Staci Neves

I think moving to Texas was a great benefit to my business - it recharged my whole internal aspiration because I was starting from scratch. I came from many years in one state and started completely over from the bottom here, and over seven years, it's just flourished. It's about reminding yourself that you have the confidence in yourself that you can do this. People are people, no matter what state they're in, so it's just about building relationships, being consistent, having good follow-through, and all those things. I'm also a very spiritual person, so I would give all the credit to God, honestly. But I also think that after all these years in the business, the credit is not just me as an individual - I would be no good without a great team. It's the team that you surround yourself with that is absolutely important. I have an amazing team, I'm very blessed to have them, and so together, we can be successful because I know they'll take care of things on the back end, I'm out there on the front end, and we do it. We make it happen.

I've been fortunate to have some really great mentors, and I think the best advice centers around professionalism and being on time. If you're not early, you're late - that's how I was raised. You're respecting people's time when you do that. And then just always being professional, regardless of what setting you're in, whether it be in a casual setting or not. You have to remember that you represent the company as well as yourself. I've always guided my career by trying to always bring it to a level of complete professionalism and value add. I'm big on education and providing things of value to the community that will help them with their business, and then in turn, they'll give me business. But it's always on that higher level - I want to be at that level of professionalism where they see me as a true professional in the business.

It's a fantastic career with so much potential for growth in our business - really, the sky's the limit. I think that if you are willing to work hard, willing to be responsive, and willing to build solid relationships with the community, then the business just comes. You have to network and do all these things and build these relationships. It's not a fit for everybody - it's a lot - but I'm the kind of person that thrives on just being busy and challenges, so it works well for me. I've talked to many women over the years, and I've actually brought people into our industry that were servers at restaurants or just had amazing personalities. That's how I fell into it - I didn't know anything about this industry. I just happened to have a friend who worked for a builder, and the builder said they thought I'd be great, connected me with the company, and next thing you know, I had a job. I didn't really seek it out, it kind of came to me. If you enjoy those types of daily activities where it's busy, fast-paced, but really fun and really rewarding, I think a woman can really go far in this business. Women are honored in the real estate industry - I'm on the title side, but it's our whole industry. I feel like there's a lot of room for growth and career advancement for women, for sure.

The opportunities are there - I'm working on some things right now, and there are lots of opportunities to move into various aspects of this industry. I work typically in residential, but also commercial, building business with builders and developers, and things like that. The opportunities are there, you just have to be consistent and keep going after it. It might take several years to actually get something, which has been the case in many of my accomplishments - it's not something that happens overnight. The challenges are, I think, also the same in that you have to keep being consistent in your prospecting. You have to be in front of people, you need to be marketing yourself and not just the company, but yourself all the time. You have to look for those opportunities, and they're there. I was born with that work ethic, I guess I was just raised up that way, so I'm always looking for things that are going to be more opportunities for me. What could be a challenge to some, maybe it's more of an opportunity for me. Maybe that's the thing - I see it differently.

I would say integrity is most important. I think that if you say something, you need to follow through. I'm big on giving somebody my word - no matter what, even if it means that it may not directly benefit me, but if it's something that's going to be best for the customer, then that's what matters. I feel that's the same in life and in personal life too. If you say something, you really need to follow through. So follow-through and all of that is super important to me. And doing the right thing, even when no one's looking - that applies to both business and life.