Synergy Squared: How The House Chicks Are Revolutionizing Real Estate

By harnessing the power of what each woman does well, Laura McGurk and Cynthia Brown of The House Chicks have created a business model that is as innovative as it is effective. This dynamic duo’s perfect blend of complementary skills and a shared vision has redefined what it means to be a real estate agent. Learn about how their approach is not just about selling houses; it’s about building relationships and creating an exceptional experience for their clients.

Stefanie: Hey everybody, I'm with Laura McGurk and Cynthia Brown from The House Chicks. How are you all doing?

Cynthia and Laura: We're great . Yeah, doing good. How are you?

Stefanie: Oh, not too bad. Not too bad at all. So I want to get this started by asking you to explain to people what it is that you do. What is The House Chicks?

Laura: Sure. The House Chicks is a small business. We're both realtors in Columbus, Indiana and we service just about anything you could think of regarding real estate.

So buying, selling, staging, designing, and investing. We do all of that.

Stefanie: So why did you get into this business?

Laura: We both have very different reasons for getting into this business. My reason was very simple and basic. I needed a job that mattered and wasn't just a waste of time. A lot of times for women, we start looking for jobs and all we can find is something that's really basic that barely covers the babysitter and it makes it feel like it's not really worth going out of the house for that job.

So I wanted to find something that was fun and that mattered and kind of as a byproduct I got lucky and I found something that I can involve my kids in and I can work with my friends all the time and it just turned into a really beautiful job.

Cynthia: Yeah and for me, very different. I was freshly married. I didn't have any kids yet. If you would have asked me on day one of having my license, why I wanted to get into real estate, I would have told you the most basic answer of I love people and I love houses. I thought that was it. It was just going to be a blast and it has been super fun, and I've learned a lot, but now I'm years into my marriage and now I have a son, and with some business under my belt it's changed. It's not just about nice people and beautiful houses. It's serious business dealing with people's most valuable asset. I really enjoy getting to be a part of that journey with people.

Stefanie: Laura, you said, a job that matters. I actually haven't heard people say that. Tell me a little bit more about what you mean when you say the job that matters.

Laura: I wanted something that I got excited about when I said, I have to go to work. I wanted to be excited. I wanted to look forward to my day and I didn't want to come home and have conversations with my kids or my extended family to say, well, stared at a computer and I stuffed envelopes all day. I know that there's a need for that and people do need to do that. I just wanted something more meaningful for myself. So with this job, not only does it fill my cup because I get to help people, but it matters to the people that I'm helping in a big, big way.

So the service part of my job is something that was really important to me. To define something that matters is helping people for me.

Stefanie: How is your business different?

Laura: Our business is different because what we do is share what we're doing because we're always having fun selling a house is a big daunting job and we try to make it fun and not the big stressful weight that some people have to go through. When we share that with other people, either just in conversations or social media, they see that it's fun and they're not as nervous or scared about asking questions and doing it. So I think a big thing that makes us different is we're just sharing the experience, and making it look appealing and enticing.

That attracts people to us really naturally. Most of the clients that we work with are people that follow us on social media. They feel they know us really well and they show up and we're instantly friends and that makes it a really nice transaction and it's easy to work with people like that.

So the way that we share and the way that we just show people what we're doing and this is the way it looks to work with us. I think that's a big part of what sets us apart from other realtors.

Stefanie: So let's go back to when you first started The House Chicks. What created it and how did you two get together?

Laura: Cynthia is a new addition to The House Chicks. She's version 2 of The House Chicks. I started two or two and a half maybe three years ago with a different chick and it happened out of necessity. We were just moms and we both were realtors and we needed some help to cover the requirements of the job.

So we just teamed up and that worked really well for a little while and then Cynthia started and she got her license and we met her. At that moment, she was in a different phase of life. She didn't have kids and she had a lot of time to help us as busy moms fill the gaps so it started out of a need for some coverage and it just turned into a really nice relationship where we get to do business and do life with a person that's really like minded and trying to accomplish the same goals.

Cynthia: Yeah, when I first met The House Chicks and got to know them, one of the things that they said when I asked them why they were a team was with their families and kids and just so much going on they both function as half a person and together they make a whole person. I really loved that, but I didn't understand it at first. Now I understand it. We're on the same page.

Stefanie: Tell me about each other's dynamics. What do you both bring that the other person doesn't have?

Cynthia: It's actually really fun. I'll start because we're really different. So we easily bring different things and it works really, really well.

I love to do and what I'm good at right now in the season of a new mom and everything is I'm really kind of behind the scenes a little bit. I love the marketing and I love the ideas and the creativity and Laura coming to me with a really good idea and then I kind of help make it go because she has a lot going on and I have a lot going on so we meet in the middle and that's kind of how we're flowing.

Laura: Yeah. Cynthia is really good with the creative and the visuals and making everything really appealing to the public. So taking boring mundane things, like home inspections or stuff that people don't generally care about, and showing them in a way that's visually appealing. She's really good at that.

Then my strong suit is I'm pretty task oriented. I like to think that I'm a creative person, but really when it boils down to it, I have big ideas and I need somebody to dial it in for me and help me execute. So that's what Cynthia is really good at and then just socially we kind of fill both buckets.

I'm really bad in social situations and Cynthia's great. (laughs) So that's one of those, we make a whole person things. Like at open houses and stuff, Cynthia's there and she can help me and I have to be there and I do them very well. But, the big social part, the interactions part is hard for me.

Talking to clients I'm very straight to the point where as Cynthia will talk to them about their dog and make them feel comfortable and happy. Those are the kinds of things that we do together but we're vastly different in our personalities that way.

Stefanie: How did you know that you had something here?

Cynthia: I think she knew before me, huh? Maybe.

Laura: (laughs) It just kind of happened accidentally. It was kind of just, we both worked hard and showed how we are authentically. We were attracted to the way that the other person worked. It happened very naturally. There wasn't a moment where one of us had to beg the other and be like, 'I think you would be really good doing this for me.'

We just meshed really well and worked together before we were a team and so when we knew that we worked well together it made sense to become an official team and work together all the time.

Stefanie: Let's go back to the question about the job that matters.

Because I think a lot of people want to find something that they can put their whole selves into and it's not a drudgery. When you were searching for something, was there ever a moment where you thought, I don't know if I'm going to find it?

Laura: Yeah.

Cynthia: Yeah.

Laura: Absolutely. I personally tried a lot of stay at home businesses that are marketed to moms... work from home, work after your kids go to bed, those kinds of pitches.

I would be mediocre at best at all of them. That was really frustrating. Doing real estate and being a realtor was the first thing that was fully outside of my house and was not marketed as a side gig. It was a full job and once I started doing it and treating it like the business that it is. I realized very quickly that it was the right thing for me. You see it both when you're at your job and then when you're not at your job and you're doing regular life. I'm out to the store or I'm out to the restaurant with my family. I see these are potential jobs I could have been doing and it reinforced that I picked something that was really meaningful to me.

Cynthia: I did a lot of different work. I really started in the mental health field and I thought that was something that was going to fill my cup but turns out I'm a little too emotional for that. So I felt really lost. Honestly, when I started real estate, I was a little nervous that I was going to be home all the time. I did want to be home some of the time, but it’s really not that at all. You can really make it however you want.

I didn't realize, I mean, no one really tells you this when you're first starting off, but you can truly be as busy or not as busy as you want. Now that I have a family, I can balance it really well and be home some of the time and be gone some of the time. That way, both my family cup and my work cup are both being filled.

Stefanie: Let's talk about the ideal moment when you're working with somebody and then you just look at it and go, this is it. This is that moment where I'm so glad I turned this way instead of going a different way.

Laura: I think I've had probably a couple of those moments. I mean, as I said, Cynthia is my second partner. My first partner was a different experience and for a while there were three of us. So there were a few kind of aha moments where I was like this was a good idea. This was the right choice for us.

I would say that a big thing for me, and the way that I run my business, is just clearing some head space so that I can focus on the really important stuff. Because there's a lot of things that we have to do as a small business to keep our name in front of people and to just stay relevant.

That can be really overwhelming when you also have to follow up on paperwork and you have to attend appointments and you have to show houses and go to people's houses and help them get it ready for listings and all the things that it takes for our job. So when I met Cynthia and I was able to just talk to her, I think probably something happened at the beginning where I was just complaining and I was like I'm too busy and I need to do this, but I don't have time.

She just said, well, I can do that really easily and I probably was like, okay, sure. But then she did it and it was way better than I could have done way faster and it was beautiful and it was done. She just handed it to me and I realized that is exactly what my business needs somebody who can carry the load. For the person who is the owner or the brain child, it's your baby, and you don't want to give it to anybody but when you finally take a deep breath and you can see that people can help and that is a good thing that's when it was a really big moment for me. So I guess I had to let go of a lot of control is what that really boiled down to.

Stefanie: So Cynthia, what is that moment where you said, I'm really glad it went this way? Laura talked about going to restaurants and looked around and thinking about how that could have been me had I not chosen this. For you, has there ever been a moment where you looked at your business and said, I'm just so glad I said yes to this?

Cynthia: Yes. I feel there's been several moments. One of the first moments was doing my own transactions. That was some of my earliest ones and having Laura there to help me. She's a really great teacher. That was really great.

Laura: Our job allows us the freedom to just take as much time off as we need. I always appreciate it. We never have to go to our boss and ask for time off or schedule vacations and that kind of freedom with having little kids or just family, normal responsibilities, life responsibilities.

We have that freedom. Cause sometimes you just need to disappear for a while and it's harder to do that when there's a manager who's looking for you and waiting for you and you have to call and explain why you're not at work today.

Cynthia: Yeah, I don't miss that life.

Stefanie: So let's talk about that for a moment. So many people are stuck in those situations and they don't feel they can get out.

How did you come to a place where you feel, okay, I'm going to trust that I want to do something different. I'm going to trust that I can create it for myself. Cause we can have a lot of thoughts in our mind that tell us, nope, stay here. This is safe. How did you get to that place of just trusting that you can create it for yourself?

Cynthia: Yeah, it was hard. I was very financially minded. You have to take a 90 hour course to even get your real estate license. That's a big investment. I think Indiana is around $400 or $500 and that was a big deal to me.

I luckily have a husband who supported me in saying, if you need to stop your job to be able to do this, he supported that. I did have to give myself, X amount of months to get it done because I knew that I would put it off or take really long and it would just, be more of a burden. I felt I needed a career but I didn't know what it was so I was hoping that this would be it. Once I got into it, it was still a little scary, taking the tests and whatnot. But you really have to just push through that.

Laura: I think a big part of that is you have to just listen to yourself more than you listen to everybody else on the outside. Because, a lot of people have had a terrible experience with real estate in some way, shape, or form and they just hear the word real estate or realtors and they go back to that experience and they're, you shouldn't do that.

I had a terrible realtor and a lot of people on the outside will discourage you from doing something that might be really exciting for you. And so part of that journey for me was. I'm probably gonna flounder for a little while and that's okay. As long as I'm aware of it and I planned for it and I know that it's part of the process, then it's not failure.

Working through not being immediately successful right away was part of the process for me and not letting other people who were like, 'Well, I told you that wasn't a great job. ' Not letting that junk get in the way and just keep doing the stuff that you need to do at the beginning to become successful.

That was a big part of the journey for me.

Stefanie: When we're creating something that's different and we look around in the industry and there's no roadmap there. How do you trust that what you're doing is the right way, even when you may not see any evidence for it?

Laura: I think a big part of it for me was I studied people who were doing my job really, really well. I listened to what they had to say and I didn't try to reinvent anything.

I took the pieces that spoke to me and I incorporated them into my own personality and the way that I operate and just trusting the process that our business is different from most other businesses. Before we get paid, sometimes there are lots and lots and lots of months that we do work, and you don't see any results.

That can be really frustrating and hard, but listening to people who have done it before me and done it well, say these are the right steps and if you do them and you keep doing them, then you will, you will see the fruits of your labor pay off. Just trusting that the people who do it know what they're talking about.

Cynthia: Just, seeing what others do that's relatable to me and then putting my own spin on it and putting it out. It just feels good and I just hope that it attracts the people that are like us.

Stefanie: That's another good point. Especially when it comes to social media, you're just putting yourself out there, hoping it's going to attract clients and it's normal to feel that you want some kind of validation or to feel you're doing it right. It requires so much self trust. What do you do in those moments when you're kind of wavering on that self trust?

Cynthia: Well, luckily we have each other to kind of lean on and speak some affirmation into that helps a ton.

Laura: So that happens a lot at the beginning of a project. Once you get through that initial quiet period, I feel, if you keep your foot on the gas and do the things that you've been doing regularly, that quiet period goes away.

At the beginning, I was just reminding myself a lot, and this was before Cynthia was part of the picture and I was doing things to try to build my business from zero, and it was what do I do to make people notice me. I just had to tell myself that this job takes a lot of time. It's a long game.

It's not a sprint. It's a marathon. I found a coach sometime early on that was really good that said, 'Do something for six months before you decide if it's working or not.' A lot of the clients that we get, they're paying attention and not saying anything for a really, really long time.

People are going to watch you and something that you do will speak to them seven to 10 times before they even click, or they reach out and message you. So you have to keep doing the stuff that feels invisible and eventually, people will surface and it will pay off. It definitely happened. There's, there's definitely a lag effect where you just work and you work and you work and you feel, well, that was three months and nobody has said anything. What do I do now? But if you just do it one more day, that person who has been watching you ... and just being okay with quiet and being okay with what might seem like a failure to somebody on the outside, but know that the stuff that you're doing is going to pay off later.

That's a big part of it.

Stefanie: Yeah, because sometimes that creativity is in that quiet.

Cynthia and Laura: Mm hmm.

Stefanie: A lot of times when we're building it, when we're planting a seed, we have no idea that it's growing under the dirt. We just assume that it is. Until eventually it sprouts.

Laura, you stated that Cynthia's now your version 2. 0 of the House Chicks. How did you handle the transition? How did you handle that moment of knowing that you needed to let go of version 1 to embrace version two?

Laura: So during the transition, there was a lot of external stuff going on that had very little to do with real estate, but, a huge impact on both my family and my former partner's family.

So a lot of the reasons for change and transition had nothing to do with business and real estate and everything to do with life. Just being receptive to the fact that my family needed something different in this season and my partner's family needed something different. It made it really easy to accept it.

It wasn't anything going down in flames. It wasn't my business is over. It was just a natural change. Everything happened exactly as it should have in a nice organic way. We just had to step back for a minute and reassess what our lives needed. There was a little bit of time where business was slow and business was quiet because we needed to adjust to our change.

That was okay, because we made it that way. It goes back to that whole thing with not having a boss and not having a manager looking over our shoulder. We were able to just put the brakes on business and say, let's talk about what's going on in your life and what do you need most. Then we did it and we made those things happen for each of our families the way that we needed it.

Stefanie: Cynthia, were you there watching that whole transition?

Cynthia: Yes, I was.

Stefanie: How did you feel about that? Did you feel like, Ok, I can step in or did you kind of feel as if you were thinking, well, let me just see how it goes? How was that for you?

Cynthia: I kind of got a backseat of them figuring out what they needed. I wasn't there for all of those conversations and so I wasn't super sure on what the next coming months were going to look like, but once they kind of figured it out and then Laura and I got to sit down and talk I felt really confident for me to be able to step up. We're still The House Chicks and there's still two of us and Laura was on board with that and I was on board with that. It's been smooth sailing honestly.

Stefanie: Laura, how did you hold the vision for what you wanted to create during that moment during that time of transition?

Laura: I wasn't sure if on the other side of everything, if there would still be, more than just me. So I just had to remind myself that everything I built and that we all built together would still be there in some way, shape, or form. It wasn't the type of business change that just ruins a brand or you go out of business and you're bankrupt because that's not really the nature of our business in general. So I just had to remind myself when I started, it was just me. So if it ends up in, it's just me again, that'll be fine. People will still relate to me and we will still attract, the right kind of clientele that we want to attract.

That wouldn't change at all. So I just had to remind myself of that.

Stefanie: Do you both have the same idea of your ideal client or do you both differ and see things a little bit differently?

Cynthia: I'd say it's pretty close. We have a lot of families and a lot of investors and I think we like it that way. Those are our ideal clients.

Laura: Yeah. I mean, an ideal client, I don't think fits into really one specific box. It's just somebody that is really receptive to the advice that we have and can implement it.

A frustrating client is somebody who comes to you for advice and then just doesn't listen to anything that you have to offer. But an ideal client is the opposite. They know that they need help and they ask for our help and then they actually listen and do those things. That's what really makes an ideal client and Cynthia and I are on the same page with what we would advise a client.

Cynthia: Yeah.

Laura: So I think it's pretty lined up.

Stefanie: When you're an entrepreneur, it can be a challenge to let things go and delegate. But when you're partners, how did you navigate the letting go and the delegating and trusting that your partner can handle the things that maybe are your weakness or you're not so strong at?

Laura: Cynthia can tell you from her point of view how that went. (laughs)

Cynthia: Well, it was really, really easy for me to trust Laura. She had been in the business a lot longer than I have. So anything she had to say, I was like, yes, and amen to that. (laughs)

So I trusted her a hundred percent with my business. But me joining The House Chicks, we would talk about the things that she wanted to do, her grand fun pictures, and I was really excited, but I quickly realized that Laura held these very close to her. So I think she struggled. Maybe not for long though. I'm not sure, but it was definitely more of a struggle for her.

Laura: Yeah. We can joke about it now because that's exactly how our dynamic is, but we both know that I'm the control freak in this situation, and she just basically had to prove it. I would give her some ideas, and I would also do the ideas. (laughs)

So if she tanks, I was still okay, but she just had to prove it and consistently give a great product. She did that so easily and flawlessly that it was like, okay, get over yourself, Laura. This is a great person to help you and your business will be fine and flourish with her help. Once I did that, I, I don't want to say that it's easy for me to give her things because I still worry about the little details but I've come to know and trust that her vision and her final product of things is going to closely match what I would want it to match. What I would want it to look like.

Stefanie: How has having this business grown you both?

Cynthia: It's grown me in a lot of different ways. It's grown me not even just from business, starting my own business, that perspective, but also just as a mom. Because yeah, we're doing business together all the time but we're also building a relationship of me going to her for advice or calling her, '... my baby's doing this, what do I do? Or do you have something to help me here?'. I've really grown in so many different categories.

Laura: Yeah, I would say the same. It's not just a business relationship. We're literally doing life together. You can't just do that with a random person. Half of our business meetings are in her house while her son is napping.

So you have to be comfortable with people and figuring out the ways that you can adjust from what you might have envisioned your business to look and how can make it work for two people that have life and we have responsibilities and at the same time we still want to run a successful business and just figuring that out together has been really beneficial for both of us I think.

Stefanie: I think the new version of business is a business that is built around your life. How did you get clear about the ways that you needed your business to support you?

Cynthia: I feel it's just always changing. There's just so many different seasons of life and I can go to Laura and say, this is what I'm going through right now and I need our business to just do a little shift for just a little bit until I'm ready to shift back into what we would prefer or whatever.

Laura: Yeah. Same. I think being able to be flexible and switch it is very helpful. Everybody has stuff and everybody has obligations outside of their work, no matter what their job is. Our business doesn't run on autopilot by any means, but there are big parts of it that can and leveraging those in a big way when we need to step back and have a few minutes to do something that's non business related. It keeps our business running kind of from public perception. People are like, okay, they're always working. They're doing a great job and they're consistent. But sometimes we push the autopilot button so that we can step back and do the things that we need to do to keep our life going.

Stefanie: Let's talk about systems and tasks because that can sometimes be something that is the biggest hurdle for business owners. Cause it can be so easy to just kind of go with the flow of it and then it becomes more of a hobby that doesn't actually grow itself into anything.

How did you figure out the systems that it would take? How did you learn how to do that?

Laura: I learned from coaches that are way smarter than me that have been doing it for a really long time and they were happy to share their knowledge and I would listen to things and kind of get the broad strokes and then I would talk to Cynthia about them and she would just dial it in. Her gift is just taking my ideas and making them really streamlined and good.

Stefanie: Did you feel that once you started to let go and trust Cynthia a little bit more, your business started to grow?

Laura: Absolutely. Yeah, a lot of our business can be really mundane and it can feel like you're drowning in paperwork or small follow up tasks and Cynthia was able to automate those or put them into a system. It would take her 10 seconds to do the thing that would take me all afternoon to do before.

She freed up a lot of my bandwidth to do more and bring in more business. She was just completing the cycle and it feels easy for her. I don't know if it is, but the way that she just finishes it. Whereas it would have taken me having to block off two hours this afternoon to do all these little things. She's like, no, they're done. I've got that. That frees up a lot more from me to go out and get new business and that's been huge.

Stefanie: Yeah. I would say that it sounds to me that you've learned how to rely on each other to get things done that would normally bottleneck a business but doing so can allow you to grow and focus on things that are your strength.

Cynthia, let's talk about this. You came into The House Chicks. Was there a moment where you felt unsure and a little shaky and maybe you felt a little bit insecure? What was the moment when you stepped into your confidence and was like, I've got this. I can be that partner.

Cynthia: I was definitely a little unsure because they had been business partners for years. I wanted to be in the middle because I wanted to have a relationship with both of them and one of them was really open and one of them really was not. I'll let you pick which one it was (laughs) But once I got to spend more time with them and once Laura started... I mean, I had no idea that she was also doing the work, so that's really funny. But once she started giving me stuff to do, and then me proving to them... My love language is words of affirmation and so they would send back, '...that looks fabulous, that looks really great, or we love that...' I was like, okay, this is a good fit for me. I do better with a team setting anyway. I lost all nervousness at that point, so pretty early on. It was a very short season.

Stefanie: What has been the biggest challenge that has thrown you the most?

Cynthia: I am fresh to this town and real estate is people. But when you know no people, things are ... you're not really... It's what Laura said, having to trust that what I'm doing is creating business and I might not see it and it's going to take a long time. It was a big challenge coming in and putting a lot of my things onto the other two chicks and relying on them to help me grow in my business. That was tricky. I'd say, yeah, being the newbie, in real estate, in the team, and in the town was a pretty big challenge.

Stefanie: Laura, what was your biggest challenge?

Laura: My biggest challenge was just dealing with the mom stuff. Reminding myself that it's okay to go out and have a job and have fun outside of what your kids are doing. Balancing how much time do you do at work? How much time do you do at home? Are you doing the right ratio? How is this affecting your kids? Hashing that out in your head because a lot of times it's in your head and it's not as severe as you put on yourself. The mom guilt can be really hard to deal with and just getting comfortable with that and sticking to a schedule and going for it was a really big hurdle at the beginning.

Stefanie: Where do you see your business going?

Laura: I think just doing the same things that we're doing now and just reaching more people. I'm speaking for myself, I don't know what Cynthia's big dreams are as far as business goes, but I'm not one of those people that wants to have an empire. I'm not looking to have this gigantic team that's just doing big things and making big moves.

Laura: That's not what I want out of life I want to have a really comfortable business and a really comfortable personal life in a way that any one of those two pieces of my life could overlap and it would be comfortable. For example, we try really hard to attract the type of clientele that is okay with the fact that we have kids and sometimes we bring our kids on showings and that doesn't bother anybody, it's great.

So having a business where your life is also part of your business is really what I would hope for us in the future and any person that we attract that might become a part of our team in the future would have to be that. We're not out to rule the world.

We're not out to be the biggest volume or the best grossing realtor in this area. We want everybody who works with us to have an amazing experience. We want everybody to have fun. We want everybody to come away from the experience. Just thinking, wow, that was amazing. I thought buying and selling real estate was going to be the hardest, most stressful thing that I ever do in my life, but it really wasn't. The House Chicks made it seamless. They made it easy. They made it fun and maybe even surprising in some good ways. That's really what I hope for our business. Our goals, my goals, my personal goals don't have anything to do with dollar signs or how much money we make. It's just about the way that we can live our lives and integrate the important parts of our lives together.

Cynthia: Yeah, I agree with that. I really liked what you said about comfortable. Just being comfortable in our business and it going over into our family life. I feel we have a pretty good swing of it. Just really focusing on that and just having fun the two of us. I don't have a big dream to have a huge team either.

Stefanie: Thank you so much for doing this interview. Let everybody know where they can find you.

Laura: Sure we do most of our marketing on Facebook and Instagram. So you can find us on Facebook @TheHouseChicks and it's the same handle for Instagram. Anybody could email us as well at thehousechicks@gmail.com.