Join us for a “Shine a Light on Her” conversation with a leader making waves - Katie Lappe, CEO and Founder of DirectOffer. She is a successful entrepreneur and Innovator in Marketing and Lead Generation in the Real Estate and Auction Industry, Storyteller, and Advocate for the under-represented - on so many levels.
Katie is on a mission to create an affordable solution that will help every single agent build their business without having to compromise on putting food on the table. We love this quote from her: “I created DirectOffer to help agents and their clients enjoy a better experience buying and selling property. And we’re just getting started.”
Enjoy soaking in her wisdom and hearing her fascinating leadership (and life) story!
A bit more about Katie:
Katie Lappe is Founder and CEO of DirectOffer, the real estate technology startup dedicated to helping real estate professionals showcase themselves while making the dream of homeownership accessible to everyone. The company’s patent-pending DO AudioTours™ empowers agents to bring a home to life by adding audio in any language to individual listing photos.
Katie is a successful entrepreneur. In 2015, she founded AuctionLook.com, which has grown to become the multiple listing service for residential real estate auctions nationwide.
In 2002, she founded Home Market Magazine, Inc., a publication she sold in 2018 after growing it to become the largest real estate listing publication in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Katie holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Memphis.
We love to hear origin stories… Would you share your leadership story with us?
Katie’s single mom was a RE agent in the Bay area.
Katie went into law and worked with tenant/landlords
Home Market Magazine was started to fill a need in Bowling Green and Katie’s life with young children
After working in law she came home to discover Abby had suffered an allergic reaction and life needed to change.
Through Home Market Magazine she found the needs that AuctionLook filled for Auctioneers, so she started AuctionLook after her kids were older and she had more time.
With her experience with AuctionLook and the tech sector she realized that she could fill a need for Realtors and DirectOffer was born.
During our first chat, you shared your heart for bringing your latest venture to life and it weaves beautifully with this month’s theme of Building and Nurturing Your Community Influence.
I love how you advocate for the under-served and often fully ignored communities - whether that is a new or resource-challenged agent or a person who identifies as neurodivergent. Would you share the moments in your story that have inspired your work?
Abby reading
AudioTours, etc
What advice do you have for those who are thinking about serving a community that is underserved? Where should they start?
Start with knowing your community and what services they need. If you already have that, like most real estate agents do, you already have a good start.
As you look back, tell us about your favorite business lesson. Perhaps it was learned during a risky move that didn’t pay off, a challenging project, or while hiring or firing a team member. How did you address it?
Building a trustworthy team
Early in my career people and companies I have partnered with did not have my or the companies best interest in mind.
You can be friends with people and they can be good friends, but that does not mean they should be in business with them.
Did you ask for help?
Joined the entrepreneur center
Networked with people who have already done this
Asked for help from business partners.
Would you do anything differently now?
Vetting process is higher.
Professional services to checks and balances.
Started building my trusted network sooner
We love the stories of how mentorship impacts careers. What is your most treasured advice from or experience with a mentor?
Bill, my step-father, and Jim, my father are my mentors - both High Profile Businessmen
How to communicate with other humans without it just being through my lens and consider what they are talking about. Because information is important and if you aren’t listening to them, you’re missing the information they are sharing.
Before I ask you for your final words of wisdom… would you please share a few books or podcasts you LOVE and recommend to other leaders in your life?
2 Books
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Set Boundaries Workbook by Nedra Glover Tawwab
2 Podcasts
Brene Brown
About the future of leadership.
Courage is teachable, observable and measurable.
Courage is actually a measure of 4 skill sets
How to we learn how to run bull with vulnerability, how do we lean in instead of tapping out
How do we lean into our values? Actually practice them
How do we talk about trust and build trust with your team, our colleagues and ourselves. Self trust that is non negotiable for leading.
How do we reset after setbacks, failures or disappointments -innovation and crea
All Autism Talk is a great podcast for parents of children, teens and adults Dr. Temple Grandin and Dr. Debra Moore - Navigating Autism
Final words of wisdom
The world is small and when we make our world smaller by not embracing diversity, equality, and inclusion we are not only hurting the world, we are hurting ourselves.
Our lives are richer in business, community, and life when we embrace all people.
Connect with Katie: https://www.facebook.com/directofferapp
We are starting a new segment after our "Shining A Light On Her" Interviews! At the end of the interview, we stop recording and go "off the record" with some fun rapid-fire questions and casual conversation.
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