Name: Kari Abt
Location: Colorado
Company: ABT Realty, Movement Mortgage
Professional Industry: Real Estate and Mortgage
Job Title: Realtor, Sr. Loan Officer
WIXII-ISM™ FROM KARI ABT: “[S]et your own bar and when you reach it, reward yourself. Pat yourself on the back. Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. If you do, you’ll just be subjecting yourself to someone else’s definition of success.”
KARI’S STORY:
Meet our featured Wixii™, Kari Abt. She is blazing towards 40 and mother to her 14 year-old son and 12 year-old daughter. She studied Liberal Arts with a concentration in Social Sciences at CSU. She is the founder of ABT Realty and Sr. Loan Officer at Movement Mortgage. Although self-explanatory, both companies are more than just another real estate or mortgage company. They are a movement for change. If there is anything to be said about our future, it’s that the stage is set and the momentum is there for us to be a light in the darkness and for us to be a movement of change in our industry, corporate cultures and communities. Kari is passionate about personal connections, sharing of ideas, education, a commitment to the greater good and, of course, bringing people home.
Although a strong believer in speeding up the “slow down and smell the coffee” process, Kari loves to go fast. She has a NACAR short track license and learned to drive NASCAR in 2009.
KARI’S CAREER PATH:
Kari grew up in the construction industry. Her father swung a hammer for a living and the family traveled (and lived in) a school bus when she was a small child. “We went from town to town, city to city. Wherever the work was.” She graduated a year early from high school and became the first person in her family to go to college. She participated in Air Force ROTC and worked towards a pilot slot or “plan B,” JAG. That was until she met her “rock star” ex-husband who showed her a completely different kind of lifestyle. They married within two years and had two children within six years of meeting. Kari was a stay-at-home mom for 9 years and during that time she supported her husband in his venture capital endeavors and dabbled in a few entrepreneurial ventures in the nutrition and fitness industry. That was until the ex-husband “rode off into the sunset.” Left with an uncertain future, without money or a stable job, a lot of debt, and a tremendous amount of fear, Kari pulled up her bootstraps and went to work in the REO (Real Estate Owned) industry. Within a few years, one of her big-box clients asked her join them as a mortgage banker. In a very short amount of time Kari realized success within the real estate industry. However, make no misconception, she worked 12 plus hour days, 7 days a week to go from nothing to something in just 5 years and continues to put in the hard work. She attributes some of her success to her desire to show all women who face these same challenges that when you simply believe that you can, you will.
Work: how do you “think outside the box” with respect to your work-life potential and opportunities?
I strongly believe in human connection and I don’t treat relationships as either personal or professional. It’s all personal to me. I believe in treating my clients like family members. After all, I spend more time with my clients than I do with my family. I always deliver a VIP experience to everyone that I work with. That doesn’t mean I’m not tough at times… just like with family. This philosophy has served me well and as a result, I’ve been blessed with an abundance of authentic relationships that are always leading me to new, interesting, and unique personal and career growth opportunities.
I am also involved with the Moxie Exchange which is a learning and growth environment- a time and place to grow ME. There’s no selling allowed, and no ‘pass the business cards and share our elevator speech’ drivel. Our meetings are value-packed, information-loaded, ‘tap into the experience of the smart women surrounding me’ affairs. These ladies challenge and help to elevate me to the next level.
Family: how do you build meaningful relationships with the people who matter most in your life?
I engage and communicate with them. I don’t let an opportunity go by without telling them thank you; I love you; I am grateful for you; I am proud of you; I am impressed by you. I also ask: How are we? How I am I doing as a mom? What do you need from me? How can I support you? How can I be of service to you and bring value to your life? Simply put, I passionately tune in, love, and bond with those who matter the most.
House: how do you maintain order/status quo and/or how do you “manage it all” just a bit better?
I cannot do it all but I do “manage” well. I ask for help, and in some instances I hire help, delegate, and ask for support from family and friends. I am a very organized and neat lady but I also allow room for un-orderly moments and accept them as just being part of the process. I call it, “flow and grow.”
Self: how do you strengthen your own identity and not lose yourself in the mix?
Meditation, yoga, and breath work are my favorite ways to “drop in” to my essential self. I also check in with myself often throughout the day. At present, when I check in I ask, “Is this moment worth trading a day of my life for?” It helps me to stay on track and focused on the bigger picture. I don’t believe I was born to “get a job” and become that “job title.” I believe in experiencing life and all it has to offer and to give back to the experience. As we all know, life is short and nobody gets out alive. So I explore, research, strike up conversations with strangers, take classes, read, travel, volunteer, and play in the park whenever I can.
Community: how do you contribute and add value to the larger world around you?
Give. Give. Give. I share my time, my knowledge, my ideas, my money, my food, my possessions, my connections, whatever I can comfortably and appropriately give to a need that has crossed my path. It’s greatly important to me and contributes to my sense of wellbeing and wholeness. I am keenly aware of the effects of my actions on my neighbors and my planet. In fact, contribution to the greater good is so important to me and I am so passionate about it that my friend, Gargi, and I are currently creating and entity that will share ideas and bring new ones to our audience on how they might consider ways to live healthier more authentic lives and to contribute to the greater good.
Please share your favorite efficiencies and timesavers.
Women tend to expect too much from themselves. I am one of them. To make it all work, I ask for help and delegate, delegate, delegate. A great leader knows how to do both of these really well. When you just can’t get that final to do list item done, tomorrow is another day. If it never gets done, you just weren’t meant to do it. It’s typically something that is not serving you either. Bless and release and move on to what must get done and to what serves you.
What advice would you give an earlier version of yourself?
Go with your gut… always. Define what success means to YOU. Then set your own bar and when you reach it, reward yourself. Pat yourself on the back. Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. If you do, you’ll just be subjecting yourself to someone else’s definition of success. Live authentically. Be the truth of who you are. That is always the highest good.
Is there anything you would like to share about work-life mix?
Always remember, imperfection really means I’m perfection. Flow and grow.
