Today we’d like to introduce you to Jesa Sokol.
Hi Jesa, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was a non-traditional student in college, I started in Respiratory care and then landed in the Psychology department where I finished my degree with a minor in Human Resources. I have this inclination to work with people & it took me several jobs to see where I fit best, personally & professionally. After being in healthcare IT & research for 4 years, COVID hit and it was a push for me to find something I actually enjoy doing! I had finished getting my real estate license while working the 554 days at Cerner, the schedule allowed me to take a full week off and get licensed in both Kansas & Missouri. It took me a year before I actually made a move into the direction of Real Estate as a career, but COVID was the push I needed. My best friend & roommate at the time lost her job due to COVID & she took it as her push to do exactly what she was passionate about – Medicine. So I chose to take the leap as well, I spent a week touching base with anyone and everyone in the real estate world just looking for any type of job to get me through the door. It took exactly 1 week to finally get a response & one that lead to where I am now.
But what I do in real estate isn’t entirely my passion, it took COVID, a change in career & my fiancé (at the time boyfriend) asking us to move in with him when he found a house. As soon as he did, we moved into our cute, quirky, fixer upper & all I could think about was everything I wanted to do to the home to make it, ours.
I have had situations occur in my life where I very much needed an outlet and as anyone could concur, finding something to be passionate about can be a journey all within itself. Everyone needs an outlet and I didn’t find mine until I pushed myself to try something new. I wasn’t unfamiliar with power tools, I loved them actually. But I wasn’t well versed in the mechanics to be proficient. I watched videos and observed my fiancé’s parents & my own dad. Even woke up early to watch “In this old house” to get my day going, it got me excited! It’s been 3 years in our house, I have built furniture pieces, remodeled old pieces, and played with “statement walls” & still feel like there’s so much more I can do now!
I feel better in my career as a real estate agent for it, I can help guide people on low-cost alternatives to freshening up a space, to make a house really feel like “home”. I wanted to put myself in a situation where I could provide clients with an easy way to create the feeling of a custom house without making them feel that a designer/builder was the only way to go. But instead provide them the motivation that they have the ability to achieve “custom” on their own time, how they want to and at the cost, they’re comfortable with! I have been a showing partner for my lead buyers agent Leah Taylor for 2.5 years & I have loved the position and the flexibility it gives me to become who I am today. I have assisted a well-known and loved agent, who has a fantastic referral-based business with her husband Chad Taylor. It’s a pleasure working alongside a team who is all so different but, it works out in the best way possible! We are all dramatically different and vibrant in personalities. My background in psychology has better assisted me in handling clients differently based on their personalities and only gives me better leverage in assisting each one more particularly with their situation and needs, rather than giving them a “salesy” experience. I have walked through so many homes and collaborated with clients who get easily just as excitable as myself when it comes to “house projects” & updates. Some clients have a designer whom they bring along, but my favorite experiences are with those clients who haven’t touched a drill in their life & decide that they could be more ecstatic to try it now because I talk it up like it’s magic!
And it is magic, building your home is magic, and changing a space all by yourself with no limit to creativity is magic! And I love to share that with clients as we view homes, sometimes the best part of a house is the ability to see it as a blank canvas, a “fixer-upper” that needs a little love, sweat & tears.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As most others, I struggled with my self-esteem and confidence. As people grow, change, and develop, we all struggle to adapt to our new surroundings. It took a bad situation to put me in a place of admittance, focus, and redirection to get myself out of a hole that felt like I could never climb out from. This experience pushed me to excel and it changed my perspective to succeed, regardless of where I just came from.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a showing partner to a lead buyers agent here in KC. I left healthcare IT during COVID to embark on a new adventure in a realm of work that I was passionate about. As a showing Partner, I help to maintain and potentially grow the business of my Lead Buyers agent. I prep offers, assist with her client portfolio in ALL aspects and give her the leverage to live her life with her business being run by myself.
I am most proud of the experience this has given me to explore what real estate truly has to offer. My professional growth has been exuberant, to say the least, & I truly feel passionate about what I do for others in the housing industry.
I am a structured person but absolutely love learning. I am actively in school to get my Interior Design Certification in hopes to add that as a service in the future for my own clients.
What are your plans for the future?
I am actively planning a wedding and trying to complete this Interior Design Certification program! I am looking forward to putting myself out there and becoming a solo agent.
I have learned so much from one of the best buyers’ agents I have met & feel entirely confident in my ability to provide the most professional and exciting experience for my future clients. I hope to be a solo agent by August 2023, until then, I am just absorbing as much as possible to be the best I can be!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.taylormadekc.com/buy
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesa.kay/
Image Credits
Cate Crandall
