Cathy Dobson The new owner of Exit Realty Twin Bridges says her success in the local business sector has a lot to do with what she learned from the local volunteer sector.
Cathy Dobson
The new owner of Exit Realty Twin Bridges says her success in the local business sector has a lot to do with what she learned from the local volunteer sector.
“I have a confession to make,” Julie Jenkins told an audience of 125 at a recent Enbridge Famou5 Speaker Series.
“I didn’t really start volunteering to help others … I did it in the beginning to grow my network.”
Volunteering and eventually becoming a community leader by organizing a slew of special events and networking groups wasn’t about altruism, Jenkins said.
“I did it to further my career.”
Regardless of motivation, networking paid off when she became a real estate agent. But she realized collecting a lot of contacts was only half the battle.
Jenkins described her surprise when networking acquaintances sometimes chose other realtors over her, and she wondered why.
“I realized that networking with someone means nothing without a relationship behind it.”
When she and one of her groups called W.I.N. (Women In Networking) became involved in multiple builds for Habitat for Humanity Sarnia-Lambton, she had one of those moments that made her re-evaluate.
Jenkins described an exchange with the recipient of a Habitat home she was helping to build. As she installed window trim and joked with the single mom who would soon move in, she was overwhelmed with the sense she was truly impacting a life.
“The what’s-in-it-for-me had been eclipsed,” she said. “… I no longer had this guilty, nagging feeling that I was doing it to further my career.
“I now know the true value of volunteering. I learned that volunteering can have a substantial impact and make a difference in our community.”
Jenkins’ went on to talk about her husband’s cancer diagnosis in August 2014. He died just five months later, she told the hushed crowd.
She described the grieving process and her decision not to become a victim, but instead to be grateful for 25 years with her soulmate and their two children.
“I chose to be victorious over my grief and open to new opportunities coming my way,” she said.
“I know people questioned my decision to go back to work … there’s always going to be someone to judge you, but we all grieve differently.”
She returned to work and “got out there and smiled.”
Soon after, she was asked to help organize the annual Sarnia Modern Women’s Show, which was held for the second time Oct. 1. She was also approached to buy the real estate company at which she was an agent.
“This was the real deal,” Jenkins said. “I loved my job and would probably have been content to keep working as an agent, but I decided to take the risk.”
In August, at age 48, Jenkins acquired Exit Realty Twin Bridges. She sees it as the outcome of years of networking and volunteering in the community – for all the right reasons, she said.
“True networking is about relationship building … realize the impact your actions can have on someone else’s life.
“Do it today, because you never know when life’s curveball is coming.”
The Enbridge Famou5 Speaker Series in Sarnia-Lambton will feature five keynote speakers in 2017 including Tara Duff Cloes, owner and manager of John Duff Limited; Elizabeth Soltis, director of Bridges Global; Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first woman astronaut; and filmmaker Patricia Rozema.
