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Episode Summary:
Meet our guest, Kristina Cusick, Broker/Owner at Town & Parish Realty. Her company is located in the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Area, where she lives, although born and raised partially in Daytona Beach, Florida.
In this episode, I sit with Kristina as she talks about life in Baton Rouge and the great features there to know about. She has also supported RateMyAgent in the area as she works to help real estate agents get client reviews.
Top Takeaways:
"I know that I've always felt that it's really important to be involved in the community... and I'm always thinking about if I were visiting here, what would I want to know, and it has to be more about real estate."
- [Kristina Cusick]
"I want to attract people organically."
- [Kristina Cusick]
"Be a life-long learner... Don't be afraid of change."
- [Kristina Cusick]
Episode Highlights:
[00:20] Intro
[01:11] Meet today's guest, Kristina Cusick.
[05:40] About Baton Rouge, Louisiana
[08:40] How do you handle questions about hurricanes in Baton Rouge?
[12:15] Kristina shares her background.
[16:47] How did Real Estate come into the picture for you?
[22:30] About Kristina's website and how she started her brokerage
[27:27] What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting their own Real Estate company?
[28:59] Being a referral-based company, is there space for Prospecting or Lead Generation?
[30:51] Kristina's advice to new agents
[32:00] How to contact Kristina
[34:15] Outro
Episode Notes:
Kristina shares the inspirational story behind Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers restaurant. It was an idea that was initially dismissed and expected to fail. The founder still executed the idea. He eventually created a store in Baton Rouge and franchised to other states. She draws motivation from this story when faced with heavy odds in any situation.
About Baton Rouge: Baton Rouge is the State Capitol, not New Orleans. It is also the only state that has parishes rather than counties. Near Baton Rouge is Gonzalez, Louisiana, the "Jambalaya Capital of the World." Kristina explains that Baton Rouge is far enough from the coast. It typically doesn't usually sustain damage from hurricanes and is often a haven for people in other areas who hurricanes have hit. There is also a blog that offers advice on when the hurricane season starts and how to go about daily life, particularly always buying extra during the hurricane season, to avoid panic buying if the need arises.
Kristina did not attend LSU right out of high school but was in Real Estate working as a receptionist and secretary till she moved on to accounting and left Real Estate for a while. While buying a house after she got married, the agent noticed her organizational skills and asked her to help with organizing things in a Real Estate company, following which she got her license.
After running the company for a while, she decided to go on her own as an individual agent; then, Hurricane Katrina hit and created many business opportunities as people were buying up more properties in Baton Rouge. Kristina started blogging and found out about IDX feeds and joined Keller Williams to have her IDX feed, but after working for a few years, starting her brokerage sounded right. With much support from colleagues and friends, she went ahead to start Town & Parish Realty.
The main goal of Kristina's website is to focus on Real Estate and attract people organically by offering concise knowledge about the area to help them understand the lifestyle and identify the main appealing features to look out for in Baton Rouge.
Kristina's tips for agents who want to start their company:
While the company has been chiefly referral-based, there is a place for Lead generation and Prospecting, with an IDX website for people who want to see houses and agents ready to guide interested buyers on the necessary steps.
For New Agents: Be a life-long learner. Don't be afraid of change.
Resources Mentioned:
Connect:
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