How One Real Estate Networking Event Led To 20+ Speaking Gigs

You RSVPed two weeks ago when you were feeling brave, and now that the event is actually here you are running through every completely reasonable reason you could just skip it. You are tired and the couch is calling. You already know people in this industry. Your pipeline is full and your time is honestly better spent on follow-up. You are not really a networking event kind of person anyway. You will go next month when things slow down.

I sat in that metaphorical parking lot for years.

Somewhere after COVID I had gotten very comfortable with a version of my professional life that looked productive from the outside and felt increasingly small from the inside. I was visible online, busy with client work, building things I was proud of, but I had stopped putting myself in rooms that required me to show up fully. And I had gotten so good at explaining that away that I stopped noticing I was doing it at all.

If you are a female Realtor reading this, I have a feeling you know exactly what I am talking about.

Why Staying Home Is Costing You More Than You Think

Here is what I know as someone who has spent 10+ years working inside the real estate industry as a real estate content and marketing strategist. The game has changed in a way that makes those skipped events more expensive than they have ever been. AI has flooded every digital channel with content that looks real and feels hollow. As a result, trust online is eroding in ways that are measurable and accelerating. The algorithms that used to reward consistent digital presence are increasingly unpredictable and increasingly pay-to-play.

What this means for you as a Realtor is not that digital marketing no longer matters. It means that relationships are starting in person right now and continuing online, not the other way around as they did for the last decade. The agent who is in the room is the agent who gets remembered, referred, and trusted. The agent who is only online is starting every relationship from a deficit.

So the idea that you can network just as effectively from your laptop is not just ironically outdated; it is costing you.

The Year I Decided Do Everything That Scares Me

I’m not sure if you can relate to this or not but when I got married, I went through a bit of an identity crisis while trying to balance my new responsibilities as a wife and business owner. I was overbooked and by 2021 I was completely burned out. Looking back, as I gave myself permission to step back and begin healing; I realize I also started talking myself out of what I am capable of.

Don’t get me wrong; I am a huge advocate for healing and the realities of burnout. However, I don’t think I am alone in this experience. As a result, I began really hiding from client-facing work and things like public speaking which I had been doing for years. Activities I was more than capable of and had done successfully for years suddenly became activities I had to research and plan for and study which only reinforced the false new inner belief that I wasn’t ready. That cycle went on for more than 4 excruciating years.  

At the beginning of 2026 I felt something shift. The part of me that had been quietly retreating for years suddenly felt like it was losing its grip, and there was this rebellious voice in my head insisting that the only thing standing between me and everything I actually wanted was me. 

So I made a snap decision.

This would be the year I consistently did the things that scared me, even knowing I was capable of them. Networking, teaching in-person workshops, public speaking. All of it was on the list. In fact, when I sat down to write my annual business plan and set my goals, my top goal was to get booked for three speaking gigs before the end of the year. Three! And I thought it would take me the entire year to build up to getting booked.  

Then on December 27th, I was working at a content creation clinic for one of my clients (Lynea Carver)  in Seattle and I met Molly Masoner and Laura Hinds from WCR Seattle Metro. They invited me to join them for their next event which was a Vision Jar Workshop that sounded like so much fun and as someone who designs Affirmation Cards and teaches about using an affirmation jar it felt like a natural way for me to limp in to my first networking event. 

What I Actually Found When I Finally Walked In

My first event I walked in braced for the version of professional networking that feels like a performance, where everyone is angling and positioning and you leave with a stack of cards and a vague sense of emptiness. To be honest, that is what I experienced every time I went to a real estate networking event in Florida before moving to Washington. What I found instead was something so different it actually caught me totally off guard.

I was welcomed warmly and immediately. Not in a fake, robotic or, practiced way but in a genuine one. I actually walked in SUPER early and rather than making me feel out of place or uncomfortable, Darcy Hardy walked over, introduced herself, showed genuine excitement when I told her I am a real estate content marketing strategist and then walked me over to the board to introduce me to them. They were all so warm, and Molly and Laura lit up like a Christmas tree when they saw I had shown up form their invitation which also made me feel so much more comfortable.

Throughout the event, I found myself surrounded by women who understood what it actually feels like to run your own business inside the real estate industry while also navigating a marriage and friendships and all of the invisible demands of a full life. I can’t express enough how comforting it felt to be surrounded by women who “get it” and were happy to have a couple of hours to laugh, relate, create, and break bread with one another. 

What stood out to me most throughout the entire event was what I heard while I was eavesdropping on various conversations. It became abundantly clear to me this was not a room of women pretending to network that had zero intention of helping one another grow like I had experienced in Florida. I realized from the conversations and hysterical giggles that these women were REALLY friends and sisters. They have inside jokes, memories, and regular plans to just hang out and be girls outside of real estate or “networking”. 

I want to be clear about something though, because this is the part that matters most. The event was not the point. The event was just the first proof of what the membership actually is…

What Membership Inside WCR Seattle Metro Actually Looks Like

One WCR Seattle Metro event showed me I had been wrong about what was waiting for me in that community. What happened after the event has forever changed my opinion on the true value of attending networking events in a way I never expected. 

While at the event, I was lucky enough to be seated with Dominique (one of two Strategic Partner Chairs on the board). I was already loosely considering joining as a Strategic Partner since female empowerment and sisterhood are the biggest tenants of my business mission and brand and it felt like a natural alignment. However, the more I talked to Dominique the more convinced I became that this was a group I wanted to be apart of…then fate stepped in and my conversations with the board evolved from joining as a strategic partner to stepping into the Membership Director role which I am proud to say I accepted last month (March 2026). 

So don’t get me wrong, the events are fun but membership is where the real shift happened. The ongoing connection, the board relationships I have built since stepping into the Membership Director Chair role, the compounding confidence of showing up consistently inside a community that is genuinely invested in you is what changed things for me. That is what reminded me what I was capable of.

In the three months since I started showing up, I have booked twenty speaking gigs (mostly paid) for lenders sponsoring Lunch & Learn workshops led by me and Brokers looking for training for their teams. Every single one of those gigs and the majority of my leads this year have all come from my WCR membership! Not just because WCR handed them to me, but because being in community with other dynamic and driven women reminded me how to be that version of myself again. That is what membership does when you actually let it.

I want to be clear though that this chapter is not a clique! Otherwise I probably would have left that Vision Jar event and never stayed in touch with the board.  It is not a mean girls group with an invisible velvet rope you cannot find the entrance to. It is a sisterhood where women are invested in each other's growth not because it makes them look good but because they genuinely care about what you are building. You will leave your first event with more than a business card. You will leave knowing there are women in your market who are rooting for you.

You Do Not Need to Feel Ready to Show Up

If you are a female Realtor who has been quietly retreating since COVID, who knows on some level that business is happening in rooms you have stopped walking into, who has been telling yourself that next month you will feel more ready, I want you to hear this from someone who was exactly where you are. The awkwardness you are afraid of is real, and it lasts about four minutes. What comes after it is worth so much more than the comfort of staying home.

You do not need to have your perfect elevator pitch ready. You do not need to walk in knowing anyone. You just need to be willing to walk in. 

Quick Win Action-Takers Challenge: Book a free virtual coffee chat with me to learn how I can help you reach your growth goals this year personally and professionally as the Membership Director of WCR Seattle Metro. 

WCR Seattle Metro Membership Is Open and I Would Love to Tell You More

The right room does not make you someone different; it reminds you of who you already are.

If you have any questions at all about what membership looks like, what to expect at your first event, or whether this is the right fit for where you are right now, reach out to me directly. There are no dumb questions here and no pressure. Just a conversation between two women in real estate who both know what it costs to finally say yes to the room.

The community is warm, the women are real, and there is absolutely a seat here for you.