Kelly McGinnis Corr is a Seattle real estate broker at Compass. She is passionate about helping people build wealth through homeownership, loves food, wellness (currently an amateur biohacker), & you can likely find her walking Green Lake in some fashion of athleisure.

Hear about her journey in Episode 02 of the new Women to Watch Series —

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CPYlpE2F1Qp/

From the Episode

FAVE ELEVATED BASICS ::

She’s got two goodies — summer uniform consists of biker shorts (loves the Spanx brand found here) and the SAM shiny black puffer coat makes her feel put together and glamorous (reminds her of the Moncler Ecrins at half the price).

WHERE SHE’S FROM ::

From North end of Tacoma, lives in North Seattle, Haller Lake

HER CREW ::

Dog mom, cat mom, wife to husband Brendan

WHAT SHE DOES ::

Real estate broker in Washington, and has had license since 2011. She started her career down in Arizona.

WENT TO SCHOOL FOR ::

Right out of high school, wanted to get into environmental policy to protect the environment. Had hoped to go to Western University, but instead went to Washington State (woo, Go Cougs!). Thought she wanted to do Communications, then moved to Political Science. Loved the classes, but in the back of her mind, real estate was something she was interested from a young age. Remembers a friend’s mom who did it and looked up to her. Had no idea how to start and was also hesitant about not having health insurance and being solely commission-based.

ACTUALLY ENDED UP DOING ::

After college, moved down to Arizona with boyfirend where she helped open up a store for Lululemon. They sent her to the personal development workshop, Landmark, where she set the goals like: run a marathon, do a handstand, drive an electric car, and in five years, get her real estate license. At the time, her manager at Lululemon posed the simple question, “what’s stopping you from doing it?”. She then took two weeks off of work and got her real estate license at the Arizona School of Business AZ (took the crash course during the big crash). She found herself at a small brokerage called Firefly (which funny enough back then had a similar business model to Redfin.

SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT THAT LED HER ON THIS PATH ::

Real Estate —

After getting her first job in real estate, she decided to make another shift — trying her hands at what she went to school for, Political Science. Moved to North Carolina where she decided to volunteer for Obama’s campaign. Got a job, moved to red county Hickory, NC where she knocked on doors (one of the most fulfilling times of her life). Then went to DC to work on the inauguration committee. went to the inaugural ball, staff ball, inauguration. When came back, she decided wasn’t ready for life on the road in politics as she hoped to have a family someday. She found herself back in AZ where she met her current husband, who happens to be from PNW, which is why she came back. Landed another real estate job at a boutique group – Northwest Group, which years later would get acquired by Compass (first brokerage to be acquired) and it’s been a ride ever since.

Wellness —

Candidly shared she gained 20 lbs from last year to now due to comforting over the last year with eating and drinking. This need to feel better on the inside and out inspired her to do teacher training this year. So she got her certification as it was always one of her goals. When she walked into Shefayoga, saw a flyer about it. Was able to attend a mix of virtual and in-person. Now teaching yoga at 6am on Mondays (has taught 7 thus far!).

HOW FEAR PLAYED INTO THE JOURNEY ::

Facing fears is something that makes you stronger — like exercising a muscle, it makes you more resilient. Exercising in front of people, teaching in front of people… two things that proved to be so much harder than she ever imagined it to be. She has to give herself a pep talk. But the challenge has been so rewarding.

HOW IMPOSTER SYNDROME PLAYED A ROLE ::

She was fearful of putting herself out there on her personal account on Instagram. When she decided to have one account mixing in personal and business, she realized clients will want to work with you because of you, the person, not your perfect marketing.

With real estate, it’s also hard to pick up the phone and generate leads. She thought one wanted to hear from her, which is a total mindset thing. Because of this, she does daily coaching calls which helps her realize they either want to work with you or they don’t.

Moreso with yoga, she’s feeling imposter syndrome as she’s not the typical yoga teacher but she feels people might be able to pull from her unique experience.

WHAT SHE’D DO DIFFERENTLY ::

Teach from the scar, not the wound. She and husband went through a crazy time over the last year due to him having some substance abuse issues, which resulted in rehab. Kelly learned she was asking for help in the wrong way. She was so focused on his ambition, but really she had a fear of not having enough in the future. The reality was, he needed help and she needed to figure out how to get through a hard time.

BIGGEST LEARNING FROM LAST YEAR ::

So many lessons learned over the last few years. Trust your gut – your instinct. If something doesn’t feel right, address it. You don’t always have the resources because you don’t know what you need. She would have asked for help in a completely different way, been supportive of husband in a different way. Was living in fight or flight at the time which caused her to have perspective on how to provide support in the future. When stuff gets hard, it’s not about what happens, it’s about how you react to it. Hopes to be able to gracefully be able to get through something that’s really hard. Situation made them so much stronger than they both could have imagined.

WHAT FUELS HER/ROUTINES ::

The hardships provided her the fire to realize that she was responsible for her own happiness. Where in the past she was so future focused, has allowed her to slow down, take it day by day, enjoy her morning walks with her dog. zipping up her sauna blanket, let the mental creation happen. It’s okay if something doesn’t get done today. It’s okay to not be able to do it all.

After this last year, she wants to be able to feel good in her body and her clothes. Listens to a lot of podcasts… The Doctor’s Farmacy by Dr. Mark Hyman is a fave. If we want to live long healthy lives, we’ve got of take care of ourselves now, not when we get the diagnosis of x,y and z.

Morning routine — drink lemon water (shout out to Northwest Health Coaching), room temp, squeeze lemon night before, leave out so it’s there (otherwise she might get lazy and not squeeze her lemon). Drinks it while she heats up her water for her coffee. Vitamins (loves Ritual and their methylated folate), probiotics in morning and night. Has gotten onto BiOptimizers. specifically CogniBiotics – helps with brain, heath and happiness. Makes coffee, reads The Daily Stoic, has fallen a little behind on gratitude journal. Currently reading, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Tries to read at least 10 minutes then has real estate coaching call at 8am that she highly recommends — time blocking, mindset, self-care, CRM. Calls are twice a day, morning and evening.

WHAT’S NEXT ::

Needs to hire an assistant! Big picture person, lots of ideas, needs someone to get the ball rolling to put things in action (creative and detail oriented).

Really wants to have her business and sustainability go hand in hand. Seeking an environmental organization that protects the environment where she can donate a portion of income to, spend time volunteering, really want to fold philanthropy into business. Believes it will make her feel that much more fulfilled.

With yoga — keep trying at her 6am classes. Currently teaching at The Yogi Grind, previously known as Seattle Yoga Lounge.

BIGGEST REAL ESTATE SUCCESS STORY ::

Talked about client who had a two million dollar budget and called to tell her one day that after all the real estate agents they’ve interacted with, she’s the one who remembered anything.

Another one was a family that were 3% buyers, living in a not so good rental, Kelly was able to get them into a townhome not being the highest offer just by sharing their story. Incredibly fulfilling.

WHERE PEOPLE CAN FIND HER ::

insta : @kellycorrseattle
site : kellycorrseattle.com
yoga : 6am yoga at The Yogi Grind in Green Lake

ADVICE TO WOMEN WANTING TO PAVE THEIR OWN WAY IN LIFE AND FIND THEIR EDIT ::

Anyone can do whatever they want to do. You truly just write it down and you can achieve it. There’s so much abundance in this world.

What makes you envious? Identify that place in you, when you see something or see someone that’s does something and you’re like, “I wanna do that”. Listen to that feeling, it’s telling you, you want that in life. If you don’t know what your passion is or what to do as a profession or if you want to change your career… listen to what gives you that twinge of like, “I wanna do that”.

You’re never going to feel ready. She didn’t feel ready to teach a yoga class, she didn’t feel ready to sell real estate, but she just did it. Ask for forgiveness, not permission. Ya gotta just do it, just go for it. life is short, we learned that from last year.

And lastly, don’t give a fuck of what anyone thinks.

mic drop.

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Thank you SO much Kell for being my second guest on this series! You are a ray of light and I’m so happy we got to tell your story.

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Tune in Next Week

Women to Watch is a new IG Live series by Cortney Bigelow of The Grey Edit that shares the stories of women who are paving their own way in hopes to inspire others to do the same.

Tune in every Wednesday @ 7pm to hear more stories of women doing life on their own terms and follow the hashtag #WOMENTOWATCHxTGE