Hello and welcome to the SunLeaders podcast. My name is Whitney Smith. I am the owner and attorney at your rental property Attorney pllc.

It is a law firm that specializes in helping landlords run their rental property businesses. And I spend a lot of time due to my firm’s unique niche, focusing on real estate industry and leaderships. And so I’ve decided to focus my podcast on female leaders in real estate.

And I also want to discuss the different aspects that those female leaders face. And today we are going to talk about transitioning, specifically what all entrepreneurs have to make the decision when they decide to go out on their own. And with me today is Deanna Barcelona.

Hello. Hello, Whitney. Thank you for having me.

Yes. I’m so glad you’re here. And so Deanna is a mortgage broker.

And you’ve been a mortgage broker now for how long? Three years. Three years. And this is your second career? Correct.

And at the. Previously you were an assistant dean for the College of Education at usfsp, which is my alma mater. Yes.

And. And we were probably there at the same time. I didn’t even know it.

Right. I think so, yeah. I was there from 0809 until I left at the end of 2020.

So pretty good stint. Yeah, I was definitely there. Beautiful campus.

Yeah. Because I’m also. I’m a second career attorney, so I graduated my undergrad 2013 from USFSP.

And I love that school. It’s a great campus and it was a beautiful time while I was there. Yeah, it’s a gorgeous, gorgeous campus.

I had so much fun. I kind of lived out my 20s and my 30s while I was in my 30s. I have fond memories of that there too.

And my daughter actually just started summer B classes there a couple weeks ago. So that’s a total trip to see her on that campus. Nice.

Where she partly grew up. Yeah. Yeah.

Because you probably brought her, of course. Right? Yeah, she knows her way around. Yeah.

But so at some point in your life, you decided to make the leap from a stable paycheck, you know, and probably, you know, a stable life altogether, to the world of entrepreneurship. Yes. That is true and insane.

You know, I’ll back up to baby Deanna. Not baby, baby Deanna. But my aspirations as a kid were to be a part of academia.

I was fascinated by higher education. I knew fairly early on, even though I was first generation college student, that I wanted to get a doctorate. I had a lot of mentors along the way, and it took me many years, as it does for people with terminal degrees, as you know, to get to that point of completing a PhD took me 14 years.

And so when you go that far into investing your time and energy into, you know, that much education, you typically stay. You know, the track for an academic is typically you’re in school forever, then you become part of the university and you, like, die on that campus. Right.

And that’s what I thought was gonna happen. And I started at USF St. Pete was my very first real job after graduate school. And that’s where I stayed until I changed careers.

How long were you there? I just did the year, so we can do the math. I don’t like 16 years. Oh, 16 years, yeah.

Okay. So, yeah, I really felt like I grew up with that campus as, you know, being a part of it. There was a lot of growth from USF St. Pete being like a sleepy little branch campus of the mothership in Tampa to a real kind of university in its own, with residence halls and dining and, you know, everything that some sports, a real university has.

So I watched that, and I was a part of that in various roles. I started in academic advising, and then I was teaching along the way. I was always the professor for the freshman seminar.

And when I left, I was a few years into a stint as assistant dean, like you said, within the College of Education, which is one of three colleges on that campus. So I had made my way up to kind of higher ed administration ranks, and it was a sort of middle management position where I was overseeing faculty and enrollment and students and then dealing with higher leadership. And it was cool.

I learned a lot. It was. It was a true leadership role.

And it taught me a ton. It’s, it’s, you know, toughened me up. Right.

But because how many, like, how many people did. I mean, as assistant dean, you managed quite a few people then. Yeah, we were, you know, a very small undergrad population of a few hundred students, another maybe few hundred graduates, and then 30 faculty members, adjuncts.

Yeah, that’s quite a position. So, yeah, and it was, it was, it was good. But I got to the point where I was working my booty off a lot of stress.

And as you know, in education, the salaries are not the best. So I was at 80 grand plus a couple stipends. I was maybe just barely cutting the surface of six figures at the age of 47 with a PhD.

Right. And I didn’t want to go any further up, responsibility wise. My kids were at a point where I wanted to spend, you know, time with them in their last few years of teenager into adulthood.

Right. And like, I liken it to, like, like a shitty relationship. I just was over it, right? And I was like, I want out.

You know, like, I’m tired of this. And like any relationship and like, whether that’s, you know. Yeah.

It’s run its corners. It’s no longer serving me. And I was not me.

Is that you? It’s me. It’s not you, usf. You are beautiful.

It’s me. And you were beautiful. And it was a good run.

So I started to think through ways to exit, which was really, really difficult because as I told you about my childhood dreams of being a doctor and being called doctor, that was my identity, Right. And so it was like, okay, if I’m not going to be at USF St. Pete, like most academics, you’re relegated to the other universities in your area if you’re not willing to move. And I was.

I’m not stuck in St. Pete, choosing to stay in this city, which I love tremendously, and whereby both of my kids were being raised. So it was like, okay, St. Pete College, an online university. And I did explore those options.

This was also during COVID you know, so we were. It was a combination of looking to remove myself from the stress and also not show up every day somewhere. Right.

We were proven ourselves in multiple industries and jobs that you didn’t have that we didn’t have to. And I thought, I don’t want to go back. I’m operating and I want to wake up and I want to do my yoga and.

And I want to be productive and not get dressed and show up. I think. I think a lot of us, I think it shook the world in their way.

Absolutely. Yeah. So it was like, thank goodness.

I mean, there’s a lot of bad that came from it, but there is good. I think we’re healthier and more balanced because of it. Those of us who were able to, like, transition to working remotely.

Right. And I wanted that, you know, the next few years to be able to bump around as the kids were no longer needing me physically present. Right.

So what, you know, I want to be able to. And there were options of having that in higher ed, but it just didn’t play out. And I tried for probably a year, applied for the regional vice chancellor of St. Pete College.

But these were. These were all, again, high level kind of gigs. And I was at the gym one day and working out with this guy, and he was.

He was a loan officer and he planted the seed. And he was like, you could do this. Cause it’s like he said, quote, unquote, easy.

This ended up being a huge learning curve. But in terms of just taking the test and being a free agent and making money in a scalable way, like, you can hustle and make a ton of money, or you could take it down and do the minimum. Right.

But it’s a 180 from academia. I mean, you’re selling. That was the fear, right? And I thought, you’re fucking crazy.

I have a PhD. I’m not going to become a loan officer. And that sounds sleazy.

Like, I was all caught up and proud of what I did. Right. But he planted the seed.

And I started thinking, and I was like, oh, well, maybe I’ll just look into it, because I’m an exploratory person. And I took the test, I’ve studied for the exam, and I passed it. Still didn’t know what the hell I was doing.

I feel like I’m just now three years in over the, like, fire hose of knowledge and newness. Completely overwhelming, like, trying to understand the new. Yeah, right.

So let’s. Okay, so from what I hear, it’s freedom is really what pushed you over the edge, which I think I relate to. Before I went to law school, I worked for myself and I had.

I worked for myself for 10 years. I had my own business and. But I was in school the whole time because I didn’t like the business that I was in.

I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life. And you couldn’t. I was a dog groomer, so it’s like physical labor, you know, and it’s.

It’s taxing and it’s a lot, and it’s weekends. I missed every Saturday of my kids growing up, you know, and they had football games. I missed every football game.

I saw practices, you know, so it’s like the same as you now. I saw the end of my kids, you know, like, they’re approaching their teenage years. It’s like, I just.

I didn’t want to waste any more time on weekends, even though I was working for myself, and then went into school and then eventually figured out to be an attorney. You know, life kind of leads you there. And made that transition from dog groomer to attorney.

But I went into a law firm to practice first because I didn’t know what I was doing. But you. I get it.

You, like, jumped. It’s a sim story. Yeah, you jumped right in.

And then. Yeah, like. And then at some point, from working from that firm, I’m like, I cannot.

I make A great employee. Because I never want to be the bad employee. Right.

Like, I’m a. We used to call them gunners in law school. I’m not a gunner, but, like, you know, I just don’t want to be the bad example or the bad team member.

Sure, same. But I hate having a boss. I hate having a boss.

I hate being told what to do for being an attorney. Like, I hate rules. I don’t like them for me, I like them for other people.

I could not agree more. And I have that in my nature as well. Didn’t we say that we’re both Aries or we are both Aries? Yeah, yeah.

Very classic trait of Aries. I don’t wanna tell. Don’t tell me what to do.

Yeah. That was part of the attraction to academia. It was a free.

You’re kind of a free agent, you know, but until you get into administration and management. Yeah. So you’re like, okay, let me get my feet wet.

Let me just see if the option is available. So you take the test and lo and behold, the option is available. Cause you passed the test.

Right. Which is no surprise. Right.

I studied hard. Right. I’m a good studier.

Right. Clearly years of practice. One of my strengths.

Yeah. I was like, if I don’t get, I’m going to be really embarrassed. But so then what? Like, did you leave USF right away or did you kind of set yourself up for success? Or did you jump all in and just say screw it? That’s a good question.

I was scared. I was definitely scared. And I was doing it on the side.

And that time, if anyone is following the mortgage industry was a really good time. Rates were super low. We were doing a ton of refinancing.

And I live. I have a very large network in St. Petersburg. And I kind of swept through my cruise and I did refinances for everybody, made a ton of money.

Again, like, that bad relationship. I was like, I got some money, I’m out. Free a few money.

See you later. And so it wasn’t easy, but the business was. The volume was there and I was muddling through and making enough money.

And it was cool because I had like, as a result, all of my. A lot of my friends, like, built like, pools and back houses. Like, we’re partying these houses to this day that were all renovated because of me being like, you want to cash out finance and like, build something? I did it to myself.

I built a pool myself. So it was on the side. It was seemingly going really well, but.

But you still had safety net. I was not willing to jump ship and leave that salary. Awesome benefits, state gig.

I mean, it’s as safe as you get, right? State employee. And then, well, the company I was working with at that time, Gold Star Financial, started wooing me, and they finally made an offer of giving me a small. Because loan officers are typically 100% commission.

So that was scary. I’m like, I’m not going from like this to zero. And then I. Every bit of, you know, my income is based on commission.

That was very, very frightening. Right. Plus, to remind the audience, it’s not just you.

You have children. I’m single, head of household. Right.

That’s what keeps me up at night. Of course. Yeah.

So. So they very kindly offered me a small salary and to do processing, which is kind of like the. Not the secretarial part of loan origination, but the part where you kind of do the documents and check off the boxes.

And so I said. I contemplated it didn’t. It wasn’t an immediate yes, but I thought it’s a small base, so it’s a little bit of a comfort zone.

I can hustle commission on top. And I. My thinking was being a processor would. Would teach me, I would learn more.

I would become a better loan officer eventually. Right. The idea that I would get to a point that I’d feel comfortable enough without the small processing gig and eliminate that from my.

And focus on loan origination, getting deals. And then last. The year after sucked.

It was a horrible year for the industry. Rates shot up, volume was down, purchases were down. But at this point, you said goodbye, and I said goodbye.

Yeah. And my friends are like, you can always go back. Right, Dee? I’m like, not the way I left.

I don’t think so. That was a hard, hard year. Probably one of the hardest years of my adult life.

Yeah. And you were. You.

Did you have a team to support you while you were. Yeah, I was working for a very, very small mom and pop shop, literally a husband and wife team that was a branch of Gold Star Financial, and they are a direct lender out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. So, yeah, I felt very supported by them.

And, yeah, it was nothing against Gold Star that I switched in in July or not July, November of last year to be with the company I’m with now. It was just about, again, freedom. There’s the underlying thing going from being, you know, a direct lender with a company to a broker, which is in many industries, the broker means you’re, you know, free agent, you’re brokering deals.

I’m representing my clients to multiple lenders. Right. And that.

That just jived with me more. And I’ve been really happy and increasingly successful, you know, for a combination of things. I don’t think it was just switching companies.

Right. So let’s go to that hard year. Let’s go back to it.

Because I. Okay. So similar. I. I made the decision probably In January of 2023, like, the solid decision.

I was still at my old firm, but I made the solid decision, like, this is not the place for me. I don’t want to be here. I want to be on my.

I want my own. It was a very traditional law firm. Super traditional.

Like paper. Yeah. They printed paper.

The firm. Yeah. Like, you had to be in the office, you know, from nine to five.

And because I was the attorney, I was expected to be there later, looking sharp. No, like nine to eight, you know, like. Because that’s what attorneys do.

Doesn’t have to be that way. But that was the mind mindset, which is what lots of traditional attorneys feel like. You know, you have to bill.

It was billable hours. Like, you have to bill, you know, 1500. I had really easy billable hours at that law firm, thank goodness.

But a lot of attorneys are like, 1500 to 2500 dollars. 2500 hours a year, which is a lot. Yeah, I just.

Just everything about it, I just. I knew I didn’t want it, so, like, from January, but I was scared shitless, you know, to leave. Because I do know.

Yeah. You know, my. My.

I take care of my dad. I take care of both my kids still, even though they’re, like, at this point, they were adults, but, like, I still, you know, one’s in college, so I still, like, help support him a little bit when I can. And I. So what I did for those from January to July was just throw, like, myself into the research of, like, what it takes.

I followed people who were doing what I wanted to do, which was a virtual law firm. I found all of the people that was. That were doing everything that I was doing.

Like, I would DM them and ask them, like, what systems are they using? And, you know, I just, like, dove into the research. And then at some point, I was like, all right, this is it. I made it.

I made it July 4th, my Independence Day. So we just. On purpose.

On purpose. Yes. That was it.

Freedom. So I just celebrated our first year. Here’s a.

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Yeah, yeah, scary. There’s no going back. I burnt that bridge.

There’s no going back. We have a similar story to keep laughing because it’s true, insane. And now it’s like, well, there’s no money gonna come in unless I get money.

And how am I going to get these clients? Because I, you know, I, I’m brand new. People don’t know who I am. I don’t know how to find the people.

Like, so what did that first month Steve Martin and the jerk when he leaves this house and he’s like, money, I could use money. Like yeah, yeah, it’s like. No, it was, it was.

I’m a very positive person. I consider myself a strong person. You know, I have a good growth mindset, all of that stuff.

But that year broke me still down. What did it look like? What does that look like? It was just it financially that was it. I mean everything else was going, you know, great in my life and that’s what buoyed me.

You know, I, I’ll take financial problems over a lot of other shit any day. Oh really? You know, like I’d rather be. Which I hadn’t been in a long time.

I mean I grew up, you know, middle class, poor, like but, but in good. Yeah, we never wanted for anything. Yeah.

I got through my 20s okay. I was married to big money for 10 years. So I’ve lived like, you know, large.

Right. But I know how to be resourceful and poor. Right.

And I would rather have that problem than like health or. Oh yeah, you know, like relative. That’s what I mean.

I’d rather have a financial issue in my life than my kids had an issue or. Yeah, I mean it sucked but it was like of all the problems you can have in life, I’m like, I’ll take this one for a year. Well, that is a health.

I mean that’s actually really strong, like, healthy mindset. And it’s hard to do. Like, it’s really easy.

It’s really. Yeah, it’s really easy to just be like, what to be. It’s the fear, I think, for me, like, the fear can be overwhelming sometimes.

Paralyze you. Yeah. And then you just feel like, what do you do? You know, like, literally, what do you do? But you’re right.

With a financial problem, there’s always, like, you always get a part time job if you had to, right? Yes. And there was some of that. There was a very small stint, you know, doing hourly retail.

And I was like, I can’t do this. I’m not, you know, I need to focus. But there were options in my mind, like, you know, the what if scenarios.

I had a lot of support where, you know, my friends, I mean, my kids realized it was a rough year. They pulled back, they weren’t on me as much. You know what I mean? My friends were silently.

I can see in ways that, like, make me almost tear up right now, supporting me. Like, they didn’t have to invite me to dinner. My neighbors, they, you know what I mean? Like, like d come over for dinner.

They knew what they were doing. Or like a silent. I got this tab when we’re out.

Yeah, yeah, I’m tearing up thinking about that. So the, the, the support that I had was tremendous. Yeah.

But that, like, your emotion right now shows, like, how really hard it is. It really is hard. And you don’t want to be like a crybaby because that’s not going to get you clients.

You know what I’m saying? Like, you can’t really outwardly say like, I am. Although I did. I had.

Yeah, I cried like a baby, but I wasn’t like, woe is me on Facebook. That’s not my either, you know, But I had, I had. Yeah, I can’t be that way.

Right? Like, you can’t. You kind of have to put on, not a facade, but you kind of do have to be like, things are great. Things are going, you know, like when.

Because you want to attract people. Right? I. Yes. I’m a believer.

It’s a silent suffer almost. Not that it’s a suffering, but you know what I’m saying? Yeah, it can be. It can feel that way.

So it’s. It’s nice that you. So did you have.

That’s a really important topic to bring up too, because we are, we do, on this podcast, deal with female leaders and as females, we have children that a lot of times it. You know, the moms are the caretakers now and sole caretaker. Take caretakers.

So did you. Before you jumped ship, did you have a conversation with your kids? Like, this is what I’m thinking about doing? No. They were very, very supportive of me.

And like I said, when I was married to big money, so there’s a safety net, which is an important variable, I think, for relieving some of my stress or giving me a little bit of, you know, balls to do this, is that I don’t have to worry about them. Yeah. They come from the kind of family wealth that I don’t have to worry about the car.

I don’t have to worry about college tuition. So there’s a lot of big ticket items on a single mother’s radar. Typically, that would have put me over.

I would have never done it. I just thought, I can always. I know I can always take care of myself.

I know I can always pay my mortgage. Right, right. With the relief of knowing if I needed anything related to my children, I could probably get it.

Right. That’s good. So, you know, it was.

That was a little bit of a safety net. And then, like, you know, if you’re focusing on women, I mean, the infrastructure of women friendships and girl crews is tremendous. Yep, absolutely.

Like. Yep. Yeah.

You gotta have your. You have to have. And it’s funny because they supported me that whole year, like, go D.

You know, and then as soon as I started to, like, finally get out of the muck a little bit in the past few months, there was like, you know, you. They could tell I was feeling a little more strong and secure. And it went from like, you got this to like, what the.

Were you thinking leaving a job at the university? You know, like, then the real. The truth came out. Like, we were like, what are you doing? Right, Right.

But they didn’t say that when I was down in the dump. Right. Thank goodness they were there to support me.

Right. You got this. Right? Yeah.

And it’s. And it’s getting better, and I wake up every day and I put in an honest day’s work and stay positive, like you said. Yeah.

So what. So in the beginning, what did it look like? Like, your day. Was it a lot of.

Because you didn’t have clients really? Well, you. You had a few that you had been refinancing, like, did refinances for. So you had of reputation already.

Yeah. Once I got beyond, you know, utilizing my existing reputation and network, I. I tried to expand that network. I wasn’t very good at sales.

At first, I’m still not. It doesn’t just come to my mind right away. Like, I will have regret of say, like, I was just on a flight.

I talked to like three people that day and I’m like, why didn’t you tell them what you do? Like, it’s just not in my nature. Be like, I’m, you know, do you need a mortgage? It just. So I need to get better at that.

And it was a lot of downtime, so I focused on learning because I think that’s smart. Like you said the same thing. You want to if you have downtime.

Knowledge is power, power is confidence, that whole thing. So there’s a lot of studying, but I wasn’t doing enough sales. I wasn’t building business.

And that’s what I’ve gotten better at doing. And then with volume, of course you have experience because with practice and deals, you learn, Right. Extremely frustrating for someone who was used to being the institutional knowledge and the go to and the answer and move me fast because I knew what I was doing, right? To like, you want to frustrate me, like, put something in my, like, I would like to move fast.

I like to be efficient. I want to be like, you know, the go to person. And when someone asks you a question in a quick text and I’m like, I don’t know, right? I gotta Google, I gotta ask someone, right? And the clock is ticking and I’m sure that person has no idea.

But the angst on my end was like, I have to give this answer and I have to give it correctly and I have to give it quickly. Speed is the name of the game today, you know, so that was very frustrating. But I also think, which might be a comfort to people when you’re starting out in a transition and you’re new.

Honesty really gets you really far. Like, being honest with clients, I’ve found, is like, I want to make sure I give you the right answer, you know, and like, I feel like clients really appreciate that, you know, I don’t. You don’t necessarily have to say, I don’t know.

It’s just more like, let me double check, you know, let me. Or let me see if there’s another path, you know, whatever, to buy yourself a little bit of time to get that right answer. Because that’s.

You’re only showing that you are going to do the best job that you can do by doing that. Yeah. And I think, I mean, did you share your story? Because I, you know, it was hard to like, say, okay, I’VE only been doing this a year.

You know, you want to tell them a little bit about yourself. And then I would fall back on the professor thing. You know, where my, where my confidence was, was I was a professor before this, like, with some kind of clout.

Like, I got you. Right. Like, what does that mean? You’re smart? No.

You’re persistent. No. That’s better than dog groomer.

No. It’s really hard to be like, oh, well, I was a dog groomer. I love.

Not that. I mean, it’s just very different than being an attorney. Like, has.

No, it has no relationship. Like, did you have aspirations of being a lawyer? Always. Never.

Not once. Where’d that come from? Christian. That’s a pretty significant accomplishment.

That’s my boyfriend, actually. I, I. Oh. I knew I never wanted to.

I never wanted to be a dog groomer. I stumbled into the. My mom was a dog groomer, my aunt was a dog groomer, and I had to raise my kids on my own.

And I knew I could make almost as much money as somebody with a degree as a dog groomer, which I did. I actually made more as a dog groomer in my last year of a dog groomer and then my first year as an attorney. Wow.

And you were self employed, too, so you were used to being your own boss. Yep. And in business for yourself, which is a whole nother.

Like little things like taxes and insurance and all that stuff. I, you know, I’ve had to learn along the way. Yep.

I had all that. I made all those mistakes already in the salon. I had employees, I had sales tags.

I sold retail as well. It’s a lot of, like. Yeah.

Knowledge to. Yeah. And then.

But I knew I just, I didn’t like it. I love dogs, but dogs don’t love groomers, you know, so it’s like, not the same. We’re not just playing.

Your dog groomer is working really hard and she gets bit on and pooped on and peed on and everybody wants everything done correct, physical. Like. Yeah.

Yeah. And like, no one brushes their dog. No one brushes their dog.

So I actually wanted to go in the CIA. And I went, I pretty much went. You know, I took Arabic for two years.

I did all the things. Wow. And I was, it was either that or diplomacy.

And I graduated and was going to put in my applications for everything. It’s a really rigorous application. It’s like the military.

You get stations in D.C. for two years and then you go to whatever country they show you.

Yep. But I wasn’t really thinking because my daughter was 16. And, you know, when you’re a girl and you’re in your teens, it’s tough.

And I just. I couldn’t move my kids once I graduated. And it got really real.

And, like, I learned Arabic, not Mandarin Chinese, so, like, we weren’t going to, like, a stable country. Yeah. If I made it all the way through, you know, so.

Which I loved the idea, like, I wanted. I love that. I wanted to be Claire Danes and like, whatever that show was Homeward Bound.

What was that? Show land. Yeah, that was my thing. Not with the drug problem, but not with the pill problem.

But. Yeah. So I. So I didn’t do it because I. My kids always came first.

Yeah. And then I just took a couple years and my whole college career, I’m always. What was your undergrad degree at USFC&P.

Political Science. Okay. Yeah.

So my. All of my professors that likes me like, that. I did really well in their classes.

They always told me to be a lawyer. Dr. Smith, he was. Yeah.

You know, the guy that I totally look up to. Like, I think about him all the time. Told me to be a lawyer.

And I just like people. You are told that when you’re like an. Yeah.

You know, like, you really. Like when you argument. Argue.

Then, like, you like to debate. I loved to debate. And so I just.

I just took it kind of as an insult. But then my boy, my boyfriend, was like, no, you really should do this. You’re very much, you know, you.

You think like a lawyer. And so I just. I decided just, well, screw it.

I’ll just take the LSAT and see what happens. Same kind of thing. They throw it out there, right? Yeah.

And it. Once I got into law school, I was like, oh, yeah. I am this person.

Like, I. Like, this is how you think. Yeah. Like, they teach you how to think in a certain way, and I already think in that way, so it actually works out.

And I love it. I love. I really do love it.

Like, it was great. But I don’t know how we got on that topic. I asked if you wanted to always be a lawyer.

Oh, if I want. Yeah. No, no, because that’s a very common, you know, kid dream.

Lawyer, attorney, whatever. Yeah. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a writer, and attorneys write a lot, so that makes sense, too.

I still. I still want to write a book one day. But.

Yeah. So we’re getting way off topic. Sorry.

But so now you feel like. So three years and you feel. Because I’m on my first year and I Don’t know if I guess I feel more comfortable than I did last year, but I do.

I’m still like the path ahead of me. I have really big goals. Like I want to eventually sell in 10 years.

Now it’s nine years. Right. And so it’s like it feels so far away still.

And I don’t, and I don’t understand certain things about the business part, like the attorney part, the legal stuff. I understand and I feel like I really have a good grasp and I am headed to like board certification. That’s where I want to go.

But for the business part, it’s like, how do I get that next attorney? How do I get an attorney under me? How do I get a paralegal under me? How do I hire my legal assistant full time? So like with you, you said that now it’s been three years and you’re feeling like you’re over the hump. Yeah. And unlike you, I do not have those aspirations of growing like to the point of beyond my own business.

And that’s part of the attraction to it. Like, you know, I see my next 10 years as the kids are grown. I got 16 year old and then my daughter just turned 18.

So, you know, a couple years away from maybe them being out of the house and being able to do this loan origination, being a mortgage broker on my own terms and my, you know, it doesn’t take much to have, you know, a few deals a month to pay the bills. I’m not trying to be a millionaire. I’m not trying to get other loan officers under me.

That’s all of what I left. Like, I want the next 10 years to be like a home stretch of like working on my own time to maintain the household with the bigger picture for me or the bigger goal like you building a firm and then selling it is to use the knowledge that I’ve gained in this new career to build my own real estate portfolio. Right.

Then I’ll be hitting you up, right? Yeah. To, you know, to, to capitalize on what I’ve learned, to get some rental properties and to retire and to retire with passive income and really, truly path of least resistance. Those are my.

That, that is my goal right now. That’s. And then I envision, you know, the 10 years after that bouncing around in the world.

And I love that and being, you know, you know, my, I didn’t talk about what my degrees were in, but I’m an anthropologist by training, so I love new cultures. I love to be. I love to talk to strangers.

I Love to, you know, be lost in a city. So I want to, that’s what I want to do. And I think that’s important.

I actually, I had, I don’t know if you’ve listened, but I had a guest, Ladonna Smith, and she has a method for mentorship where she asks people, what do you envision your perfect day to be like? And first you should think of what your, you want your day to be like and then build a life around that day. Oh, that’s essentially what you’re doing, what you’re describing. Right.

Like, you know what you want your day to be like once you can build up to, to have that day. Right. So, like, and, and I agree.

Like, my goal of selling the firm in 10 years is because I don’t want to be working. I want also to be a landlord myself and. Yeah.

And travel the world and have a, I like the path of least resistance. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so at this point in your career, you feel like you have your feet on the ground where you’re walking towards that.

Yes. I think last month, No, I think last month in June, I had the biggest month I’ve ever had since I’ve been. Congratulations doing this.

So that’s great. But, and it was more than I needed, you know, so that if I can repeat that, I’m good. Yeah, I’m not there yet.

I still wake up and not stress, but all I can do is, like I said, put in an honest day’s work, give my all and go to bed and sleep peacefully. Because I gave it a shot. Yeah.

And I think it’s important too to realize that this entrepreneurship is a roller coaster. It’s an up and down thing. And the most important thing is that it will level out.

I, like, you have to remember it will level out. I’ve had to get used to that. Yeah.

Like, and I’m not at the spender. It’s like the overall arch of it, you know? Yeah, I, I, I feel like I’m getting there. I’m in a good place with, with, with who I’m working with.

And for another female. Awesome. She’s awesome.

And we jive together, which is important, you know, to have a mentor and emboss, whatever you call it, that, that supports you. Yeah, I mean, I, I do. And I think it’s, I think it’s unique when it’s female females find other females because we understand each other, you know, in a way that just.

Yeah, I’m very happy with where I am. Just gotta do more of what I’m doing. So do we pitch? Because if anyone needs a mortgage, we do and we’re coming to that time.

Oh good. I know Transition this podcast. I’m having fun.

I know. I’m so glad that we actually did it this way because this is different and it works and I would love to have you back so we can. Cause I feel like we just touched on it.

So with, you know, dive in a little bit deeper. But yeah. So where can everybody get a hold of you? Okay, so I am with West Park Mortgage.

I can be reached at 813-368-9093 if you Google my name, Deanna Barcelona. Barcelona is an easy last name to remember, just like the city. And as a broker and I know people, you know, you have multiple options when you go to get a mortgage, but brokers have multiple lenders and so essentially we have, we have access to pretty much anything.

So is someone looking for a first time homebuyer program, down payment assistance, pre approval to buy a house which is in line with that but you know, with a little extra handholding, investor products. Right. Bank statement, you know, things for people who are self employed.

You might be talking to a lot of those people. Pretty much whatever you can think of. Yeah.

And I like, I think that people should follow you because I think your posts are really informative. Like I saw your post yesterday about the difference between paying rent for a certain amount of time to save 20% as opposed to just having someone like you find them a down payment program and jump in right now and like that you will actually save money and have more equity. Yeah, I mean everyone knows this.

And you, you know this real estate has been a winner in return on investment for like 90 years. Like one year in the 40s, I think it dipped, you know, or there was a dip, but it’s very consistent. Safe bet.

And I finally have kind of like embraced, I should say the. I’m not an academic advisor professor anymore. I’m helping people in a different way because I’m really driven by making a positive difference.

So if I can get somebody into a house for like hardly anything and start building wealth, that that’s what I have to think about. Not the, the, you know, the sales pitch or the. It’s the big picture.

Yeah, the bigger picture. And I, you know, the best I ever did. And here’s a story that maybe will inspire people to at least think about starting the process of pre approval or getting some sense of baseline data like you and I have talked about where whether you’re mortgage ready or not is the record I hold of getting somebody into a house was just under $250.

Incredible. It was insane. Perfect storm.

So don’t think I can repeat it every day. But I got a couple who was making enough money to qualify with a combination of down payment assistance program and the realtor got a seller concession and that combination got to the closing table and the check that they had to write, or it was a wire, was like $247. That’s awesome.

Now that’s cool. You know, people don’t think that’s. That’s a possibility, but it is.

And I will, I will get really damn creative and, and I get. I like to advocate. So that’s where I’m.

I’m kind of focusing now. I was using those transferable skills. We didn’t talk about that.

I know we’re almost wrapping up, but the skills that I had, as you know, in my prior career of teaching, of advocating. Right. Yeah, those kind of things.

Yeah. And the finished product is someone’s home, like their heart, you know? Yeah. And that has to feel so satisfying.

Learn to have to focus on that because I get caught up in like the numbers and the process. And my mentor reminded me recently, you. Not that you want to tug at heartstrings, but you really need, like you said, keep the big picture.

Yeah. It’s important. You’re doing.

Is important. The home. Home ownership is.

Especially nowadays because. Absolutely. There’s so many developers and out of state developers and out of state investors that are buying our properties.

Yeah, they are. And here you are snapping them up and. And you’re taking away from a first time homebuyer.

Resident, Florida resident. Right. And you’re able to kind of reverse that a little bit, you know, do your part in helping the community.

I think that’s amazing DNA. It was so much fun. It was a blast.

Thank you. I know I have my first podcast ever and maybe I’ll be back. Okay.

Okay, sure. All right, thank you. All right, bye.

Bye. Sa.