Episode 322 – Brittany Ranew, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty

  Before moving to St. Petersburg and working in Premier Sotheby's International Realty, Brittany Ranew lived in Mobile, Alabama. And, life there was slower so Brittany really had to re-adjust to everything. She later found that the best way to do that is to be a part of the community. To build strong relationships first and business transactions will come. When you give freely in life, you will get in return. Join Bill Risser as he talks to Brittany about her real estate journey. Discover her love for jazz and soul and how that translated into her own podcast, St. Pete Soul. Learn how she learned real estate by finding mentorship in others. Find out why you need to start building those relationships right now! --- Brittany Ranew, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty I get to talk to somebody I've known for a long time here in St. Pete since I moved here in 2017. I met Brittany Ranew. She's with Premier Sotheby's International Realty. She was a realtor who came to some of the sessions I was doing for Fidelity National Title. She was doing some cool stuff. She launched her own podcast, and we're going to talk about that. She's a classically trained singer, which makes me insanely jealous, and all cool stuff. Let's get this thing going. Brittany, welcome to the show. Bill, thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. It's great seeing you and talking to you. We've known each other for as long as I've been in St. Petersburg when I moved here with Fidelity National Title. You might have been one of the first realtors I met pretty early on in the game because you were in St. Pete, and I was working out of the St. Pete office. We always talked. You had some great ideas. I know you're a dog lover. I know that we're going to talk about your podcast. I know you love music. We're going to have some fun with this conversation. Like me, you're not a native Floridian. Many of the people we talk to here in St. Pete are not. Although a lot of people are, it's shocking how many people are natives that live in this town, which makes sense. What was home for you? Where did you grow up? I'm from Mobile, Alabama. Whenever I tell people that, they're like, "You don't have an accent." I'm like, "It's there. There are certain words. From talking to my family, it will come out." I know Mobile's on the Gulf Coast. I know Interstate 10 runs right through it because when we were relocating to St. Pete, we stayed the night in Mobile. A tornado had hit a few miles South of the hotel. Everything was flooded. It was raining, and all kinds of stuff were happening. Tell me. That's not much to know about Mobile that I stayed there, and it's on the Gulf Coast. Tell me a little bit about where you grew up. You're talking about the weather, which is a thing. Mobile is one of the rainiest cities in the country. That was the cool thing about moving to St. Pete being the Sunshine City because it's sunny all the time. In Mobile, it rains all the time. It's funny. It's on the Gulf Coast, and you're still living on the Gulf Coast, but it's quite a difference. Something about the Gulf into Mobile Bay and weather patterns sweeps across the panhandle from New Orleans all the way across to the panhandle. There are lots of stormy weather. It's hot and humid. I was used to the heat from growing up there. I like to describe it as a small version of New Orleans. It's got the same history with the French and Spanish colonization and all that. You've got some of those influences with food like the Cajun, Creole, all of that. New Orleans is a bigger city, and they took it all to a different level, but we have some of those same vibes on a smaller scale. A fun fact that most people don't know is that Mobile is the birthplace of Mardi Gras. It is not New Orleans. It is Mobile, Alabama. I'm setting the record straight with that. [bctt tweet="When you give freely in life, you will get in return." username="billrisser"] That sounds like that's a sore spot for people who grow up as natives. Carnival, Mardi Gras, and all that stuff are all French start. That makes sense. It could have been either place. Once again, New Orleans took it to another level. We went to New Orleans a lot. I went back there in February. The first time I had been since we moved here, I loved New Orleans. Mobile is a cool spot because you easily get to New Orleans and Pensacola. I know you attended the University of Mobile. As you're attending school, first of all, what are you going to study? Second, what's the plan? Everybody has an idea as an eighteen-year-old, "I know exactly what to do. I'm going to go to school. I'm going to come out and do this." Let's talk about that. I wanted to be a professional singer. That was my plan. I majored in Music in the Vocal Performance, and a lot of people were like, "Why aren't you doing the educational side?" I'm like, "I don't want to teach music. I want to do music." That's why I went that route. I am not a famous singer, so that did not go that way. My guess is you could probably wow people at karaoke night. Have you done that before in the past? There are only a few people in the city who know I have sung at Ruby's on two occasions for their jazz improv. I have done that. That's the one right on the corner of 3rd and Central. You never let anybody know. You went in there and quietly did it and hoped you didn't know anybody in the audience. Yes. It was so much fun, and I should do it again. It was one of those things where life gets busy, and you don't do some of that stuff that you love. I got to ask you some questions about the music side of things. There's a wide range of music that you can study, sing and do whatever. You said jazz like an improv thing. What was your specialty? If you were going to cut an album, what genre would it fit? [caption id="attachment_4308" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Premier Sotheby's International Realty: Event planning can be an outlet for wanting to do your own thing. If you're creative, the event planning business is a good way to dip your toe into the water with that.[/caption]   It would be in the jazz, like Norah Jones. Ella Fitzgerald was one of my favorites. I feel like I should have been born in the '40s or something with all that awesome jazz music. I love it. Harry Connick Jr. was one of my favorite artists. It would be in that world. With my degree, I was classically trained, so we were studying all kinds of different music. I'm proficient in lots of those things, but jazz would be what I love. I love that. When you graduate from college, what's your first gig? I started working at a local music company. That was internationally known. It happened to be based in Mobile. It's called Integrity Media. A lot of people would probably recognize the name. They're not open still. They were bought by another company. It was cool because I was like, "If I'm not going to be a professional singer, why don't I, at least, get to be in the music industry?" It's a Christian media label, so I got to work directly on the artist side of things. Not accounting but on the inventory side, helping them order their albums and arrange for some of the events they're doing with Integrity. I got to be on that side. I got to meet some cool artists. It was fun. It was a cool way to transition and stay in the music industry. I saw a documentary. It was based in a recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. You must be aware of that. I've never been. That would be a cool trip to see that. That's nice. You're a realtor now. You've been a realtor for a few years. We got to get you to real estate. How do we do that? I mentioned Integrity Media. They ended up getting bought out by another company and closed their doors. I was laid off. That was 2009 or something like that. That was a big shock of getting laid off. That was my first big girl job. It was like, "What am I doing with myself now?" I had already started in the event planning business on the side during my time there. That might be partly were wanting to be a singer was. I'd always wanted to do my own thing, have my own business, and be creative. The event planning business was dipping my toe into the water with that. When I got laid off from Integrity, I was like, "I'm going to keep pursuing this and get another part-time job and see what happens." I interviewed for a real estate company for an administrative position. I ended up not getting it, then decided, "Maybe I should get my real estate license. I've always loved it. This sounds like a good idea." I did that. I joined Better Homes and Gardens and quickly realized that there was a lot more opportunity for what I wanted to do in real estate than in my event company. I shut the event company down and focused on real estate. That's a big jump and move. I know they both were your companies. You had to get clients in both, and there was no money coming in. For me, that jump into real estate is a big leap of faith. [bctt tweet="There's a lot...