Bold Journey Feature: Meet Sammy Lyon

Originally published at https://boldjourney.com/news/meet-sammy-lyon

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sammy Lyon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Sammy with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
Work ethic or workaholism – sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference! But I grew up as an only child with a single mom who was self-employed. I’m not sure what kind of pressure that held for her to earn enough for us, but I’m sure there was a drive to perform and be successful. As an entrepreneur, you often earn if you work, and don’t earn if you don’t! She loves what she does though, it brings her joy. I am lucky that even as I’ve changed careers, I love what I do. There’s an intrinsic sense of knowing what I am going to do each day when I get out of bed, and being excited to start. And as an entrepreneur, there’s no one telling me what to do, so I get to lead my own priorities and shape my day 100% of the time. Even if sometimes I struggle with working too much and being too available to my clients, I’m grateful that I grew up with the skills to be self-directed and make my own way as a business owner.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Real estate was a career change for me. I was in education (also quite by accident) for 11 years before reaching a point where I didn’t feel I could continue up that career ladder. I felt committed to the social justice work I was doing in schools, but then also felt trapped by the pay and not feeling like I could advance my own life goals living in an expensive city like Los Angeles. Real estate was a total accident, but I found something that inspired me. The FIRE (financial independent, retire early) movement is what got me hooked on real estate, and so that’s the approach I bring to my business as a realtor. I help people figure out what their goals are, versus just looking at pretty houses. A lot of my clients are social workers, teachers, writers, etc and very values aligned. They also want to buy houses, invest in real estate, and meet their own financial goals. This is how I’ve felt I can continue to bring my values to the work. I also commit 5% of all gross income from real estate to racial and social justice causes. So I’m able to financially support some of the movements and ventures I care about, while also embodying my full self in the real estate business.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I never realized that going into real estate would mean I was doing a sales job. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I was focused on the real estate part — financial freedom, negotiation, etc. But I realized that being an educator actually prepared me well for this business. I had to learn to engage students and teachers in the vision, without forcing anyone to do anything. That’s a lot like how I treat real estate — I’ll help you get there, but I’m never going to “sell you” a house. So I guess it’s sales skills, or marketing, but hopefully not in a gross way. I think that authenticity has gone a long way on my journey. I did a course called “Repurpose Your Purpose” in the middle of my career change, and the coach Aurora has us really look at what we love about our current work, and how to apply those threads to our new career. I loved the freedom I had to design my own curriculum as an educator, and I’ve gotten to apply that freedom to designing my own “marketing” and advertising in an authentic way. The freedom to do what I like and authenticity I bring to my marketing have been super impactful in running a successful business that I love.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
My spouse Sofia is amazing. She has listened to me process all the ins and outs of my journey, and I’m so grateful for her reflections, intuition and advice. She reminds me to listen, and connect with people, and be present, which is the core of the work. I’ve also learned so much about ritual and self care from her over the years, even when it’s so hard to integrate those into daily life. Now that we have a family, there’s no way I could run this business without her commitment to mothering and the emotional labor she does in our household. I try not to talk her ear off about real estate too much, but she is an amazing support overall in both business and life! I am inspired by the way she is with people, how she facilitates spaces, and helps people move through challenges in both her work and personal life. Though I have learned to define success by “doing,” she is much more skilled at “being,” and I’m slowly, maybe, learning that lesson as the years go by.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.buyahouseinla.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lyonideas
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lyonideas
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammylyon/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lyonideas
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sammy-lyon-real-estate-los-angeles-2
• Other: Free workshops: https://lyonideas.com/first-time-homebuyer 

Originally published at https://boldjourney.com/news/meet-sammy-lyon