Welcome back to Vision Pros Live. I'm very pleased
to meet Karen Gonen. Karen, would you please
introduce yourself and then we'll dive right
into your vision. Absolutely, Sue. My name is
Karen Gonen. I'm a real estate broker with Realty
Executives in Vernon, New Jersey, Sussex County.
I've been an agent, this is my ninth year. Last
year, I was the number one agent in Sussex County.
I beat out all the other top agents and teams
in our county. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears
went into that, but I'm very excited to say those
are my stats. I love what I do. I love teaching
clients how to make better decisions, whether
they're sellers or buyers. And I'm also working
on raising a new generation of agents that care
more about their clients than themselves in their
pockets. That is huge. Well, let's talk about
that a little bit more. The vision for those
that you serve, and I love this because you're
serving, you're seeing this, I think, appropriately,
where you've got this massive ripple effect that
you can cause with the people that you're you
know, buying and selling houses with and for,
but also these other agents, you know, they have
the potential, they could really win from learning
from somebody who knows what they're doing. So
talk a little bit about this, the vision for
the people that you're serving. So the people
that I serve, both my buyers and my sellers,
I believe that information is power. And so when
I first meet my buyers, we'll start with buyers
because that part is easier. I always tell them,
I will tell you the truth, whether you like it
or you don't like it, but I will also teach you
how to make better decisions. As we're looking
through houses and as I'm sending you properties
online, I will teach you what to look for, what
the pitfalls are. That way you can make better
decisions. the houses that we're going to see
if you're an older person and you don't want
stairs and you see stairs in the pictures let's
not go for those houses because we can't remove
all those stairs and you're not getting any younger
so your knees are not going to be able to go
up and down 40 set of stairs and so i do that
with my buyers and with my sellers what i do
is i just show them stats i tell them houses
in the last six months with the same bedrooms
and bathrooms have sold in our area for this
much i'm happy to list at whatever price you'd
like. However, my recommended price is this,
and I actually have them sign a piece of paper
that says, Karen told me that my price should
be X. So when they ask me to list at Y, which
is $2 ,000, above what I said, they don't complain
when people don't come to look at it or they
complain about the price. I also feel that I
serve my agents. So a lot of agents in the industry...
And I don't know if it's the same in your area,
Sue, but in our area, in New Jersey, agents are
one step up from car salespeople. And it shouldn't
be that way. But every type of stereotype has
some type of reasoning behind it, whether it's
some old generational thoughts or if it's current
situation. I just try to teach my agents to care
more about other people's well -being and them
finding a new location that will make them happy
as opposed to their pocket. One of the most important
things I teach my agents is to be ethical because
our profession is based. on ethics, but unfortunately
a lot of agents are not. And so what I teach
them is that it's not only important for their
clients, whether they're buyers or sellers, it's
also important for other people in the industry.
Because there isn't one agent out there that
has worked with me in over 500 transactions that
could say anything about me not being ethical,
being underhanded, not doing things the proper
way. I'm very much by the book. But I also teach
them kindness because we don't know what the
other agent has been through. Maybe they had
a fight with their significant other. Maybe they
got up on the wrong side of the bed. Maybe they
haven't made any money in the past year and they're
just dying to get something. So we always need
to take a step back and think about what other
people are going through. That's fantastic. And
I love, I mean, you put into words so beautifully
what it really means to be a leader in business.
And you're serving, you know, as a servant. serving
the people who are agents under you and your
clients as well. And that's really, really cool.
How would you describe your vision for your business
for the long, you know, in the next three to
six months, in the next year, whatever it is
that looks like that for you? Well, I'm always
my biggest competition. I always compete with
myself. So every year I have to do better than
I did the year prior. This year I was unfortunately
stuck in Israel for three and a half weeks during
the war. I'm kind of backed up in my goals, but
that just means that just like a diamond that's
created under pressure, I will do a lot more
than I thought I was going to do. I'm also getting
married next month, so that should be interesting
because I wasn't here for three and a half weeks
to handle everything, but I'm glad to report
I'm almost done with everything. Thankfully,
I have plenty of people by my side that are willing
to help. As far as my business, my goal this
year is to sell $25 million. was 20 and I sold
almost 24 so I'm hoping to exceed my goal again
which is what I normally do except in the beginning
of the year I freak out that my goal is so big
and however will I reach it but thankfully I'm
blessed enough and very grateful to always reach
it as far as the bigger visions for For my business,
my goal is actually not even real estate related.
My goal is to create a location in Sussex County
where I can teach women to run their own businesses,
a location that will have not only sales experience
and techniques, but also bookkeeping, also legal
work, all of those things that generally speaking,
women are not raised with. I was raised in a
very entrepreneurial home. My parents were entrepreneurs
from the The minute I was born, I remember my
parents having their own business. And so that's
what I've done throughout my career. So that's
my goal, to help women do better, specifically
because men are raised in a different way. They're
expected to be in business and to do better.
I feel like women in my area specifically, I'm
not talking generally, I'm just talking about
my area. women are not raised the same way. And
so I'd like to be that person that pushes women
forward and teaches them what to do and allows
them to grow and allow them to maintain their
sanity while they're doing that because we also
are nurturers and we're wives and we're mothers
and we're teachers and we're doing all these
things all at the same time. So I also want to
teach them a little bit about balance between
work and life. That's incredible. And have you
started that already? I haven't. I need to work
a few more years until I can get that started.
And I'm actually going to name it after my mother
who passed away from a non -Hodgkin's lymphoma
18 years ago. So that's my way of thanking her
for making me who I am. That's a wonderful tribute.
My goodness. Thank you. That's really cool. Her
memory will be a blessing then to many. Yes,
yes, it will be. And that's my purpose because
that's who she was. And the funny thing is, my
sister and I had no idea. We didn't know that
our mother did all these things for all these
different women until she unfortunately passed
away. And all these women came to the Shiva and
said, your mom helped me get out of an abusive
relationship. Your mom helped me leave a dead
end job and started a new job. She helped me
start my own business. We had no idea because
my mom did everything behind closed doors. Those
things she didn't share with us because we were
younger. And so I'm sure we wouldn't have grasped
the concept. But when that happened, I was 29.
My sister was only 26. So it definitely left
a huge impression on both of us. That's really,
really something. I'm excited for you to do this.
What has to happen before? You've got a few years.
So what is it that you want to accomplish in
those few years before you actually do that?
I have to buy a building. I have to have investors.
I do have a few women that I've already picked
out to help me. They don't know it yet, but they
will not have any other options. I just need
to have more funds and more investors that will
help me see that vision through. Thank you for
being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned
in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to
seeing your reactions as these episodes continue
to move forward. This is going to get more and
more fun. We'll have more and more engagement
as well. We'll invite people to participate in
the show. And thank you for giving us your time
and attention. Have an excellent time building
out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.