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Wendy Papasan, the co-founder of Papasan Properties Group, has a lot of irons in the fire.
In addition to running the Keller Williams-affiliated team she founded in 2009 with her husband Jay, Papasan is a real estate investor, the founder and CEO of home maintenance company Papasan Home Services and chairs a leadership organization for women, HerBestLife LLC.
For the past three years, she’s also co-hosted the Empire Building Podcast, which promises “unapologetic, authentic and unfiltered conversations” hosted by Papasan and four other influential women in real estate (Seychelle Van Poole, Sarah Reynolds, Kymber Lovett-Menkiti and Tiffany Fykes).
Papasan says that from the beginning, her strategy for finding enough hours in the day has been leverage. Not in the sense that the word is often used in business — to make acquisitions by taking on debt — but to leverage herself by hiring others and tapping her network to grow her businesses.
Papasan will appear onstage at Inman Connect Las Vegas, which will take place Aug. 8-10. She recently took the time to speak to Inman about insights she’s gleaned from her businesses and how she’s managing the scarcity of listings in many housing markets. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Inman: You have your hand in a lot of businesses. How did you get started?
Papasan: When I started my real estate career my kids were young — they were 3 and 5. And at the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to stay a present mom and be a great wife. And so I really leveraged right away.
I think a lot of Realtors don’t start their career in that way. When they start their careers, they have a lot of time and I just didn’t. I knew that the only way that I could be successful and also achieve my goals…