Team Diva’s founding members, Chavi Hohm and Kim V. Colaprete had a wonderful time chatting with Erin Bradley on Pursuing Freedom a few weeks back. This was before the COVID shelter-in-place began, and we’re already a little nostalgic seeing a Team Diva HQ wall behind them in the YouTube video.
But as much as things have changed in the world in these scant few weeks, Team Diva’s values have not. And that is: Real Estate done right is about service to the community. (Not incidentally, Kim and Chavi also just joined Brad Inman on Inman’s Daily Dispatch, in which they speak more specifically about adapting in the time of COVID.)
Erin Bradley’s Pursuing Freedom real estate podcast interviews some of the best and brightest in the real estate industry. Bradley herself is a veteran of it and has authored books and courses on how to grow a team. Bradley emphasizes a work-life balance, and so do we. It’s especially important for anyone who works a job that can easily follow them home—such being as top Seattle real estate agent. In real estate, one’s job IS homes, after all.
The Team Diva Origin Story on Pursuing Freedom
We’ve told the Team Diva origin story many times, but we don’t mind it. It’s an important part of addressing a new audience, and we’re particularly proud of ours. Community service and innovating through adverse conditions are built into Team Diva’s professional and cultural DNA. One doesn’t become one of Seattle’s top real estate agents settling for the status quo.
Kim decided from the start that she would not be trying to blend in. She was coming from a fiery activist background for that to even make sense. Advocating for funding and dignity for the HIV+ community with the Northwest AIDS Alliance toughens one up a bit. She and Chavi met there, and as business partners and as a couple, they knew community service would always be fundamental to their lives.
Of course, being the black sheep in a rather conservative industry like Seattle Real Estate isn’t easy. It takes extra effort to prove oneself professionally and not be dismissed as an eccentric. But the benefits have far outweighed the challenges. As Kim and Chavi attest to on Pursuing Freedom, knowing that one’s business and its brand are true to one’s values makes a work-life balance achievable in ways that simply aren’t possible if one is just exchanging hours of one’s life for money at a job.
The Entrepreneurial Edge In Seattle Real Estate
Building your own brand and company is a huge risk, but what are the alternatives if you want to become a Top Seattle Real Estate Agent? It is an inherently entrepreneurial industry if you want to succeed, even working within a larger brokerage. Differentiating yourself isn’t just about getting more clients, but getting the right clients—the people you want to see through their home-buying journey and trust you along the way.
On Pursuing Freedom’s website, Bradley summarizes our approach to becoming Top Seattle Real Estate Agents:
Team Diva honors their priorities, they know how to create energy around their brand by providing value to the community, and they go above and beyond to provide value to their clients as well. You can’t just show up in your clients’ lives when they need a deal done; you need to show up all the time, and let the deals come as a byproduct of those relationships.
That’s it in a nutshell. Create value in the communities you want to serve, and you will find success in business and beyond. Hear or download the whole podcast on the Pursuing Freedom website.
