In this episode of the Scuttlebutt Podcast, host Brock Briggs speaks with Bailey Ader, a former active-duty Army now serving in the Reserves, a real estate agent, avid runner, and a family-oriented individual. They discuss Bailey's passion for running, her challenging journey through injuries, and how she combated them mentally and physically. Bailey also shares her experience transitioning into a real estate career, emphasizing the power of personal branding, mentorship, and niche marketing, particularly towards veterans and active-duty military families. She highlights the importance of having a mentor and being proactive and purposeful in one's career and personal life. Bailey's story is a testament to resilience, adaptation, and finding fulfillment outside of military service while still contributing meaningfully to the community.
In this episode, Brock talks with Bailey Ader.
Bailey starts with talking about her love of running and how an early injury left her with a permanent medical running profile during her time at the 82nd. After her time as an active duty officer, Bailey transitioned to becoming a real estate agent while still maintaining her guard status. She's building a military focused real estate team called Homefront that are uniquely positioned to serve the military community. We talk about her entrance into real estate and the importance of personal brand when offering a service that many others do.
You can follow and reach out to Bailey on her Instagram.
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The Scuttlebutt Podcast - The podcast for service members and veterans building a life outside the military.
The Scuttlebutt Podcast features discussions on lifestyle, careers, business, and resources for service members. Show host, Brock Briggs, talks with a special guest from the community committed to helping military members build a successful life, inside and outside the service.
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Brock Briggs 0:00
Hello and welcome to the Scuttlebutt podcast. Today, I'm speaking with Bailey Ader. Bailey is former active duty Army and is now serving in the Reserves. Outside of that, she's a real estate agent, an avid runner, and more importantly a wife and a mom. In this conversation, we get into her history and love of running. She suffered a long injury. I won't even attempt to pronounce, which negatively impacted her ability to run in the army as well as her morale when it came to leading her soldiers when you're supposed to be leading your troops on a run and aren't able to. That takes a toll.
We talk about the side effects of that and how to fight back against injuries both physically and mentally. Bailey also shares her experience of becoming a real estate agent and the team she's building at Homefront. We talk about how to approach buying a home from a personal perspective, as well as getting into real estate as a career. Bailey shares how she approached mentorship in the real estate space. And we have a great discussion about how to approach a mentor and things that you can do to prepare in order to seek out a mentor. The biggest thing I enjoyed from this conversation with Bailey was her intense focus on personal brand.
In the conversation on mentorship, she has aligned talking about how a lot of people are looking for successful people's templates like a drag and drop. The reality is that life isn't that simple. By combining our interests and passions with our career, we can focus and serve a niche that only we are able to. Personal brand is a topic I can talk quite a bit about. But I'll save that for another time.
A quick programming note, in the never ending mission to grow the podcast, I do have a small request. I would love, if you would go and leave a review for the show on whatever your platform you're listening on. Not asking for a perfect five star review, just a review. All reviews get read and taken very seriously. I'd love getting feedback and hearing about how we can improve the show. Reviews not only help us improve but help with podcast discoverability and help get our message out to more people as well. I'd really appreciate if you left a review. Thank you. For now, please enjoy this conversation with Bailey Ader.
Brock Briggs 2:44
Bailey, thank you so much for coming on the show. I'm really looking forward to our conversation today. I want to start off with kind of like a difficult question. And that's whether joining the army met your expectations.
Bailey Ader 3:00
Okay, yeah, that is hard. I think, really, my expectations, when I went into it were to be going career. I had, since I was 12, probably like I was gonna join the military. I was very much gonna go in the Air Force and they weren't having it. So I ended up in the army. And I mean, I went through college and everything with the goal is to commission, not necessarily get a degree like that's gonna be my career path. I have no backup plan. So I think that it did live up to the expectations and what I've taken away from it, and the people that I met, the experiences I had. It did not live up to the expectations of fulfilling me to the point that I wanted to stay in and pursue a career.
And I don't think there was really a specific thing that made me feel that way. I just wasn't as passionate about what I was actually doing. You know, I think when you go into the army, it's this big picture. I'm a part I'm like, you know, a little gear in the cog of this huge machine that's doing something really meaningful. And then when you start doing it, you realize that like, you're just a desk jockey, like any other person kind of at least on the officer side. Like I'm doing a lot of work that feels meaningless and not quite as fulfilling as I hoped it would. And so from that, I kind of realized also a big factor for me was spending more time with my family.
It wasn't gonna be something that really gave me enough purpose and fulfillment for the rest of my life and the rest of my career. Something my husband and I have also talked a lot about is like that feeling when you go out on an FTX and you're like, I just can't wait to get back home and for this to be done and kind of like wishing away those moments in your life. As opposed to like, maximizing and capitalizing on every moment. So, you know, those were various decisions that led me to decide to leave, but still keep my foot in the door with the Reserves. Because I do believe in the greater mission that we're doing. And I was able to kind of find something that gave me more of like a creative, passionate outlet, I guess, on top of still serving.
Brock Briggs 5:30
I think that I resonate so much with the idea of like, constantly kind of wishing for like the next thing to happen. Whether it's like, you know, you're, I'm guessing like an FTX is like, is that a temporary? Like, you're going out to the field or something like that?
Bailey Ader
Yeah, yeah.
Brock Briggs
For us non army folks all equate that with like us in the Navy, like going out to sea, there was this constant kind of like op tempo of like, Oh, we're gearing up for this. And then it's like this next thing. And you constantly are focused on whatever's next, like other than what you said, like, focusing on just in the moment, and it does make it very hard to appreciate the things that actually happen. And I think in some senses too, I have gotten into this with a couple of people who have been on the show before, but talking about the lack of fulfillment that you feel because of that next thing that you didn't get to do. Whether it's like the next rank, or you know that special deployment that some people have done, or, you know, maybe it's like a combat thing, or whatever.
Bailey Ader 6:43
Sure. And that obviously resonates with me. I mean, like, I was in the 82nd kind of supposed to be the mecca of the regular army, if you will, and ended up falling right in between deployments never deployed kind of geared up to deploy a lot. There was a lot of like this anticipation, is hurry up and wait. This reporting at three o'clock in the morning, and you think it's gonna happen, and at that time in my life where I was married, but, you know, we didn't have children or anything. It was the ideal time for me to do that. And not being able to certainly, it took me a little while to still feel valid and what I had done with my career.
Without that combat experience, especially kind of in this kind of odd, peculiar time where a lot of my leaders had deployed multiple times at that point. And then, you know, things are starting to taper off now. And I think as I've matured, and gotten older and had kids and stuff, I realized that like just wasn't God's plan for me. When my unit did deploy, I literally was out loading them as I was picking up my DD214. And I had a three month old. So that kind of puts things into perspective, like, you weren't supposed to go with them because you have a baby now.
And I think when I talk about feeling fulfilled and the army also, that is what really brought things home for me was feeling legitimate and how I was spending my time when I was away from him. I didn't wanna be leaving for you know, two-four weeks to go on training exercises. Feeling like I'm not doing something like super productive or fulfilling and taking that time from him.
Brock Briggs 8:30
Yeah, I think the more and more people I talked to, and it was kind of even part of the reason I got out. Not even, I didn't even have a family to get out for but it was like, still one of the driving reasons to getting out. What do you think? And I mean, this is kind of big picture and probably above way above both our pay grades. But what do you think should be the long term objective of the military when it comes to balancing family life and trying to retain talent?
Bailey Ader 9:07
Sure. So I think a lot of what I think most of my experience being at Fort Bragg, I've spoken other people had completely different experiences at even a different post, right? And I think all the way down to company command leadership, you can have an impact on a person's experience from that point of view. Like I had a commander, so a captain who was making us stay there until 9pm for no good reason, you know, kind of like wasting time. And the whole morale of the company was just like abysmal at that point, right? So I do think that like just company command level leadership can make a huge impact on that.
Obviously, you need the support of your leaders if they're doing the same thing to you all the way up the ranks. But I'm not sure that I have like the total answer just from where yeah, my paygrade right now. And this is actually something I connected to, and I'm sure we'll get into like Patrol Base Abbate and Major Schueman kind of talking about being like for the boys. I feel like that resonates with me a lot as a leader. Whereas I've seen a lot of leaders in my like, five years that I could tell were more of what I would call like, gunning to be Pentagon generals or something like that, right?
It's like more of a diplomat, very, like serious, very concerned with how like they're portrayed. Maybe very intellectual, and just like, not really focused on connecting with their like, enlisted soldiers, not really focused on connecting with, say, their lieutenants and mentoring them. And just like, overall, taking yourself too seriously. I don't really know why we've trended like, seems like we're trending that way towards more officers being that way. Or how we can fix it. But I do think that like, loving on these little baby soldiers, little baby privates coming in, as I like to call them, like showing them the ways what's like, critical step one.
And I think that that maybe has been neglected for a little while. They've been neglected for a little while. And that could come down to just be like getting away with too much bullshit. Because as soon as you know, that first experience, the first six months that they're there, what they're seeing people doing, they're soaking it all in, and that's gonna change the trajectory of their entire career and how they behave.
Brock Briggs 12:02
Yeah, that's so so true. I remember so many times out on the ship, we'd be out to sea and there'd be like, a couple, like a wave of new people that kind of like, showed up and they're down kind of in the chow hall, and they're eating breakfast. It's like six in the morning. And, you know, their eyes are this big because they haven't slept in days, and they're just kind of like, got that new look to them.
And it's weird because, like senior or like, NCOs will like kind of gravitate towards them in order to just like, shit talk the Navy, or like, I'm sure I know that that happens in every branch. But it's like, I don't know how many like yelling matches I got into where I was like, trying to tell people to stop because it's like, you're literally like ruining the next wave just because you are soured and like your military experience hasn't been good, doesn't mean that another person's will be that way.
Bailey Ader
Exactly!
Brock Briggs
On kind of another note, it's interesting that you bring up this dynamic of like maybe senior or more senior officers like gunning for these top positions. I had never really been exposed to that and maybe I am starting to see it more and more as I get more plugged in with the military community on like Instagram and all these kind of like social networks that are driving kind of platform based like monologues almost kind of
Bailey Ader
Yeah, yeah.
Brock Briggs
It's almost like people like really wanna be thought leaders and like just talk like this big picture. Do you think that that's a good thing? And is that like kind of getting in the way like you said of leading the people below them.
Bailey Ader 13:54
So I mean, I'm relatively new to that space as far as on social media. I like put it off for a very long time. I've been like wildly impressed in some like somehow fallen more into I'm sure the algorithm will work its magic but fallen more into like the marine realm with that. And I feel like it's been a really positive from what I've seen a really positive way for people to connect on like a personal level as human beings. Also, as like a lot of like, soldiers are on Instagram doing fitness stuff like I think that's very positive for them to be setting that example in a, you know, space outside of information, you know, so to speak.
I haven't really seen any of like the negative side of that, but I'm also very new to that side of things. I think like, you know, my biggest gripe probably is like the day, I’m pretty sure it was the day, like I recorded to my first unit. I remember there was a specialist getting out. And I'm like little baby butter bar, you know, eyes wide ready to go. And his farewell speech is like, and you can just tell the students like, you know, not in shape. He's not exactly the picture of what I would want somebody in my formation to look like. His speeches basically get every penny medically out of the army as you possibly can before you leave, like thanks. Peace! And ever since that, that's really rubbed me the wrong way.
Even though the army I mean, I'm still in the reserves and take a lot of pride in that actually and have had a very positive experience. But even though that career path was not for me, you know, for 20 years, I take, I'm very appreciative of everything that the Army has given me. Security, just experience leadership and business experience, really, I mean, they're training you to be a business person, whether you know it or not. Confidence, you know, the list goes on. And I see a lot of people and particularly like young people, kind of have this entitled attitude of like, the army owes me something. You know, let me get as much out of the army as I can, because I signed up. I don't really know. I don't relate to that.
I usually try to knock it down as quickly as possible, if it's around me. I came from, you know, a working class, dad that was laid off multiple times. I very much saw how, I guess, difficult it can be in corporate America. And I have always appreciated the fact that I have a secure job. I have insurance. I know that my family and I are well taken care of. We can like complain about some of the you know, nuances or the little things that could improve. But there definitely have been more instances than not that I've seen people just seeming like entitled, and not wanting to do their best for the Army, wanting to just kind of drag ass and see how much they can get out of it.
Brock Briggs 17:28
I think that there’s sadly is a lot of people like that. I think people that are older than us might say it's a generational thing. I really, really hesitate to say that because I'm not convinced that that's the problem.
Bailey Ader
Right
Brock Briggs
But I agree, certainly. And it's hard to be on the sidelines and see people that you know, like, gave 10% to the army or whatever branch and then wanna take 90 on the backside. Because I'm all about people being taken care of that deserve it. But that is such a difficult line.
And it's like it's a subject that needs to be talked about. But it's really hard to because I remember when I got out or was preparing to get out, I called my cousin who was in the army, and he was a corpsman or medic. And I was kind of asking him about the medical process. And I was like, you know, they're asking me these questions about things that I may have experienced that like trouble that I'm having physically.
And he was like, you know, I see people that come in here every day, and just cook up the wildest shit that you've ever dreamed of.
Bailey Ader
Yeah
Brock Briggs
Going through your exit process and like when you fill out the paperwork for the VA, it said it's very personal. And they're, your morality is gonna be called on to when you fill it out. And that's now what I tell everybody. When I talk to them, I'm like, you know, you can really cook up something wild, if you want to.
Bailey Ader 19:08
Yup
Brock Briggs
But
Bailey Ader
And like you know, people doing it the correct way. Wanting to be taken care of wear and tear is a real thing that people experience is that you know, spending 10 plus years in the army. They deserve that. And I think people like that are just doing a disservice to, you know, the average guy getting out that does end up collecting say 20% feeling guilty about it, you know. Because they've seen the people that have taken advantage of the system and don't wanna associate themselves with that.
And those people are, you know, just doing a disservice to not just the average people but certainly the dude that has his leg blown off, you know.
Brock Briggs
Right
Bailey Ader
I specifically had a soldier that rolled her ankle on the basketball court in the barracks and then went on Facebook today. She was a wounded warrior. So I mean, we're talking like extremes here just for anybody that’s wondering.
Brock Briggs 20:07
That's really something.
Bailey Ader
Yeah
Brock Briggs
Yeah, the shoe fits, you know, just shove it on there and make it work. I have come to understand that you're quite the runner. I'm guessing you got to do a little bit of running in the army. I think that they generally like to do that.
Bailey Ader 20:29
Yeah. So running has been like an important facet of my life since I was growing up. My mom, we moved to the Austin area, Cedar Park in the early 2000s. And my mom started coaching and we had never, you know, we never did that before. I was eight years old. So very quickly, like a large time spent together was running, triathlons, stuff like that. It is some of like the best memories I had growing up as a child, racing and watching her race. And my dad also got into it. He's not quite as extreme as she is. She still does ultra marathons. She's just a stud.
So that was very influential for me growing up. But probably from high school age, I started to experience like, some serious pain in my legs. And that has been a journey in itself that has kind of attempted to snatch like the dream of being an ultra runner away from me, but I refuse to allow it. And I mean, we're going on, I'd say a decade of that battle. And I'm signed up for 50k in July. I'm not on track to complete it, but I'm kind of to the point where I'm gonna like crawl across the finish line if I need to.
Brock Briggs 21:50
Sometimes that like stubbornness to like succeed and just like do something is really almost more important, I think, than the physical aspect kind of like forcing yourself into it. I tend to fall more on that side as well. What kind of troubles have you experienced with your legs? Want to kind of get into a little section here about maybe what it takes to be an ultra runner and any kind of input or advice you might have for some wannabes?
Bailey Ader 22:23
Yeah, so I was diagnosed with chronic exertional compartment syndrome when I was in college in ROTC. Obviously, kind of young really like wanting to be the best I could possibly be. And it took a long time to get that diagnosis. If you wanna know about it, I would just recommend googling it because it's kind of a loaded thing. But just super bad pain when I was running. Misdiagnosed as shin splints for a long time before finally realizing I needed surgery can end up you know, in severe cases that can end up causing muscle damage, kidney failure, so like it really has to be addressed. You can't just kind of like run through it. So I got surgery for that. And I was doing pretty okay for a few years.
But at that point, I was very much more focused on like my career army. You know, let's max PT test, not let's run an ultra marathon because it does take a lot of time and obviously dedication to run the miles that you need to, to do that. Though I know that there's some people that do that on active duty and like more power to you. It wasn't for me. So when I got out, part of that like finding myself and like my identity, and my purpose, again, was like reintroducing myself to running and kind of trying to get back after it. I had another surgery also, while I was in the army and basically have been undiagnosed on some more issues that I've had since then.
And I mean, that was when I ran into med board a couple times, was able to basically come to a compromise on a permanent profile. If you're on second and you have a permanent running profile, you're shit. So that was kind of a career ruiner whether I liked it or not. I really tried to run down some alternative medicine issue, like ways to address it. And I had a few doctors that are willing to entertain it for me, but for the most part, I mean, nobody has longevity enough to keep treating you. You're then gonna be you know, this guy leaves you're gonna be seen by a different guy. And you just go through the process over and over again.
Brock Briggs 24:46
What do you know that like causes that mouthful of condition? Like is there anything specific about form or shoes or anything that kind of leads to that?
Bailey Ader 25:01
So, it can be genetic or they see it in a lot of kids that were excessively running or exercising before everything kind of was developed, which I certainly fall into that category. But there isn't like an insane, I don't know the statistics, but there's an insane amount of people in the military that had been diagnosed with this. If you look at like the percentages and proportionate to just average Joe Schmo. A lot of people have been diagnosed in the military. And like, not a lot of research being done about it.
Obviously, it's not like a life limb or eyesight sort of thing. So I'm sure it just kind of gets pushed under the table. But I would love for somebody to go down that rabbit hole and see what else could be a factor in that. Because yeah, I mean, it is causing people to get a med board or, you know, end their careers and other than a fasciotomy. That's pretty much where things stop as far as what they will offer you.
Brock Briggs 26:04
Well, it looks like according to Google here, all it takes to treat it is ice and some ibuprofen. So pretty much the treatment in the military for everything, maybe some new socks that will make an impact. Talk to me a little bit about anything, any kind of I don't wanna say like dirty looks, or you said that it was a career killer. Are you getting like negative repercussions because of a medical condition like this? And what does that look like?
Bailey Ader 26:41
Yeah, I mean, so I was for it. If you can't run information with your troops like you can't be in front of them. And it's just one of those things that maybe it's a tough pill to swallow. But I agree with it. I think my biggest and I would say that, like I was pretty bummed out about it. I would probably started like slacking off more being what I would now say is a shitbag. Because I was depressed about not being able to compete with my peers at that point.
And I mean, we had a ton of like studs, and kind of going through this like asking for help, asking for help, and not getting any, was getting pretty frustrating. So yeah, not being able to like run, definitely. I'm sure, I never experienced anybody being like negative towards me. Everybody was very understanding. I had great leadership. They were supportive. They knew I had multiple surgeries. They knew that I was running down the issue, which I do think is important for anybody in that situation, like be vocal with your leadership and also ensure that you're gonna take the right measures and taking the time to try and fix yourself.
Because I think a lot of people, like I said before, are just like, well, I guess it's over. I guess I'm gonna take the, you know, take the med board, take whatever. I think it's important that people try to rehab themselves. And we, you hear it a lot, at least in the army and in command, if you're trying to like ask anybody, if you're trying to kick somebody out, it's quite a process and you hear that you need to rehab soldiers. Whether it's, you know, mentally or physically, but I don't think as much. I see it on remedial PT kind of side where people are just overweight or not being able to perform the standard.
But I haven't seen as much of that rehab on the physical side for injury. And I think part of that is because it's kind of like, well, it's okay, if you get med boarded out and you get some sort of compensation. I think also a lot of people don't know that just because you get recommended for med board and the med board goes through does not mean you're gonna come out with a fat pocket full of cash. They will kick you out and give you 10-20% which will not be enough to cover your living expenses for the rest of your life.
Brock Briggs 29:20
Well, and I think too from maybe a money perspective, that's might be driving more of a decision around like retaining people and like trying to work through those types of problems. And rather than saying, hey, you know, we can keep this person around and like, you know, continue to pay them to be LLD for the rest of their time in. Or we can just eat the cost of like recruiting somebody new which, the cost is high, but keeping an unfit soldier for a long period of time is gonna be exponentially more expensive.
Bailey Ader 29:58
Absolutely. I think the thing that bothered me there too, is that it would have been easier for me to get a med board and essentially get kicked out, right? For compartment syndrome, which in reality like, and the thing that didn't sit well with me is like I 100% could have deployed. I 100% could have been fine, you know, doing my job in an austere environment. So to me, I did not deserve a med board.
But it would have been easier for me to get out and leave than somebody who is failing a PT test or failing height and weight, where you have to do these months and months of counseling and all sorts of you know, remediation. I didn't think that was the right answer, because I think that I had plenty of potential if I could just get this injury sorted out.
Brock Briggs 30:55
Obviously, it probably took a lot of belief in yourself and ability to recover to kind of fight that need. What should people be doing? And or how should they be thinking, if they're like in a certain similar circumstance, where they're faced with maybe med boarding out and kind of weighing those options?
Bailey Ader 31:18
Yeah, well, I think one big factor for me was just knowing that like I wasn't necessarily going to get enough support from a med board to carry on living expenses. Like I didn't want to lose my job. Because of that, it didn't make sense. But I think at the time, after going through it for quite a few years, I was pretty much like, “Well, this is it.” And I was able to refuse med board, pick the permanent profile, so that I could go into the reserves and continue my career there, where it has been easier for me to go and seek civilian care and kind of troubleshoot on my own.
And I've also noticed, I even noticed just from PCS into a new duty station, than not having quite as much not being as busy at like the hospital and these providers not being as busy being able to get in for more consistent appointments to kind of get to the bottom what was going on with my legs, which I think now we've pretty much arrived at. Like nerve impingements in the back, tibial nerve of my legs also, which can be fixed with like PT, like physiotherapy can improve that significantly.
So it's taken me a decade and four surgeries to arrive at the fact that I need to do a few like simple stretches to potentially, like completely change. You know, my life because running is a huge part of it. So, I don't know that I have an answer. Because I do understand like, when you're getting the pushback and you start to kind of just believe like this isn't gonna happen. You can be in a bad place. So I would say just be very careful, if you're going to seek a med board or make sure you understand that, you know, the finances might not add up for you and you may need to get another job on the backside, being very prepared in that sense.
I think the Reserves is a great option. I'm not here to necessarily recruit for them. But it's allowed me to do both and I have since become a company commander, I'm back to running how I wanna run at least as far as you know, meeting exceeding the standards for our PT tests and stuff like that ACFT. And being able to set a good standard and example for those soldiers that “Hey, I've gone through this injury and I've been able to remediate and come back and I'm better than ever.” And I know like my foot still in the door and I could get on to active duty again if I needed to, someday.
Brock Briggs 34:01
Do you think that your mindset has changed at all when it comes to like being on the mend? And like approaching your care rather than just trying to like maybe thinking about throwing in the towel on that, it sounds like you're actively pursuing and like have gotten back on the run literally.
Bailey Ader
Yeah, yeah.
Brock Briggs
What has been behind that mindset shift? And what other things I guess like physically, you just stressed the importance of the physical therapy and like stretching. How can people overcome the desire to not stretch because I think that that is a very underrated thing that people, “Oh, I don't need to stretch or whatever,” but that it really does go a long ways.
Bailey Ader 34:54
Yeah, so I mean, I probably if I had any friends listening to this, that new me at that time, they were probably like, what's this bullshit because I was not in the same headspace by any means. I was very much, you know, like, well, it is what it is kind of accepting that I'm injured. I'm not gonna be on active duty. I'm gonna go be a stay at home mom now, which was an amazing experience for me but very different than working, you know, 14 hours a day.
At that time in my life, when I was about to transition off of active duty, I was not in a great space, I was obviously injured. And also, you know, balancing this kind of like, should you have taken the med board, because now you're getting out. I was happy that I was able to go into the reserves. But there's obviously this, did you miss an opportunity feeling. I went in, my husband and I really had no relationship at this time because we were both active duty in the 82nd, kind of like ships passing in the night.
So a lot has changed from that point in my life to now as far as like maturing. I'd say that the biggest piece was kind of finding my own identity outside of the military, outside of my relationship, like who is Bailey? And what does Bailey enjoy and like to do? That would be like my number one recommendation for anyone transitioning. And it took, I mean, it took years that people didn't see because I wasn't on social media or whatever. I'm pouring myself into different hobbies and trying things and putting myself in uncomfortable positions and situations. And then, okay, I like this. Let's just fire a little bit and start pursuing this. Okay, I like this but I wanna do you know it a little differently, let's just fire and go this way.
Before I've came to the point that I'm at, and that's in my career, and physically, I think like being on a path that I'm really happy and excited about has put me in the mental headspace to be able to, you know, then address my physical issues too. And realize, like, I probably can come out on top of this and tackle this and I wanna keep trying to do hard things because that's just what motivates me and keeps me going. And I don't wanna take no for an answer anymore.
Brock Briggs 37:27
I think that that really highlights how easy it is to kind of lose yourself and lose your identity in the military. You become kind of the collective whole and even on like a downtempo operational schedule, or like on the Navy we'd call it like shore duty, not deployable. It’s hard to have hobbies, like it really is and especially something like running.
You pointed out people that maybe do like altruism, like running wild during the service, but it's kind of weird how the military can like take something that you love and ruin it. Like running is suddenly not very fun.
Bailey Ader
Yeah
Brock Briggs
When you have to do it for you know, you're running with a large amount of weight strapped to you or like, you know, things like that. Yeah, it's difficult to get back to that. And I think
Bailey Ader
Yeah
Brock Briggs
It's encouraging to hear that you've been kind able to power through that and get back to doing something that you love.
Bailey Ader 38:37
Yeah, I think it's just important for, I think, people to hear that, like I had saved a vanilla active duty experience, didn't deploy, you know, in Garrison the whole time. I was at 82nd, which was very high up tempo. We, I mean, we just worked a lot. But relatively normal, average five years on active duty. I had a spouse that, I left and I had a spouse that was providing for me. I had a child. I moved to another installation where I had other military spouses around me. I was in the same environment and I still struggled.
So how must you know the dude that just came back from combat and then, you know, ends up in small town Wisconsin feel. Those are the people that I guess I would be really hoping to help and sharing this kind of a story and realizing like, it's okay to feel that way. And these are some suggestions and steps to kind of figuring out where you fit in life outside of that outside of the Army, or whatever your service branch was.
Brock Briggs 39:57
I think that it would be clear to me that you're doing that. I recently kind of found out that you are heading up the running club with PB Abbate. Do you wanna talk a little bit about that? And
Bailey Ader
Yeah
Brock Briggs
Your vision or direction.
Bailey Ader 40:13
Okay, so this is actually a great point to make also. If you're interested in getting involved in something, freakin’ ask. I think a lot of us like, you come out into this world, you put yourself in a box. You're kind of unsure of what to do. There has to be some sort of special formula or this, you know, I have to be in with people, in this network in order to get to these places that these people are on Instagram or whatever, right? Like, no, just ask. And so I think you had Tyler Carroll on with the Collective.
Brock Briggs
Yeah
Bailey Ader
So I went to high school with him. And I reached out to him and was like, ‘Hey, like, I saw that you're with PB Abbate. Like, how can I get involved?” And he's like, “I don't know, just ask him.” And I was like, “Well, it can't be that easy.” So I signed up, and I emailed the running club captain at the time, and Jason's like, a super amazing guy that responded and was like. I said, I wanna do more than just participate. I wanna help. How can I help? Like, I have time. What do you need from me? He said, “Actually, I'm head of the Boston chapter. And I'm also the running club captain. And I'd really like to start pouring my energy into the Boston chapter and hand off the running club. Would you be open to that, you know, no pressure?” I was like, “Yeah, I don't know how qualified I am. But let's do it.” And it was just easy as that.
So lesson learned, you know, there's no like secret code or people you have to know, just freakin’ ask. And most people are gonna be really happy to have your help. So I've just been spending the last month or so trying to kind of get everybody reengaged on different platforms. We have a Strava group. A lot of people like to talk on the PB Abbate forums. They just share, you know, everything from like, I went on a three mile run to I'm running, you know, 100 mile or at the end of the year. What kind of tips and tricks do you have?
So trying to get people vocal back in that space, and then I'll be going through and trying to link people up with locals that they might not know, are also in the club, so that they can start doing some in person runs together. And then hopefully, around the fall timeframe. So PB Abbate does retreats out in Montana. So once the retreats are done, doing some virtual runs together, some virtual five K's and stuff like that with them is something that I'm really excited to get going.
Brock Briggs 42:51
Absolutely. That's super exciting. I know that they have the strength club, for their return to base later this summer. And maybe you know
Bailey Ader
Did you sign up?
Brock Briggs
I did.
Bailey Ader
I did too.
Brock Briggs
Okay, cool. Well, I would hope to see you there.
Bailey Ader
Yeah
Brock Briggs
It would be cool to put together maybe a running retreat this next summer. I think that that would be fantastic.
Bailey Ader
Yeah
Brock Briggs
A lot of people out there love it.
Bailey Ader 43:18
There would be like nothing more, I'd love to do than run through trails in Montana. It would just be perfect. So
Brock Briggs 43:25
Absolutely. Well, it'd be really great for all of us, East Coasters, who are close to sea level to get out to the mountains. And I know I was just back home in Idaho. And I just like went for a run. And I was like, just dying from like just even just a short elevation difference. That was significant. I can speak to that. Just like getting involved thing. And I think that PB Abbate is a great example of that. I had signed up, kind of very similar story.
I found Tyler and Keith, emailed them, got them on the show. And they're like, “Oh, you gotta talk to Tom and have him on the show. Talk to him.” Became a member and there actually wasn't a chapter here and like Norfolk, Hampton Roads area, which I thought was really interesting. But then I got an email a couple of weeks ago, and they're like, “Hey, we're looking for somebody to like head the chapter up in the area.” And now I'm doing that. So
Bailey Ader
I didn’t even know that. That's awesome.
Brock Briggs
Yeah, I'm still like getting everything together. And I just thought the roster and whatever. But that speaks to and it's very similar to the military too, where you're kind of like thrown in and doing something that you don't exactly feel qualified for. But if the fact that you're there and doing it and ready to give 110% and figure it out. I think that that is almost more important than any type of qualifications that you have. So good on you for taking on the Run Club. And I think that that's
Bailey Ader 44:59
I told all of them that I'm running the 50k. So I feel like that I mean, if they're great accountability partners and I'm like, I'm not doing so hot in training right now, but I guess I'm gonna have to do it because I told you guys I would.
Brock Briggs 45:12
It's weird that sense of accountability that that gives you, just like even saying that you're gonna do something even the people you don't know.
Bailey Ader
Yup
Brock Briggs
This last year, I really, I came to find the Goggins challenge. And I was just like, this is absolutely ludicrous. And so I needed to do it. And so to like, make myself do it, I set up like a GoFundMe fundraiser. And because I was gonna raise money for, I did like two separate charities, and like, emailed it to everybody I knew and was, like, posted about it on Facebook. And I was like, “Okay, now I'm super committed and have to do it.” And it was totally terrible, but raised some money for charity. And it was a lot of fun. So that like external, like accountability is so, so powerful.
Bailey Ader 46:02
Absolutely
Brock Briggs 46:05
I want to get into a little bit of your transition and slowly work towards your maybe part time career with real estate, in addition to being a mom and a wife and also a weekend warrior too. You told me a really funny story before we started recording. And I think that nothing encapsulates a military transition more than this story. And so I would like for you to tell us that if you would.
Bailey Ader 46:35
Okay, so, yeah. I was a stay at home mom for a little over a year, when I first transitioned out and I started to pursue real estate because I watched HGTV and I could do what they were doing, is exactly what my thought process was. So I found a mentor, which we can get into that later because I think that's also like critical if you're trying to pursue a new career out of the military. She invited me to their house for a fourth of July pool party.
So my husband and I, he's from Oklahoma, and I'm from Austin. And we suit up in our best Fourth of July gear. I had my cut off shorts and a ball cap. And I think he was wearing a beer is good shirt with some American flag swim trunks. We both had
Brock Briggs
How short were they?
Bailey Ader
His swim trunks?
Brock Briggs 47:27
Yeah, I'm guessing they were like, abnormally short.
Bailey Ader 47:30
No, he’s the knee length kind of guy. He doesn’t subscribe to the short shorts.
Brock Briggs 47:35
Okay, I was gonna say like, I think every pair of American flag shorts I've seen are pretty short.
Bailey Ader
Yeah
Brock Briggs
Yes
Bailey Ader 47:43
So there were at least there wasn't too much leg showing. So I guess that's good. But we both had six packs of Miller Lite and we walked up and they are in full on dresses, earrings, high heels. There's like this tablescape up, that's amazing. With brunch and they have champagne and different kinds of cocktails. There is no beer in sight.
And we were just like, “What the hell are we doing here?” And it kind of this holy shit. Can we? Can we be in this kind of environment? Can we transition into the civilian life? This is the first time we've really hung out with anybody that was not associated with the military, in any capacity. And yeah, we spent the rest of the time until we had a few beers feeling pretty uncomfortable. And then, you know, everybody loosened up pretty good.
Brock Briggs 48:33
That like I said, I don't think that there's anything that encapsulates military members' transition back into like a civilian life again than that because we're rough and we're loud and or like to drink beer and just rough around the edges generally. And I think that that is a very good visual of that.
Bailey Ader
Yeah
Brock Briggs
What do you think are people's perception or like, maybe in that particular circumstance, what were people thinking of you, do you think?
Bailey Ader 49:11
That particular group, I don't think they really gave a shit. So I think that any
Brock Briggs
Really?
Bailey Ader
Yeah, I think any kind of feeling we maybe had about it was just self self imposed. I don't think that they really cared. They've been wildly accepting. I mean, we are still in Columbus, Georgia. So it's the home of Fort Benning. People know that there's gonna, it's littered with military. I think for me, it was more of a cultural shock than you know, for them to have us there. Just that it was a very traditional like Southern brunch that I hadn't experienced before.
But I mean, it just takes me back to finding the right mentor. My mentor has told me from day one like, “Be you. Whatever that looks like, do it. You don't have to do things like me. You don't have to look like me, dressed like me to be successful in this career. Make it your own.” It's been one of the best lessons that I could have possibly taken away from real estate. Because I mean, it just taught me not to put myself in a box of I have to be a realtor. I have to be whatever the girls on selling sunset or whatever. It's more like, how can I make real estate fit Bailey? And kind of brand is kind of a dirty word, but what I want my brand to be.
Brock Briggs 50:41
Well, I think that the whole concept of like a personal brand is super important. And that's what, you know, people that we follow online that we don't know, and like celebrities and personalities, they have that. But I think when it and that's why we follow them. Yet sometimes when it comes to us applying that to our own lives, it almost feels like we need to be a certain way. I guess, what kinds of challenges did you have in that process of like, meshing your brand and like this, you know, what real estate may look like on the surface?
Bailey Ader 51:18
Well, I just encourage people to ask, you know, like, if you don't know your brand, ask your best friend your brand. And they will tell you what it is. And it'll be probably spot on, and then just pursue that. So we sat down, when I was really like started game planning for this is, I do 100% of my marketing is on social media. I had zero social media experience prior to this. So I didn't wanna be on it, didn't want anything to do with it. But it's a free marketing platform, so you're stupid not to use it.
And honestly, I think a lot of that comes down to just excuses, right? Well, I don't like social media. I don't wanna be on there. It's an excuse because you feel uncomfortable using it. But it's like saying, I don't like commercials so I'm not gonna make a commercial for my business. You know, like, if you approach it from a business mindset, you have to use it now. So we really set up a game plan for what that was gonna look like.
And she's like, I can tell you everything that your brand is. You wear all green shirts 99% of the time. You love to run. You’re a mom. You like guns. You like beer, like that's your brand. Let's lean into that. And we can figure out who your niche is and who your customer base is. And it's okay to be seeking those people out even if it's early in your career and your business, because other people are still gonna flock to you if you're just confident about who you're trying to attract. And it worked.
Brock Briggs 53:05
That's super interesting to hear. I don't think that I've ever listened to somebody talk about real estate in that way. Because it seems like such, it's a large market, I guess. And you know, house is just gotta be sold. And I don't think that a lot of people apply that type of personality, I think generally to the experience. I think it's really important though. And it's unique because when your product, or whatever it is that you're selling is for everybody, it's kind of also for nobody at the same time too.
Bailey Ader 53:42
Exactly, yep. And they all and I mean, they all act the same, look the same for the most part. The thing I connected with the most with my mentor, Megan, who better be listening to this, was that we both, we’re very passionate about customer service. I need to feel that purpose again, that I felt in the military. I need to feel like I was serving somebody in that same capacity. And turning that attention towards the local community, towards soldiers that are PCSing in and out of here. I had a unique perspective of PCSing a few times myself, so I had a lot to offer in that sense.
And we just tried to utilize that to create, you know, just something different that we can offer. Because 99% of the real estate agents look the same. They post the same stuff. They talk the same, and it's very business-y and not very personal. And that's really where I've seen most of my success, I'd say is just talking to people about where they're going, what they're doing, where are they in their career. They will now, let's talk about buying a house and people that have said that they, you know, decided to go with me.
That's been their feedback is like, well, the last lady that I talked to, I didn't know anything about her. She didn't seem to care really about what I'm doing in my career. She didn't understand maybe it was just like, let's look at houses now. And very salesy, right? And it's really like the most personal experience for somebody to buy a house that they're gonna live in, that they could bring their babies home in and stuff like that. And especially when you're doing it in the military, and you're kind of given this like, 10 day window to find a house, which is crazy unrealistic. How can we kind of like modify that and help people do it more efficiently and seamlessly?
And that gave me purpose, feeling like I was giving back to my people, to the active duty veteran community in a big way. And I think I started off pretty unemotional about it. And seeing the impact that it had, and people actually feeling like, this is a really smooth PCS for me. And that might seem like a really small thing. But it fulfilled me and gave me that sense of purpose again.
Brock Briggs 56:10
That's such an interesting take on like how to give back to the military community in a unique way. And I think that that ties into your personal brand so much. And when you're having those types of conversations, when you're motivated by more than just selling somebody something, you there's like this energy, and like you can just feel it when you're talking to somebody because you know that they're driven by something much larger than just the surface level of like moving you through, you know, what the rest of, you know.
Bailey Ader
Right
Brock Briggs
Are you targeting people that are just PCSing? Is that kind of your main kind of niche that you're focused on?
Bailey Ader 56:56
Yeah, so I have been, I had like, I have a PCSing game plan that just helps people kind of across the country, you don't actually have to be in Fort Benning for me to hook you up with an agent. If I don't, I have pretty much agents at every installation. Army wise so far, if I don't have an agent there, I'll interview agents on your behalf and find the right fit for you. And then just say, we've got somebody going from Hawaii to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, linking them in with somebody months in advance to try and make that whole transition smoother and more seamless for them.
But I've been doing local business too. Certainly not turning anybody away but I think it is important from a business perspective to have a target audience that you're going for. And it kind of seems to have like optimized business, if you will. I'm also very excited about like growing kind of this real estate agent/investor community or group. My brokerage is a cloud based brokerage. So we kind of like this unique ability to hire people on without the traditional team structure. And just create like a community of referral partners or whatever, your mastermind group, whatever you wanna think about it as that can all work together.
And that is what has become Homefront, for me and trying to show people, show soldiers that are getting out, particularly like men that this can be masculine. This can be like the black rifle Coffee Company of real estate, if you want it to be. And that like you can have a career because I had a really hard time finding a career for myself when I was supposed to be this grade A candidate from what I was being told for coming out, getting a job in the corporate world. And I had issues doing that applied to probably 38 jobs and nothing came to fruition. So trying to show people that this is a very viable career option that you can be very successful. You have to put in a lot of work and be very uncomfortable.
And it's gonna be a transition, but it's an option. And then my husband and I are also investors. So that's a whole nother side of things that we're very passionate about and like to educate on. And we did bring on our first team member who is in the 75th Ranger Regiment here at Fort Benning. He is an active duty soldier who is a realtor and he is absolutely crushing it in pretty much like the poster child what I imagined Homefront to be. So we're just like growing on that end too. And that also is fulfilling and feeling like I'm giving back to people and kind of showing them that they can be very successful in real estate.
Brock Briggs 1:00:00
Well, and there's always gonna be a need for people PCSing like, that's one of those things that's gonna be going till the end of time, I'm sure. And so that sounds like such a unique niche, but something that's very hyper focused, and gonna be in demand for a very long time. I think that from a consumer perspective, if you go to interview to real estate agents and say, you know, one person says, “Oh, I specialize in commercial real estate, residential, you know, multifamily, all of these things,” and they list off all these.
And then there's one person that says, I focus on military PCS transfers, real estate wise, and you're somebody who is like, in the military, guess who you're gonna go with? Like the one person who is like, it's so hyper focused, but it can be. It's big enough for you to kind of make a living on and I'm sure a lot of people to make living on. I want to talk
Bailey Ader 1:01:06
Oh, I was, Cody is actually, he is in the investor world. So he's on bigger pockets. He's working with investors. And that's something that I think was really important when we first you know, talked about him coming over as like, I want you to do what you wanna do. Brand yourself how you wanna brand. You don't have to do PCSing in the military, if you don't want to. He's on active duty. So I think he kind of like, gets his dose of that.
And he's been helping his friends and stuff like that. But he's been really niching down in the investor world. And he's got investors coming from all over the country to buy property in Columbus, Georgia, and really like crushing it and becoming an expert in that side of things. So I always wanna encourage people like, again, you don't have to fit a certain mold, you can. There's a million options for what this looks like to you.
Brock Briggs 1:01:59
I want to talk about that as like a potential career for people. But I have kind of one question, or maybe a couple questions on somebody that's maybe looking for a real estate agent to like, help them with the process. What types of questions should people be asking when they go to buy a house? Or maybe they're looking to invest in a property? What types of things should they be poking out when they go to interview an agent like you, say?
Bailey Ader 1:02:31
Sure. So the best answer to me, is that initial conversation when you're talking to them, are they asking about you? Are they asking you about your life outside of just purchasing a house? Are they taking a genuine interest in what you're doing and where you are in this move or this process? Are they asking what you want at a house? What does your dream home look like? You know, and kind of, especially in this market launch is big. Like, we're gonna get you what we can get you, you know. I think that's it. I think that's like the simplest way to approach it.
If you have somebody that's coming to you that says, I'm, you know, top whatever agent in the state of Georgia or doesn't answer the phone. These are probably the three agents you'll get. I'm the top whatever agent in the whole freakin’ world. I don't answer the phone, or, hey, I'm gonna treat you like you're my family. Don't worry about it. Like we're gonna get this figured out.
Brock Briggs
That’s red flags all the way around.
Bailey Ader
Yeah, it's a no brainer. And it's not like people. It's funny, but like you will call three agents and you'll probably find those three situations in some shape or form. And it'll be very clear, I think, when you find the right one, but I do encourage people to interview multiple agents. I also subscribe to this kind of like modern agent approach, which is on social media. I do encourage people to check out social media because that's the trend of this. And I guess the matter of the fact is there are a lot of very old school agents in town that are not gonna have the same relationship with the community, especially if you're a young person, the same relationship with other agents as somebody who's kind of like with it, if that makes sense.
Brock Briggs 1:04:37
Yeah, no, I'm tracking. What do you think is the value that a real estate agent can bring to the table that maybe a newer technology platform can't? I bought a house this last year and used Redfin, had a really fantastic experience. I bought it. We bought our house in a military town. And it was very tech intuitive for a young person, I suppose. How would you pitch that up to somebody who's maybe on the fence about paying a larger commission to an agent versus like a newer, like an eye buyer, I guess.
Bailey Ader 1:05:23
Yeah, I mean, I'm not overly privy to like how the whole eye buyer stuff works, to be honest with you. And I'm also not somebody that's interested in, I guess, selling myself over Zillow or Redfin, or something like that. I just feel like if, you know, my value is I'm gonna be, I'm gonna look out for your best interest. I do have like the investor mindset where I do take a lot of pride in like, being able to tell people the return they could potentially get on a property based on the area, an eye buyer situation is not gonna be able to necessarily tell you location wise if you're in a good spot or not.
So for example, if you're in Columbus, Georgia, there are places that I would definitely suggest you not go versus places you should go. And we have a lot of investors that asked us to go look at houses in locations that I would, you know, that I'm able to tell them wouldn't go to that neck of the woods. So it definitely depends on the location that you're in. But at the end of the day, I think like personal relationships are gonna trump that no matter what. I don't think Zillow or any of that stuff is gonna able to take out the realtors, if you will, anytime soon. Because we do take a lot of pride in learning our town and our community and you know, pouring ourselves into it. And being able to advise our clients like as experts the best we can.
Brock Briggs 1:07:04
I think that goes back to that specific knowledge type conversation where you've got, you know, you maybe you've lived in a town for 10 years, and you're very familiar with, like you said, the neighborhoods and the school districts and all of those things that will flow out naturally in the conversation of understanding what a person is looking for. Whereas maybe the experience on an app is much less personal.
Bailey Ader 1:07:31
Yeah, and I also have something that we're able to advise on to here is like, where's the city growing is on, again, more of an investor side. And I'm very passionate about putting military families in the position to hold their properties when they PCS if they want to, really like build wealth. It's like one of the most unique situations that you have in the military to be able to pick up properties here and there. And build wealth for your family, because at the end of the day, that retirement might still not provide for you.
But if you have all these houses, across the whole nation with passive income, like that's huge. So I think also understanding like where the growth is happening, which here like it's very clear, kind of where the businesses are going and where the markets kind of trending in different locations. I think that's like add value that you're not gonna get from a computer or a website too.
Brock Briggs 1:08:30
Yeah, absolutely. Coming at this conversation from a career perspective, if somebody's thinking about a career in real estate, what does that look like getting into the space? I know that there's, you know, you're kind of alluding to it earlier, but the markets like been pretty hot the last like year or so. What does it take to really make a living in real estate?
Bailey Ader 1:08:59
Yeah, I, again, first thing is like, find somebody doing what you wanna do, doesn't have to be just real estate, I guess, but find somebody doing what you wanna do. And ask them to talk and basically, make them your mentor. That's the first step that I did. And I wouldn't have, you know, I think that a lot of people make a lot of excuses for not doing different jobs, right? It's usually like, I can't do it. So for us, it was very risky. Like, this is a huge risk. We have two boys, my husband, you know, got out at the same time that I was pursuing real estate to start a small business like none of this made sense.
But at the end of the day, we took a lot of like, we took a lot of risks, but it was calculated risk. And we did our homework in making sure that like this was gonna be able to pay the bills, and having that conversation like this is your bottom line that you have to achieve. And then finding somebody that's doing what you wanna do in running them down to not taking no for an answer, and getting in front of their face and figuring out how they're doing it. And always keeping in mind, I mean, my mentor, Megan is like the Yin to the Yang.
And you know, she's like this tall, redheaded, who only drinks champagne and wears beautiful dresses all the time. Nothing like me, but our values were the same. So I said, I'm gonna take, you know what Meghan's doing, and then turn that into Bailey. So finding somebody who shares your values that can be your mentor, she's extremely successful. And I've just been a sponge and learned everything I can from her and translated it into my version of that.
And I think that that can be done in any kind of entrepreneurial setting. Also treating like something like real estate, treat it as a business. Don't treat it as you know, you're an independent contractor for somebody else. And I understand that people are on teams and people are with Keller Williams and whatever else, and that's great, but treat it as your business. And I think that you'll see more growth, if you take it that seriously, versus relying on the brokerage or the team or somebody else to provide these leads to you, to provide you with direction.
Brock Briggs 1:11:23
What do you think that people should be doing to prepare for a mentor? I think that mentorship is extremely important and extremely valuable. However, something that's often overused. And I think like a younger me, really I've always kind of like wanted a mentor, but looking at my track record of pursuing mentors, has kind of been me not doing anything and then reaching out to somebody to like, basically hold my hand and like taking it forward and like give me all the answers.
So I think that it's much more productive generally to really do some work beforehand and then come to people with specific things that you maybe need help on. And maybe the relationship that's kind of creates a lasting thing, where you guys are either working together or talking weekly or whatever. What types of things can people be doing, I guess, specifically with real estate when looking for a mentor?
Bailey Ader 1:12:27
So yeah, this is something I've thought about a lot, actually too, is people I think is just this instant gratification, right? That we have right now, very like everybody's a consumer. Everybody wants to look up how to do something. Everybody wants to find somebody that is doing what they do, and then get this template for exactly how to do it. But at the end of the day, if you're using somebody else's template, it's not gonna work because they're doing it. You know, you have to make it your own.
Otherwise, it's not gonna be a unique idea. So one thing is, and this is something that anybody that's coming into Homefront, is told up front, I'm not your team lead. I'm not your manager. I'm not in that business anymore. I don't wanna be your platoon leader. I don't wanna be your company commander. Like you're a big person, you can do real estate on your own. I'm here to guide and answer questions and help bounce ideas off and we can be creative together.
But what I did was I've signed up for the real estate exam. I studied. I passed my exam, you know, on my own. We came up with a game plan more on like the marketing strategy. And then one thing with real estate is that exam is not gonna teach you how to be a realtor. It's gonna teach you how to not go to jail. So I did some shadowing with her, probably about three months shadowing, listing and buying side. We do and then learning kind of, you know, you have to learn the forms and all that stuff.
And then after that, it's kind of like, “Okay, I’m ready. It's time to fly.” If you have questions you can come to me. I also keep it very formal in that like I have a calendar in my Instagram and if somebody wants to meet with me, they have to like schedule time in that calendar, kind of protecting your time in that sense as well. I think it’s really important setting those boundaries up front. And so far, that has been extremely helpful from me kind of trying to take on that role as mentor for other people.
And then also, I've received more than what I needed from her in those three months to be able to then move on but you have to do the homework. You have to be able to like you know, go to that first appointment, and it's really awkward. You walk into somebody's house and you're like, “Hey, I'm here to sell it,” like this is weird. And it's just kind of like swallow it and do it.
And nobody's gonna be able to like hold your hand and take you to it, if you want to be a successful agent. I think there's plenty of people that are kind of like doing it for fun. Maybe not like making a living off of it, that are able to get away with kind of having their handheld. And that's certainly not something that we're looking for at Homefront. And that's not something that she was willing to entertain either.
Brock Briggs 1:15:15
Yeah, I think that you need to have a high bar from the very beginning. And it sounds like you're kind of implementing that same type of standard, I guess with your team at Homefront. Would you say that that's right?
Bailey Ader 1:15:30
Yes. Yeah.
Brock Briggs 1:15:32
That's fantastic. Bailey, I've really enjoyed this conversation. And I'm really excited about what you're doing not only with the Run Club at PB Abbate selfishly but with Homefront as well. Where can people go to find out more about you? Homefront? Reach out to you? Whatever you'd like to kind of throw up.
Bailey Ader 1:15:53
@BaileyAder on Instagram, that's where I'm most active. And you can DM me there. I have baileyader@gmail.com too is somewhere else. I've got a Facebook out there. I don't really use it. So, I'd say Instagram is the best bet.
Brock Briggs 1:16:11
Perfect. Bailey, thank you so much for your time. This has been great.
Bailey Ader 1:16:14
Thanks. Appreciate it.