We had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer (Jen) Tolley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer (Jen), have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Work life balance…is there really such a thing?!?! 13 years ago – it was all work and little balance. I put everything I had into getting my career started straight out of college. Real Estate is a tough business to break into and stay into (contrary to what you see on reality TV) and most agents fail between 2-5 years in the industry because they never get up and running successfully. I also took a position working at the family business (at the time it was my boyfriend’s family – now he’s my husband) as the Property Manager for the Brokerage. Both of those positions – property manager and real estate went side by side. I worked overtime all the time, I wanted to grow, learn, network and really make something of myself. I wanted to help the business grow and create my way for my future.

Fast forward 10 years later to 2017 and we were expecting our first child, Olivia. I knew that life had to change. Now we have another little one on the way due in November 2021. Working all the time could not be the most important thing. Ever since our daughter was born I have been working on “balancing” it all and I have learned that you CAN’T. Things cannot be balanced daily and if you expect it to be – then you will wind up feeling like you failed at the end of the day.

Some days are heavy work days (appointments, closings, meetings, deadlines) where I don’t have as much time for myself or my family. Some days I am able to spend much more time with my family or on self care and not work as much. I really try to look at it by the week – not by the day. I give myself grace – LOTS OF GRACE! If at the end of the week I accomplished what I needed to for work, spent QUALITY time with my family, did something for myself – then I am happy! There are days when my daughter is sick and needs to stay at home with me. She needs me. Those days we have a lot more family quality time of snuggles, movie watching, etc and I might have to stay up half the night to make sure my deadlines are met so there isn’t much time for self care. So the next day, I fit in the self care and catch up on sleep.

I am not sure that having balance in your day really exists – at least not for me. I have my top categories of things that are important to me and I work to make sure that they all get “me” throughout the week the best that I possibly can.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I started in the Real Estate business in 2008 as my husbands (was boyfriend) assistant and did marketing for his family Brokerage, Backyard Realty Group. I fell in love with the industry and found myself in real estate school while finishing up my senior year of college at KSU. In 2009, I got my license and started as the Property Manager and Real Estate agent for Backyard Realty Group. I worked very hard to grow the Rental Division for the company and build a brand in real estate simultaneously. I took our Rental Department from 20 properties to 150 properties.

Customer service has always been the core of my business. In college, my major was Social Work – I wanted to own my own Children & Family Therapy Practice someday. Building relationships and being a resource to people came natural for me. I believe that is how I was able to grow that division by myself, I put my clients first and helped them during a time that they really needed help. Most of the growth happened during the last recession when people needed to sell their homes but just couldn’t, they were upside down. I provided a solution, I could help them rent it out, take away the stress of daily management and oversee it for them so that they could move across country for that job, or move into the bigger home that their family needed, etc.

By continuing to offer my assistance, constantly learning new things and trying to be better every day, we continued to grow allowing me to hire a Property Manager and Leasing Agent to take over my job duties. I obtained my Brokers License in 2014 and was also heavily involved in helping to grow our Community Management Division, Tolley Community Management. I oversaw our Rental Division, Marketing Division and our Real Estate Division along with helping with office management and running Sold by the Closers, the real estate team with me and my husband. Being involved in a family business – you wear many hats and put in a lot of hours when growing.

It has not been the easiest thing I have done, I can say that as a fact! Working with family brings many challenges and communication is really key. It is not easy working with your husband as well but I do have to say that he and I are pretty lucky as 98% of the time we are on the same page. We strongly compliment each other with our strengths and weaknesses. But nonetheless, it is still challenging. None of us, not myself, my husband, my father in law or my mother in law have ever worked at any other company in the Real Estate Management Industry so one of the hardest things was teaching ourselves everything. We had no frame of reference on how other companies operated, no training… we had to really push ourselves to learn as much as we could as fast as possible.

Networking and meeting people in the industry was really a saving grace for me. I got heavily involved in the Atlanta Chapter of NARPM (National Association for Residential Property Managers) and have not only met some of the best Property Managers around the country but are lucky to call them friends. By volunteering in this organization and networking I learned so much (from my competitors), made some amazing friends and family and business connections that have led to my success.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live in Acworth right on the Acworth / Woodstock line. I love to hang out in Downtown Woodstock and in the N. Georgia area. I love food and the small town areas have some of the best food. Between downtown Marietta, Woodstock, Acworth and Kennesaw me and my bestie would be busy planning brunches and dinners. We would be going to the Woodstock or Marietta Square Farmers Markets and then hitting brunch and mimosas after. We would spend one day in North Georgia doing wine tasting at the vineyards. My favorite vineyard is Wolf Mountain. We would spend a day at Lake Allatoona if she was visiting in the summer and would probably rent a boat for a day and enjoy some fun in the sun. If it were fall, we would be driving North to see the beautiful views that N. Georgia during the fall has to offer. We would get dessert from Pie Bar in Woodstock, enjoy a glass of wine on the rooftop at Rootstock in Woodstock and do a lot of shopping at the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta. I am sure we would also spend a day in Atlanta doing some shopping and eating as well!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family and village 100% deserves the credit for who I am and are very important in my journey. I feel very lucky to have the parents that I have, they are two of my best friends. They are supportive and have truly shown me what hard work and family life look like. I came from a family of two working parents that had to juggle it all and they set a great example of how to work and grow careers while still making your family the most important thing. They have always encouraged me, cheered me on, supported my decisions (even when they didn’t agree with them), help me pick up the pieces when I fail and fostered independence in me from a young age.

My husband is how I got into this business – I never thought about Real Estate before I met him. I loved watching the Home Renovation TV shows – that was back when Trading Places was the “it” show and I always loved home design and renovation but never thought about getting into the industry. My senior year of College Spring Break, school was out, my internship was off that week and I needed something to keep my busy. I went into the office to help my husband (boyfriend and the time) at his family Brokerage, he was busy and I needed something to do. (I have always been someone that has always worked and being complacent doesn’t work for me). He asked me to help him market one of his rental listings he had available. That is where it all began. I fell in love with Real Estate. He has supported my goals, we made our own Team, Sold by the Closers, and has been by side since my career began.

Lastly my village. I am very blessed and honored to have so many people in my life that truly care about me. My brother and sister in law, my In-Laws, 4 best friends and tons of other family and friends that have encouraged me since day one.

Website: www.soldbytheclosers.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jentolleyatlanta/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jentolleyrealestate/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jentolleyatlanta

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaHpRBNNGoIBgA8B2O1HO-A

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