Today we’d like to introduce you to Betsy O’Brien.
Hi Betsy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
“You were meant to do great things… just not in real estate. I don’t want to be the one holding you back.” Those were the words spoken to me by my boss and mentor, on 12/1/2017, just after I arrived in the office to process a property I had gotten under contract the night before. I was also informed that I would be walking back into a room of people who already knew I’d been fired. Without a doubt, one of the most humiliating experiences I’ve had… until I had to go home and tell my daughter. She immediately burst into tears. “Mom, why would she do this to us?
I thought she cared about us. I thought she was your friend. All you do is work. For her! What will we do? How will we pay for anything?” I did my best to explain that we would be fine. Everyone has their reasons for doing what they do and we don’t always get to understand. It’s our job to learn what we can from the experience and do our best to correct our mistakes and move on. The next day, I was notified by another mom that my daughter had posted a note on a game she played online with some of her friends mentioning suicide because she was so worried about me and how I would be able to afford anything for her.
At first, my heart was broken. I had no idea what I was going to do. I didn’t know how to help my sweet kiddo, who was clearly suffering. I didn’t know how to prove everything was going to be ok when I had no idea how it would be! All I knew was that I was determined to figure it out. It certainly didn’t occur to me then that my former boss could just be… wrong. I was a self-employed, single mom, unemployed at Christmas. The woman I had given my time, talent, blood, sweat, and tears to for four years had just crushed my spirit. More importantly, my daughter was outside herself with anxiety.
I started doing other agents’ paperwork, cleaning their offices, cleaning houses, baking, driving for Uber-anything to make ends meet until I could figure out what the hell I was going to do. Then, Russ Nolting, who runs the brokerage where I hold my license, Keller Williams-St. Louis, called me into a meeting to ask if I was ok. I told him it had been a rough year: my mother had a heart attack two months prior, I had unexpected surgery as well, not to mention a series of crippling anxiety and panic attacks earlier in the year. I had to take more time off that year than I ever had before. I was absolutely broke.
The moment I let all of that out into the universe and told someone I was not ok, was the moment miracles began to happen. My brokerage has something called an Associate Leadership Council. They are fellow agents in the office who are selected to be leaders and make business decisions on behalf of the entire office. They voted to give ME a small grant of $1500 to get my rent paid and provide a modest Christmas for my daughter. I also received a business loan of another $1500 and a partial scholarship to a business building program for agents from my office as well. Wait. What? If these people who barely knew me had this much faith in me… MAYBE… I still had a shot to succeed in a career I really loved. Maybe I wasn’t THAT bad at my job. Maybe my former boss was wrong.
On 12/1/2017, my flame was lit. I’ve kept that fire stoked and never looked back. Now, I run my own real estate team, The O’Brien Group (proudly powered by Keller Williams-St. Louis). I have the most fantastic Director of Operations, Theresa Moss-she’s an absolute rockstar! Our real estate photographer and listing coordinator are the exceptionally talented Jenny Woodard, of Alpine Photography.
The photographer we use for all of our headshots and branding photos, Kerry Colombo of Olive Juice Productions is nothing short of magical. Agents pay me to teach and coach them on how to succeed in real estate through my relationship with The Locker Room (a national real estate coaching organization). We run a local lifestyle brand with social media pages and a website to promote other local businesses (GatewayToStL.com) AND we’re the local partner for Explore My Town, which promotes local businesses with video on social media (check out Explore My Town-St. Louis!)
My mission in life and business is to create limitless possibilities for myself, my team, our families, our clients, and the communities we serve! Over the past two years, we were able to help 60 families and investors sell and/or purchase $13 Million in real estate. I have an amazing partner to share my life and business with, Brent. My daughter, Makayla, is happy, healthy, and planning for her future. She graduates in 2023 and I wake up every single day working to create opportunities she didn’t have yesterday!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We specialize in residential real estate: helping families and investors achieve their real estate goals by assisting them with the purchase and sale process. Our team has the systems, resources, and experience to guide our clients through each step and ensure they feel like members of our treasured client family!
In keeping with our mission of creating limitless opportunity, a percentage of any commission we earn is going toward the creation and funding of a non-profit organization to provide affordable housing and a network of resources to other single, working mothers so they can improve their quality of life and create better opportunities for their children.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
My partner, Brent, is from Pensacola, Florida. He and I have turned a long-distance relationship into a situation where we are sharing our time between St. Louis and Florida to reduce the time we have to spend apart. This all started during Hurricane Sally last year. We rode out the storm together, which was scary enough… but what I wasn’t prepared for was the week AFTER the storm. Compared to most, we came out on top. We still spent 3 days with no water and a week without power.
Rather than sit around in the 95-degree heat being miserable, we decided to be of service to those who suffered heavy damage and losses. We’re both real estate professionals with Keller Williams, so we headed down to Brent’s office. As it turns out, the KW charity, KW Cares, was going to be on the way with generators and supplies. The regional leadership team needed some people to help organize relief efforts. Brent and I spent many hours on the phone with our local and agents and their family members triaging calls, cataloging damage/needs, and organizing volunteer work crews. (There was a two-hour break between answering the phones and unloading the supply truck and I STILL had a property under contract in St. Louis-with no power… more importantly-no internet!) This week was one of the most rewarding service experiences I’ve ever had.
We were so moved by this experience that as soon as we saw weather reports describing Hurricane Ida this year, we immediately leaped into action. As soon as the storm hit, we took over the agent hotline and cataloged the reports of damage and needs. A few days later, I received a grant from my office, KW-St. Louis to pay half of our expenses because we were DETERMINED to get to Louisiana and help our KW family. The very people who organize the relief efforts were the ones with trees in the middle of their flooded homes!
Brent and I rented an RV, bought all of the 5-gallon gas cans in the area, loaded up his truck, a trailer, and the RV with every supply request we received, stopped on the way to fill all of the gas cans, and drove to THREE different supply centers in affected areas of Louisiana. We parked the RV at each one, relieved the agents there so they could help take care of their own homes, and did anything else needed in order to be of service.
KW Cares came through again, in a BIG way by providing thousands of generators and MILLIONS of dollars to agents and their families affected by Hurricane Ida. We are so grateful for the opportunity to continue to be of service and we’ll keep coming back to help our family #KWGulfStatesStrong
Contact Info:
- Email: Betsy@OBRG.biz
- Website: https://gatewaytostl.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gatewaytostl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GatewayToStL
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTG09wpLFRuiImwYlNloZbg
Image Credits
Kerry Colombo of Olive Juice Productions.
