Hey everyone, meet Steve. He is an inspiring and motivated man. He always has a smile on when he walks into the shop. Steve dedicated to people and we can see that from his time spent at Roots. We sat down and asked him a few questions:
Sum yourself up in two sentences.
I’m a Christian husband, father of four, who sells real estate.
What does joy mean to you?
Joy is first and foremost helping people to succeed. It’s gratifying to help someone work through the mental block of “it’s too hard, I don’t want to do this” and seeing them overcome the challenge. There’s joy to be found in successfully overcoming challenges and tough situations. I like helping others and myself discover that joy beyond the challenge.
What is the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?
There are different kinds of risk, personal and professional. Professionally the biggest risk came when I opened my own company. I ended up selling it realizing that’s not where my time, talent, and treasure was best used. It was good to take the opportunity to discover that, but in the end the business owner thing just didn’t fit me. Personally, choosing to foster children was probably the biggest risk my family and I have taken. You open your life up to be judged by others. They want to make sure you can take care of a foster child. You put yourself in a very vulnerable position. You open your home to a perfect stranger, someone you know nothing about and you don’t know how long they will be with you. There’s a risk that you could fall in love with the child but then they leave. You might only have a small window of time to be parents to a child who has never known love. You have to quickly open yourself to loving them unconditionally because they may leave and never feel that again. It’s a very vulnerable position to be in, but an amazing opportunity to truly live out what it means to be the Body of Christ. My family and I are fortunate that we fell in love with two children and now they are forever part of our family.
Why did you choose your profession?
I’m a real estate agent for residential living and honestly the profession chose me. I had been a painter and knew that my body wouldn’t last in that profession. I enjoyed the work and was making good money, but I didn’t see a future for myself in it. I had been helping with property management and leasing property as a side job and thought I’d focus more on that. I tried a few house flips and decided that wasn’t a fit either. I fell in love with sales; talking with people and helping them. So that’s how I landed in real estate and I’ve been doing it ever since.
What do you love most about what you do?
There are two things that I like about what I do. I enjoy meeting with people, interacting with them. I also just really love the hunt. I love finding the house and getting the house for my client. I love helping people and finding opportunities for them. This goes back to the question about joy. It’s helping people succeed in navigating the challenge of finding a house and owning the house.
If you could trade lives with one person for an entire day who would it be and why?
I would choose Richard Branson. He’s dyslexic like myself and so our minds work very similarly (at least from everything I’ve read). I think his culture is intoxicating; the environments he builds within the companies he’s part of, most notably the Virgin brand. He’s just a compelling guy. He’s in his mid 60’s but lives like he’s 40. He believes in his family and remaining focused on family while also being successful in business. He does incredible work within the world philanthropy and giving back as well. It’s an inspiring example of being successful but not worldly.
What is your favorite thing about Roots?
I love that it’s not like Starbucks in that it’s not mass produced or stuffy. It’s a place where I can bring clients or do work on my own and feel at home.
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