva

Want to dive into what it was like to host Genuine Hustle here in Seattle? I am going to give you the inside scoop of all of the details and what we learned through our experience of hosting Genuine Hustle.

My biggest takeaway from Genuine Hustle is that if you want something done or need support, call a top producer. The people who checked in on us, grabbed coffee, set up the happy hour, cleaned up the garbage, and more were all working real estate professionals. And the majority of the real estate professionals are also top producers!!!

But First: What is Genuine Hustle?

The small real estate conference Genuine Hustle was created by Stacie Staub as a way to get the smartest people in a room to share their best practices. It started in 2015 and Team Diva were among some of the first speakers. The first event was a one-day affair followed up with a small learning session the following day. Over the years it has grown into a two-day event with speakers from all parts of the real estate world.

There are a couple of rules to Genuine Hustle.

It is an all volunteer-led event. You cannot sell from the stage. And there is an unwritten rule of just bringing your best self to this space.

Where Has Genuine Hustle Been Hosted Before?

Genuine Hustle has been hosted in Denver, Tacoma, Boise, Virginia, Annapolis, North Carolina, Online, Bend, and just recently here in Seattle. And the most recent Genuine Hustle hosted here in Seattle was one of the largest events in Genuine Hustle history.

Team Diva’s Behind the Scenes of Genuine Hustle Seattle

I am not going to lie. Hosting Genuine Hustle here in Seattle roughly a month after taking our nephew to University of Washington was a bonkers idea.

Regardless it was something that we felt was super important to do and we really wanted to bring new voices to the Genuine Hustle stage.

My Biggest Takeaways From Genuine Hustle

I learned so much at Genuine Hustle Seattle. It was a gift to be in a room with so many top producers and see them share so much of what makes them successful. Here are a couple of my main takeaways:

Blogging Isn’t Dead It’s Just In Transition For AI
Business Plan By Asking Life Questions First
Re-Do My Neighborhood Pages Using Tim Harvey’s Format
Time to Update Bios and About Me Pages With AI Searchability In Mind
Top Producers Do More and Give More
Get Your Breast Cancer Exams
Diversity Needs To Be Sought After; It Is Not Going To Happen On Its Own
Luxury Is Not About The Car You Drive But It Is About The Service You Provide

We Are Sorry About The Coffee At Genuine Hustle Seattle

Well the coffee had issues but the community brought the energy! The electrical at the 101 was garbage and it knocked out the coffee makers twice. Ugh!!!! Our poor guests were little zombies first thing in the morning and the venue did not care.

But did you know that Amber Arnall borrowed Bri’s car, took Alyssa and Heather Ostrom to Starbucks, bought coffee for everyone, and brought it back?

Amber flew here from San Francisco and Heather came from Roseville to be part of this event. They saw a need and jumped in!

That is what top producers do!!!

Donna and Kim Got Three New Homes Under Contract and Negotiated An Inspection

It was wild. Donna would finish up at the event and then go and show houses. Jahine, from Chavi’s mentorship group, did an inspection during Genuine Hustle. Kyle volunteered to show a client a house so we could set up for Genuine Hustle.

Meanwhile – Every single break at Genuine Hustle you would find Donna and Kim by the garbage on the phones working with clients, other brokers, and more supporting our Diva Dwellers.

Here Is What Happened Behind The Scenes At Genuine Hustle

Two Buyers Found Homes
Divas Sold One Of Their Listings To Another Genuine Hustle Attendee’s Clients
Kim and Donna Also Negotiated An Inspection

Whew!!!

The Mariners – Until Next Season!!!

Leading up to Genuine Hustle, our Mariners were in the playoffs for the first time in a generation. The final game of the playoffs was during our opening Happy Hour.

I cannot lie. It was wild to have the final game of the season playing on the background during our Happy Hour at the Loft on Capitol Hill.

You are still in our hearts Mariners and thank you for an amazing season!!!

Team Diva’s Email Went Down The Week of Genuine Hustle

Yep! Our entire email system went down the weekend before Genuine Hustle. All of our Team Diva Real Estate emails were going to people’s spam. The email system wasn’t fixed until the weekend AFTER Genuine Hustle.

This is was our work around during Genuine Hustle Seattle:

All the communications for Genuine Hustle was going to people’s spams. Everyone was texting us “I’m not getting your emails.” Me – did you look in spam?

Meanwhile – We used old fashion real estate skills called “Pick Up The Phone” to communicate with all of the speakers and event people the week of the event.

And believe it or not we used good old fashion Facebook Group to communicate with everyone.

It is all fixed now but the email issue added another layer to this situation.

Genuine Hustle Content, Speakers, and Breakout Rooms

As I mentioned earlier I really wanted content that would push my own knowledge. I wanted to walk away from this experience understanding something new about real estate that I didn’t understand before. We also really wanted to center new voices and more diversity on the various stages.

Hopefully we fulfilled the mission!

The Favors AKA Our Friends Delivered As Speakers

Katie Lance

Our friend Katie Lance volunteered to be a speaker at Genuine Hustle. It was such an incredible experience to be able to host Katie at Genuine Hustle. Her content is always fresh and innovative.

Ryan Ricketts

Our dear friend Ryan is not only a bestie, he is also the Director of Global Search at Microsoft. Ryan also gets paid to speak at various events and generously offered up his time to talk about the future of search and AI at Genuine Hustle.

Also side note! I walked past Ryan and Katie at the Happy Hour and they happened to have introduced themselves to each other. It was a magical meeting of the minds!!!

Tim Harvey

I was introduced to Tim by my friend Paul Kaplan in Palm Springs. Tim graciously agreed to come and be part of Genuine Hustle as a speaker. AND he did an hour and half workshop during implementation day. Wowww!!!

Breakout Rooms at Genuine Hustle

This particular Genuine Hustle had one main session in the morning and in the afternoon it only had two break out rooms. Normally there are three breakout sessions in the afternoons at a typical Genuine Hustle which allows for more varierty.

The pressure to have high quality speakers and worthy content was really high.

The feedback we received was that the breakout sessions was people’s favorite moments.

Kim’s Presentation “How To Successfully Sell Your Listing”

Our very own Diva spoke on the mainstage after taking a six year hiatus from speaking at real estate conferences. Kim talked about how she puts together her whole communication for her sellers that helps to set them up for success. She uses a combination of online content and personalized communications to make sure everyone is well received.

Our Diva Kim shared all of her secrets on what it takes to support Seattle’s Home Sellers

Detailed Interview and Walkthrough Upfront
Use Online Content to Educate Sellers About the Process
Articulate the Prepping For the Sale Process
Have A Crew of Vendors To Support Sellers
Communication With Sellers Is Critical

Kim’s presentation was a favorite for many of the attendees.

You have to understand how rare it is for a top listing agent like Kim to reveal all of their techniques. But when you are in Genuine Hustle Seattle top producing real estate agents deliver!

Pioneer Square Dine-Arounds

Do you know what it is like to find restaurants that are open close to Pioneer Square that are open on a Tuesday night? It is extremely hard!!!! Kim worked her special gift and found several restaurants that were close to the venue for the Dine Arounds. We asked many of our local besties to host the dine arounds and show off the best that Seattle has to offer.

Here is the list of restaurants we loved and showcased:

Von’s 1000
Nirmals
Il Terrazzo Carmine
Ivar’s Acres of Clams
a/stir
13 Coins
Matsu
Salt Harvest

Supporting Our Favorite Local Seattle Businesses

Seattle’s small businesses have had their toughest year in a long time. Almost 30% of our small businesses have closed since the beginning of the year with women and BIPOC owned businesses being hit the hardest.

Our goal was to not only make sure that EVERY vendor we used for the event was a locally owned business. But we also wanted to make sure all of the vendors were BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ owned. Or the vendors had to be strong allies and members of the GSBA – Seattle’s LGBTQ+ business association.

We are really happy and proud of the group we were able to gather to support Genuine Hustle Seattle:

Marination Catering – BIPOC and Queer Owned
Brown Girl Cooks – Award Winning Black Woman Owned Catering Business
Maeve Chocolates – Black and Woman owned.
Live Oak AV – A member of the GSBA – LGBTQ+ Business Association
Connect Printing – Diva’s favorite printers for a very long time

Implementation Day At The Loft aka Our Office

What is an implementation day? It is a day where you can brainstorm and talk with your fellow attendees about what they learned and their biggest takeaways. Broker Blair agreed to host us and a smaller group of Genuine Hustle attendees for a full day of learning and sharing. Not only was Broker Blair in fine hosting mode he also made brunch for everyone before our session started.

Morning Session | Tim Harvey With GoFly Dragon – Workshop

Our new friend Tim with GoFly Dragon volunteered and did a detailed workshop about how to use AI to increase your discoverability in the new age of search using AI. Anyone who has taught real estate agents knows that we are slow to adapt to technology. We are here for the people not the tech.

Tim was patient and extremely detailed. I personally learned so much. And yes – full disclosure we do have a marketing call setup for later in November.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sharing best practices and deep diving into topics like farming, database management, business planning, and what we all learned at the session. It was an amazing experience after the fast paced goodness of Genuine Hustle.

Why Did We Want To Host Genuine Hustle Here In Seattle?

Kim and I had been absent from Genuine Hustle the last few years because the event always coincided with a major hands-on time for our nephew Ash. Luckily for us, Virginia’s Genuine Hustle happened to coincide with Winter Break here in Seattle and we were able to make it work. It was the first time we had been back in a really long time.

During Genuine Hustle Virginia we had some really profound conversations with a few folks that made us want to puruse continuing those conversations.

The Pacific Northwest Real Estate Professionals Were the Inspiration

The Virginia Genuine Hustle also gave me the opportunity to connect with local Seattle top producers. I thought it was wild that I had to fly across the country to spend quality time with producers from my own backyard.

Seattle and the Pacific Northwest has some of the most dynamic, forward thinking, and kind real estate professionals in the business. It felt like it was time to showcase what we can bring to this community as hosts. In addition, we knew we needed a real estate conference that was going to invigorate our own business after so much transition these last few years.

Our guiding question during the development of Genuine Hustle Seattle was “What’s the pivot? What is going to make me stop and take notice?”

There Were Times That Terrified Me While Planning Genuine Hustle

I cannot lie. It was terrifying planning and organizing this event. Doing anything in Seattle is ridiculously expensive. Also, the biggest event we had ever hosted was our wedding. And Genuine Hustle was bigger and more complicated than our wedding.

Regardless I am so happy that we did this event.

Genuine Hustle Seattle Would Not Have Happened Without Two Core Groups Of Folks

The number of people that worked behind the senses to bring Genuine Hustle to Seattle is insane. None of this would have happened without the leadership of West + Main. They have a format that folks can use and deep knowledge of the Genuine Hustle community. In addition, our team at Coldwell Banker Bain on Capitol Hill provided Team Diva and the Genuine Hustle team with so much support.

Thank You West + Main

It goes without saying that Stacie, Rylie, and Madie are some of the smartest people in this business. Their ability to graciously share their expertise and excitement for Genuine Hustle is stunning. West + Main does not get anything from this experience. But year after year they bring some of the best in the business together for a really rare real estate event.

This world would be a better place if more folks were more altruistic in their approach to sharing the way this crew of women are.

What you do not know is that West + Main helped to curate the speakers and format. The crew provided guidance and tools through out the entire event. West + Main also designed a Get to Know Seattle guide that our printer was wowed by!

Oh and let’s not forget there was even a last minute call on Wednesday at 7:00 AM where we needed help to reshuffle and move all of the tables. The West + Main team was there and happily helped us to make sure all of the attendees had an amazing experience.

THANK YOU!!!!

Thank You Coldwell Banker Bain Family

Big thank you to our Coldwell Banker Bain Capitol Hill family who saw the vision and were incredible hosts. This event WOULD NOT HAVE been possible without their support.

The leadership team at Coldwell Banker Bain were incredible and so trusting of our vision. It is really tough for larger brands to do something a month after their own conference. Coldwell Banker Bain put a lot of trust into Team Diva to pull this whole thing together.

Thank you Julia Nordby and Jennier Lind for your leadership and faith that we could do this event!!!!

Also: Hey Capitol Hill Coldwell Banker Bain at the Loft!!!!

Our office is amazing.

Behind the scenes Terry McMahan, Donna Burns, and Bri Hoenig had years of event planning experience. They were running around The 101 making sure everyone was taken care of during Genuine Hustle Seattle.

Our Broker Blair hosted the opening happy hour to end all happy hours. No one throws a party like Blair Stacks. The food, the vibe, the music, and of course the entertainment was the best that Capitol Hill has to offer!!!!

I also really want to thank the folks who are part of our office who helped put together the bags, set up happy hour, cleaned up after each day, presented, and showed how rad our office is.

Thank you Annie Dumont, Ian Gordon, Amber Arnall, Brent Smith, Sam Lamping, Ryan Lile, Karen Abbey, Sophia Deveaux, Richard Andreissen, for showing what our little but mighty office can create!

Honorable Mention – Aimee Rado.

Our gal not only was a speaker but she spent the entire day before Genuine Hustle helping us to setup.

Thank You To The Sponsors Of Genuine Hustle Seattle

This event would not have been possible without the support of the sponsors. Ticket sales alone do not cover the cost of hosting Genuine Hustle. Any organizer can attest to the fact that sponsors are the support team that make an event happen.

Thankfully we were very lucky to have some incredible friends in this industry who saw the vision and wanted to make Genuine Hustle special.

Big thank you to the following crew:

Team Diva – Host Sponsors. Enough about us!
West + Main – Co-Host Sponsors. The design, organization, coordination, and on site support would not have happened without this crew.
Coldwell Banker Bain – Presenting Sponsor – Our family at CBBain put up the majority of the cash for the event. In addition they lent us their support staff. This event would NOT HAVE HAPPENED without CBBain and their leadership team.
Derek Wetzel Lending – Derek was the largest donor and was the first to commit to supporting Genuine Hustle. He is also one of our favorite lenders!!!
Chris Lapp With Zillow – We are new friends with Chris and are so thankful that his team was able to support Genuine Hustle Seattle.
Lake & Company – Out of the blue our friends from Lake & Co wanted to support the efforts to bring high quality education to Seattle. Thank you!
Richard Hobson Guaranteed Rate – The happy hour happened because Richard was one of the first to sign on to support Genuine Hustle.
Mary Holste with Side x Side Creative – Last minute, Mary stepped up to do a ton of the design work for the signage and helped Kim with her presentation. The space looked amazing because Mary was able to bring together the final look.

A Few More Thank Yous

Through this process I deepened some friendships and made some lasting friendships with Samiksha Shetty, Lisa DuBois, Erin Bradley, Justin Knoll, Piper Knoll, Lauren Goché, Maddy Mixter, Andrea Chatard, Marguerite Martin, Alyssa Christensen, Coral Gundlach — you all stepped up and are DIVAS.

There is no Divaland without art. Hence we really wanted to represent the best in Seattle by hosting Seattle artists, Ashley Kay, Akoiya, Nia-Amina, dani tirrell, Strawberry Shartcake, and Miss Texas 1988—you are the jewels of Seattle!

Who Is Going To Host Genuine Hustle Next?

Right now I have been spending a lot of time sleeping and trying to catch up on Team Diva work. In the wind it does sound like there are rumbles of Genuine Hustle being hosted in South Carolina or Philadelphia next.

Who knows!

Thanks For Being Part Of Seattle’s Genuine Hustle

Every Genuine Hustle is different and its own experience. The right people come together at the right time to create a learning experience for their real estate community.

We are here to help the next group who chooses to host Genuine Hustle.

Until next time!

Need Help Finding The Best Seattle Real Estate Agent?

We are here to help. Our team understands that this process can take a year or two. Give us a call. Our Team loves helping people develop a personalized plan for their home journey. Feel free to contact us directly at Kim@teamdivarealestate.com or call/text Kim directly at 206-850-3102