In this episode of the Mobile Alabama Business Podcast we talk to Blair Ladd. Blair is a successful realtor with Keller Williams Realty in Mobile, Alabama. Blair shares her motivations, the importance of maintaining priorities, and how Keller Williams' supportive environment helped boost her confidence. Blair talks about the realities of working in real estate, the necessity of dual-income households, and the joy she finds in her career, offering valuable insights and advice for aspiring business owners.

Transcript:

Blair: I am Blair Ladd. I am a multimillion-dollar producer with Keller Williams Realty here in Mobile, Alabama.

Marcus: Yay. Well, welcome to the podcast, Blair.

Blair: Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me.

Marcus: Oh, of course. Well, full disclosure, you're my neighbor. And, as a general rule, we don't do episodes with Realtors, financial services people. Or you know, there are a couple of other businesses that, there are just so many people there are that do it and it's just like, well how do you decide? Yeah. Because, you know, but when, you know, we were setting up the, schedule for today, you know, you contact and I was like, yeah, of course.

Like I would love to, love to showcase you on the podcast. So thank you. But to get started, because people probably aren't real familiar with you, like, tell us a little bit about yourself. I know where you're from, but tell, tell us where you're from. Where'd you go to high school, college. Did you go, did you graduate?

What'd you study? Are you married? I know the answer.

Blair: Just

Marcus: give us some backstory about that. Sure, sure.

Blair: Okay, so I'm originally from mobile, born and raised. I started out at St. Ignatius Catholic School. Went to UMS. For two years and then transferred over to St. Paul's where I graduated. Cool. Then went on to the University of Alabama where I have a Bachelor's of science.

Graduated with honors, studied. Essentially marketing restaurant hospitality was something I thought I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to plan events and essentially I wanted to work for a city managing like citywide events and obviously mobile with Marshal Bay fast or something along those lines.

And all of these events and fun things that we have, that was. An idea, but my senior year, I was actually headed to Atlanta when I was set up on a blind date, fell in love.

Marcus: Mm-hmm.

Blair: Told my future roommate, I said, you know, it's probably just gonna last three months. It's gonna fizzle out. They always do.

And now we've been married. 14 years

Marcus: mm-hmm.

Blair: With three kids. So, you know, you go

Marcus: Gillard, I

Blair: told him I didn't want a boyfriend. He said that was fine. And then that And then

Marcus: you got married. He

Blair: got married.

Marcus: I mean, it's, he's a problem solver. You know? He didn't give you a boyfriend, he gave you a husband. So he did.

He did.

Blair: And gave us a whole life and everything. No,

Marcus: that's really cool. And so Gillard's a lawyer. He actually, he's now, well, he's now got a new position.

Blair: He does. We're not gonna talk about that. Yeah, that's fine. Okay.

Marcus: So you've got a couple of kids.

Blair: Yes.

Marcus: you know, and so did you, I mean, would you, obviously you graduated with honors, so you're one of those smart people that does well in school.

Blair: I, I. Would not say I'm a straight A student, never was. there's way too many distractions, but I am someone who I've always felt like a's and B's were very important. Yeah. And, your studies are important. You work hard, you play harder. That's kind of my little motto. Yeah,

Marcus: no, I get it. And so how did you find.

Yourself in real estate?

Blair: Well, when we first got married, I started working at Mobile Baykeeper and realized very quickly that was just not a good fit for me. moved into sales and that was fun, but I didn't really like doing sales from behind a desk. And then we got married and, the economy crashed

Marcus: 2008.

Blair: We, I think we got married in 2009. Okay. I feel bad saying that. I think we did, we got married in 2009. No, that's okay. Yeah. so I was actually working in sales at a hotel, and the hotel just wasn't really doing well. I mean, everything dried up. So I was devastated, lost my job right before the wedding. Um.

Moved over to what I thought would just be a quick little temporary thing with, working at the vet's office. Was there a year? Loved it. But I'm allergic to all the animals, which I know is I know, I know. I mean, you

Marcus: know, you have like,

Blair: I know every

Marcus: animal.

Blair: I don't have a cow. Gillard's not gonna let me get a cow.

Marcus: Uh, your neighbors won't let you either. Cows come on. How much fun would it

Blair: be to have a mini cow walking around?

Marcus: I mean, the kids would love it, but you know, let's not go that route. The city probably has some sort of ordinance against, I know livestock. I know they're,

Blair: they're not cool with it, but cattle is a, maybe one day they'll

Marcus: maybe a mini pony.

Blair: Oh, that would be fun.

Marcus: I mean, that would be a little shuttling pony just running around. I'm

Blair: totally,

Marcus: you'd never have to mow the grass. That's true. Yeah,

Blair: that's true. We'll share.

Marcus: Okay, so

Blair: this is where that a DD comes in. I totally have this vision. Mm-hmm. That I want to be like horse and carriage, kinda like the ice cream man.

Okay. But I wanna serve margaritas and like wine, so like for happy hour so I can follow the ice cream guy and like he's going down little neighborhoods. Here I am with my horse and cart and I'm surfing wine to all the moms. A lot. Their kids are eating ice cream and getting their sugar out. Now why

Marcus: is there not a horse-drawn carriage ride downtown mobile?

Blair: I don't know. That's a good idea.

Marcus: I, this is an, an aside but, uh, Brooks' podcast. Mm-hmm. Uh, Brooks Conel was on a couple weeks ago and his podcast is gonna be released ne next week. Mm-hmm. And he's invited me to be on his podcast. And the thing that we are gonna discuss, which may be out. By now, if you're listening to this is, uh, things that, you know, we would like to see mm-hmm.

Come to mobile. Mm-hmm. And so that just came to me. It was just kind of like, Hey, why isn't there a horse drawn carrier? Because this, that would be really fun. There's gotta be somebody in this area that has all that stuff.

Blair: Oh, yeah. You

Marcus: know, that could make that happen. Mm-hmm. You know, I mean, I wonder if there's some issue with the city and, and having, but then we have police, uh, horses downtown.

Mm-hmm. So I wouldn't think that they would, anyway, completely aside, Hey, squirrel is what this. Excuse us. we're having a conversation over here. well,

Blair: so after, after working at the vet's office, and realizing that I. For my own health, I needed to do something else. There was an opening for essentially, marketing and uh, just kind of a everything secretary at a local real estate firm where I decided, I was like, well, this is something that's always interested me.

I'm the type that I started receiving Architectural Digest magazines from my grandmother when I was 18. Loved it. It's something that's always fascinated me. I just. I love everything about it, and so I thought this was a good way to get my foot in the door, see if this is something I really wanted to do.

Yeah, so we did that, did that for a couple years, had my first baby, and three out of three. Daycare nanny options fell through. Ooh. So I was about six weeks postpartum. Had to figure out what I was gonna do, decided to take some time off. we realized that we would be okay for a little bit if I took time off and just spent that time raising my child.

Um. Which is what I did. And yeah, so took a few years off and then as I like to say, in between pregnancies, got my real estate license. Yeah. 10 days later on our, I wanna say our 10 year anniversary found out that we were unexpectedly expecting number three. So I spent the first year of real estate. Um.

Showing houses, trying not to grow up on people for the first couple months. And I'm just trying to figure out what I was gonna do. Uh, somebody encouraged me to put my license into referral, which is something I didn't wanna do. Mm-hmm. I had people saying, there's no way you can have three children and be a realtor and be successful.

What are you gonna do? All these things. Who's

Marcus: laughing now?

Blair: Uh, well, I'm,

Marcus: yeah. Funny, funny story, just as an aside. Yeah. When we had Ethan, which is mm-hmm. My third, um. I still get comments from people that were, that knew me from the chamber back then. Mm-hmm. Because I would cart him around in his bucket, you know, uh, myself and Christie, Kelly and, uh, a few other people started the Young Professionals Group on the Eastern shore.

Mm-hmm. And I distinctly remember going to meetings and like just setting him on the table and just being like, Hey, it is what it is. You know, like, so I completely understand.

Blair: Yeah. I feel like it's kind of been a turn. I think that some of the. more experienced

Marcus: mm-hmm.

Blair: People in the world a little bit older.

Marcus: Yeah.

Blair: you know, children were seen and not heard. Yeah. And if you were bringing your child out in public as a professional, it was just. Absolutely frowned upon, but at the end of the day, you're a working parent, you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

Marcus: Well, and so, uh, this is, so this would be right around 2016 or so, that

Blair: 2019 is when I got my license.

Okay. And 2020 is when Little Ard Yeah, I was

Marcus: gonna say, you know, because, well.

Blair: And in February of 2020 is when he was born. And, the children went to school for four days after that and the world shut down. Oh my gosh. That's right. And real estate took off. And so

Marcus: you've been having to juggle that as well.

Blair: Yeah. So I was, helping, you know, my middle was. About two, and she wanted to potty train herself, and we didn't have a fenced in yard at the time, and so she's running outside. taking off. I I'm not even able to drive yet. Yeah, because I'm recovering from a c-section. Real estate certainly didn't slow down.

Right. And then I'm also trying to teach my oldest first grade stuff. And so it, it was insane. Yeah, insane. And then thankfully my husband, I, I called him and I said, there is no way that. Everyone's going to survive much longer. I can't physically keep up. Yeah. And he thought that I, I meant like, oh, they're driving me crazy.

I was like, no, I, I can't even drive yet. I need you to start working from the house. Yeah. And so we would work, we'd be sitting there at the dining room table, and if one of us had to take a call, the other one took the kids. And we were just both doing our paperwork. If I had to show houses, and I was still nursing the baby too, so I could only be away for about two hours because he wouldn't take a bottle.

He wouldn't take a pacifier. Yeah. He only wanted mom. Um. If the other mother's out, they will get that. Yeah. So, but no,

Marcus: I get it. Yeah. Yeah.

Blair: You, you've gotta do what you gotta do. And we made it work. And

Marcus: it's interesting to me because you talked about how the, the thought process of the, of previous generation was like, Hey, not, you know, not, not seen, not heard, you know, when it comes to kids and, we don't mean anything by that other than just, that's just the way things have been for a long time.

Mm-hmm. And I remember having conversations with a buddy of mine, his name's Matt Jones, and we were talking about the. Changing of the, the work environment. Yeah. And that there was gonna be a, a freelancer, solopreneur, you know, economy where people were gonna be making decisions about their lives based on what works into their lives rather than.

What everybody else deemed was acceptable. Right. Does that make sense? Yes. And so it's, you know, like even my own, you know, I mean like starting Blue Fish, I was working, you know, on the couch for a number of years. Mm-hmm. You know, with either a kid next to me or you know, some other stuff going on. Mm-hmm.

Or I was in a coffee shop or whatever, you know, now we've got, you know, the, this building, which certainly makes things a lot easier as far as being able to focus and stuff. But like, man, you just have to do sometimes what you have to do.

Blair: Exactly right. Exactly. And

Marcus: so just sticking with it and you know, it, it is a struggle, but like, you figure it out.

'cause I mean, you don't have a choice. That's just the way Yeah. That's just the way things are now.

Blair: Don't, right. And, and the way that the economy has, has gotten, you have to essentially have two working parents. Yeah. And so how are you gonna balance that, especially if the schools are shut down.

Marcus: Yeah. which they seem to do a lot.

Blair: Yeah. And so I, I also realized that if I was gonna be working with someone that was gonna have a problem with. With me being a mother. Yeah. And sometimes she's not, the kids have to come along then, you know, maybe I was not a good fit for them with, with business. Yeah. And that was okay because I, this is real estate is something that is so personal.

Um. You are helping people make one of the biggest decisions of their lives, if it, even if it's just an investment.

Marcus: Mm-hmm.

Blair: This is a really big deal. These are big purchases, and so your relationship doesn't stop when you close on something you. You want to continue that relationship because this is, you get to know somebody.

Yeah. And you become friends with them and they, well, you

Marcus: have to know their likes and dislikes in order to make good suggestions as far as homes go.

Blair: Yes.

Marcus: Yeah. Yes. So I mean, you Yeah, you definitely, I get it. I mean, and

Blair: sometimes selling or, or buying you also more the more you learn about someone's story.

The more you're like, are you sure this is what you really want to do? Yeah. Or are you doing this for someone else? Yeah. And so there have been times where we just call everything off and everything like that, and I've had some really great friendships come from the career that on. It's been really amazing

Marcus: being flexible and allowing them that ability.

Blair: Right.

Marcus: Because a lot of realtors would, you know, like,

Blair: yeah, it's not just another commission. Like, yes, this is how I make a living, but. My needs, and they should always be second to my client. Yeah. And that should be the way that it's practiced. Yeah. Unfortunately, there are some bad actors, but any field that you go into, you're gonna have people that are not focused on their clients.

Right. And the needs of that. And so I think that is something that's sad, but it's a reality. Um. Yeah. But you, you can't do that. You're not gonna be successful and you're not gonna be happy.

Marcus: Don't go chasing commissions, build relationships. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Exactly. So, what was your first job? And I'm talking about, you know, flipping burgers.

You know,

Blair: my very first job, Ooh. My first job was making jewelry for a local jewelry designer. Okay. And she, had her jewelry featured in Neiman Marcus Oh, wow. And things like that. So it was, it was. It was nice, but just stringing beads. That was my first job turned into babysitting. so what, oh, I lie.

My first job, what it was cat sitting. Oh gosh. For the neighbor, I was about 10 years old and I would go down and feed the cats and let 'em out and make sure they were safe and sound

Marcus: Well, what do you, so the back and the follow up to that question then is what are some of the lessons that you still remember from either one of those, from those jobs?

Yeah, because I think oftentimes we forget, we get so far away from that, that we forget that, you know, the lessons about what it means to be part of the workforce. Mm-hmm. How to look a customer in the eyes, how to shake a hand, how to address somebody, you know, all that stuff. They start very early. Mm-hmm.

Like, you know what I mean? I, I remember my first job working at a bagel bakery and learning how to mop a floor. You know what I mean? You'd think you'd know how to mop a floor at, I guess I was 15 or so years old. Mm-hmm. But yeah, no, I mean, like this guy was like former Navy, like he knew how to mop a floor.

Right. And in a bakery, you know, it's kind of important, but so Right. What lessons Yes.

Blair: In, in the food service industry. You know, my brother owns two restaurants. Yeah. And, and restaurant and hospitality management. You learn all the ins and outs and the food. I mean, yeah. It's, there is a proper, important way too clean.

Marcus: Yeah.

Blair: so one of the major things that I've learned with different jobs and everything like that is that if you enjoy what you do. You're gonna be good at it. Yeah. And you're going to, you're going to show up. the lessons I learned as a child are you make as much money as you put in the work. So you have to work for it.

Marcus: Extremely valuable lesson to learn at an early age.

Blair: Yeah.

Marcus: Especially for somebody that's going, you know, now gone into something where definitely the amount of time and energy and focus that you put into something is gonna, you know, reap you, you know?

Blair: Right.

Marcus: Good rewards. So. do you remember your first deal in real estate?

Blair: I do.

Marcus: So what, what was it about that, you know, that moment or, so I'm, I often times find that when somebody steps into a new space mm-hmm. That, you know, they're kind of, there's some uncertainty about it. Yeah. But then there's something that clicks and it's like, okay, this is something that I can do. Do you remember what it was about real estate that made you think, I can definitely do this?

Blair: I don't think that that essentially happened until I switched companies. Mm-hmm. I think that I lacked that confidence. Mm-hmm. I knew it was something I wanted to do and I thought I could be really good at it. I don't think, my first couple of deals, the, the first couple of houses, I felt better and I was feeling more confident.

Marcus: Yeah.

Blair: But. Once I changed over to Keller Williams, I feel like that confidence really took off. Okay. I, I struggled. It was really hard to get going, and there were times I, I would look at the numbers and I would say, okay, am I spending more money than I'm making and try and make sure this was the right thing.

I knew this is what I wanted to do, and it is something that I absolutely love doing. Um. But I think that confidence come, came along. What was

Marcus: it about Keller Williams that helped you with that then? And here's why I'm asking because like people outside of the real estate industry mm-hmm. And I, I know you well enough, you're not, I mean, you're, when you say these things, you're not bashing any company.

No. Because there's, I think people need to understand, like each company, just like every, uh, marketing agency or advertising issues, right? There's gonna be different fed. They have a personality.

Blair: Does

Marcus: that personality jive with you as a business owner? Because if you don't jive with me, then why are you working with Blue Fish?

Blair: Yeah, exactly.

Marcus: so I mean, like the same thing, like, you know, whether it's, you know, uh, uh, you know, Keller Williams or you know, all, any of the others, and I'm, I'm blanking. I should know 'em all.

Blair: Well, don't wanna, '

Marcus: cause I've been so involved in the real estate. Don't. Yeah, we don't wanna. Yeah, say,

Blair: I mean, 'cause it might be misconstrued as being, as talking bad about somebody else or anything, which I loved where I was.

Yeah. And I have tons of friends there still. It's a great company. when I went over to Keller Williams, I just felt like I had the support and the encouragement, from my team leaders,

Marcus: right.

Blair: And. Their theme is God, family work in that order, and that is the priorities. And I realized going over there that if I didn't have those priorities and I didn't have them in that order, I was gonna feel overwhelmed.

I was not happy in what I was doing. I felt like it was. So stressful and everything like that, but once I really retooled and said, as long as I'm keeping God first, and then my family is my priority, and then work comes after that. Mm-hmm. That is when I started feeling more confident, just really finding that joy and everything that came with it and my success really started just.

Marcus: Yeah. From the hair took off.

Blair: Yes.

Marcus: And I, you don't have to say anything after this other than having been with someone for, you know, uh, my ex was a realtor and we were together. She's still a realtor. and quite good at it. Yeah. you know, just because we're together, it doesn't take anything away from her accomplishments in that.

but you know, she was a realtor for, uh, for 15 years or so of our marriage. Mm-hmm. And so I'm very, you know, I'm very in tuned with the real estate business, but I'm not saying anything about her, but just in general, I've seen people just lose themselves. Yes. Because it's a after work, weekends. Type of thing.

It's a 24

Blair: 7, but then

Marcus: people don't realize like all the research and all the paperwork and all the other things that have to be done during normal business hours. Yeah. So it's really easy to lose your soul to the, you know, to the job. Mm-hmm. And I could say that about any position, but for whatever reason, real estate seems to be, it's, it's super easy to do that.

So having people that are gonna keep you focused on know. Yeah. Don't do that. It needs to be in this order. So if your family is, and

Blair: encouraging and supporting that on a regular basis

Marcus: and not giving you a sideways look like when you say you have to be home because your kid's sick or something like that.

Like, no, imagine that.

Blair: I know, you know that my kids never

Marcus: get sick. Yeah. Yeah. I know you have to quarantine, uh, the, the two different families. 'cause you know, they always wanna play together, but can't always do that, so I know. Well, if you were talking to someone who wanted to, uh, get started in running their own business, what's the one bit of wisdom that you impart to them?

Blair: Keep your priorities.

Marcus: Okay. Keep

Blair: your priorities and that'll help you keep your joy.

Marcus: Yeah. Yeah. Very good. And what motivates you to work hard on your business? I know the answer to this one too. The glory.

Blair: It's absolutely the glory, obviously the The family. Yeah, my family. I want to be able to give them things that I had.

And again, you know, you need two incomes these days. Yeah. In order to. I mean, one, just even make it, but also I do have hopes and dreams and I'd love to be able to one day. Get a horse. Yeah. That'd be cool. Yeah. but even bigger than that, a baby horse. A baby horse, sorry. But even, you know, our, what we pray is God give us enough work so that we can, we can pay our bills, we can send our kids to have a Catholic education.

Marcus: Mm-hmm.

Blair: and have enough to be able to give back and make a difference for other people.

Marcus: Yeah. So that's, well, I, I know you guys well enough to know that you are doing all of those things. I also think it's really good. You know, you have two daughters and that you're mirroring a good, healthy, you know, avenue for them because it's not always the case.

Blair: No. You

Marcus: know, for them to, you know, go and a lot do so, and a lot of times down

Blair: south too, I mean it's, there's still a lot of the woman's places in the kitchen, in the house. And so there is still, I'm not making any, any sort of qualms about the fact that I do most of the housework and everything like that.

Um. But there is, there is balance, and I'm very lucky that my husband is willing to pitch in and he does help out and everything like that. But it's good for the girls to see that you can. Have a career and that you can also be

Marcus: a loving mother. Yeah, I'm

Blair: mostly loving, you know,

Marcus: they do drive me crazy, but, well, you know, I know.

I'm just,

Blair: of course, I mean, we're, we're in normal family.

Marcus: Listen, if you are not friends with Blair on Facebook, then you are missing out on the historical or the chronic, the Chronicles lab Chronicles. I mean, the stories that this woman tells are, are pretty funny. I don't know how you make it through a day with the, the, the little, uh, you know, tornadoes that are your kids.

They're my

Blair: everyday life. Yeah. I mean, but I think that it's not anything that's unique to anybody else, it's just that I'm willing to put it out there. Yeah,

Marcus: 100%. Because

Blair: you, I think social media can. People only wanna portray like the, the shiny happy things. That's such BS things. Yeah. It's like, no, that's not real life.

You love cliche. Yeah. Because that's how you feel bad about yourself. You see all these negative things that, or all these positive things and you're like. Well, I just picked up a pile of frozen dog poop Beer handed.

Marcus: Yes. When you posted that, I was like,

Blair: thinking it was wood to throw, sister.

Marcus: I've been there, you know, I mean, that

Blair: was a good day.

Marcus: Yeah, it's, it is pretty funny. So, are there any books or podcasts, people or organizations that have been helpful in moving you forward?

Blair: Well, you have been inspiring.

Marcus: Oh, come on now.

Blair: I'm not even lying. you. You, you do inspire. She's just

Marcus: saying this for the cameras, but no, I mean, no, you, you and

Blair: Chrissy are really awesome and y'all have a great work ethic and, it's, it's helped me to have conversations, business conversations with y'all and, helping just think about.

My, my career as a business and how do you, you know, just marketing and things like that. So it's been really helpful being able to bounce things back and forth off of y'all.

Marcus: well, I appreciate that. Yeah. No, I mean, it's, I just, you know, I, I think one of the things that I've always tried to do is whenever it, it, uh, comes to business, I've tried to make myself approachable 'cause I don't know shit about what I'm doing.

Okay. And so, you know, like I literally had a laptop and I was like, well, I'll just, I'll start a business, you know? And then here we are. And so I know the difficulties of I. What it means to be a, mm-hmm. A small business owner. And so there's never been a question where I've been like, well, God, that was stupid or anything because I recognize, like, you know, there's a passage in the Bible where he talks about, you know, a lamp onto your feet, that you only have as much light as what you need at this moment to deal with the things that you're dealing with, but that you have to trust in God and that you have to keep take taking those steps and that he will continue.

To shine the light in your path so that you can see those other things. Mm-hmm. Business is very much like that as well. I only have the knowledge that I need to deal with the things that I'm dealing with right now, but that, you know, if I keep taking steps forward, I'm hopeful that I'm gonna. Learn those lessons.

I learned some really hard lessons in the last couple of years that I don't ever wanna learn again. But you know, like you, you have to kind of keep moving forward. And I think sometimes people get to a certain point and they, they think, you know, okay, well I've already learned all. And it's like, no, man.

Like there's always something

Blair: to learn. Yeah.

Marcus: There's always something to learn. And if you can shortcut that for other people, which is the whole purpose why we do this.

Blair: Mm-hmm.

Marcus: I'm spending my money so that people can hear what you have to say.

Blair: Yes.

Marcus: Right. Yes. Because I want to help the other business owners.

And one of the things that I loved about moving to Mobile, 'cause you know, I mean I've been here for almost 20 years now, but one of the things that I loved about moving to mobile was there are so many people that just say, you know what? I got an idea. I'm gonna go and do this thing. I. And you know, if you talk to the chamber, they talk about, you know, I think 30,000 small businesses in Mobile mm-hmm.

Is the number, if I remember correctly. And so I just, you know, with that many people here owning businesses or running businesses, like there's gotta be somebody out there that's gonna listen to what you have to say and be like, oh my gosh, that. Encouraged me or touched me or, you know, whatever. And then, you know, they, they've learned something that helps them.

Mm-hmm. And that's the whole reason why we, why we do this. So, but thank you for saying that. But it really, were there any books? But now No, no, no. I, but you've said like the Keller Williams organization. Yeah. You know, I mean, I'm sure that, uh, you know, there, there have been some other folks that have been, you know, helpful in kind of Yes.

You know, progressing that. So

Blair: I did have, so my mother's also a realtor and she did encourage me to get my license. I, okay. I do remember that.

Marcus: Yeah.

Blair: That was one actually, she and I had land that y'all bought listed together. Yeah. We were co-listing that one. Mm-hmm. but she's, she's always been an inspiration.

You talked about having, my two girls and so I've been able to watch my mother work and, uh. Now standing on her own two feet. Yeah. And so she's always, always held a job, always done. Something and then she got her license when I think I was graduating college. so just always seeing her work was always an inspiration and knowing that you just never know what the future holds.

Yeah. her dad walked out of their family when she was six weeks old. Her mom didn't have a job, so she went back, got her, um. Her, I guess, teaching certificate. Mm-hmm. Then her master's went back, started teaching math and which

Marcus: saying a lot, because you're talking about it in a time when that wasn't mm-hmm.

You know, that wasn't a normal thing, so mm-hmm. Fifties

Blair: and sixties. And so she went and supported her family, her two kids, while my biological grandfather ran off to California and started a new family. So that's, you know, that's one thing that you always keep in mind, even. You just never know. And then of course, what happened with my dad and he just,

Marcus: yeah.

Blair: Dropped. So,

Marcus: yeah.

Blair: and thank goodness we, you know, we've, we've got a career and she's got a career and she's. Kept her head up and kept,

Marcus: I imagine it's been very helpful for her getting, you know, getting through all that and having something to kind of like

Blair: Yeah.

Marcus: Spend her time on and, you know, and stuff like that.

So,

Blair: yes, and, and keeping her faith strong and everything like that. Yeah. So that's been, she's a very big inspiration to me.

Marcus: That's awesome. Hey, there's your answer. Okay.

Blair: That's true. I'll

Marcus: accept that one. Can we edit out the other? No, no, no.

Blair: I'm, there

Marcus: is no editing of this, if you dunno that there's no, there's no editing of this.

Blair: Okay. It's, this

Marcus: is like meant to be a conversation and so, you know, we don't, we all the and all the, so all the

Blair: awkwardness is gonna stay. Oh yeah. Pick it up. Pick it. Okay, cool. That's the only

Marcus: reason why we invited you on was to make me feel awkward. Alright, so we've got some, uh, actually, how do you like to unwind?

Blair: Uh, I think you know this answer, but I'll tell everybody. Sure. I love to get a glass of wine and hang out with my chickens.

Marcus: Yeah, it's the best. And pick up some frozen poop.

Blair: That's that. Yeah. Yeah.

Marcus: It's just a bonus.

Blair: Yeah, it's just that bonus.

Marcus: alright, so I've got 12 rapid fire questions, so don't, this is a, like, don't think, just answer.

Sit here and think, just answer the question and you know, like, so. Alright. What's your favorite type of music?

Blair: That's really hard to answer. My dad was a musician, so I like everything.

Marcus: Oh gosh.

Blair: Sorry. Sorry. but now

Marcus: if you got in the car right now, what's on your, uh, what's on your radio?

Blair: Christian Rock.

Marcus: Okay. What is your favorite type of food?

Blair: Ooh, steak. Yeah, a grilled steak. I.

Marcus: Is that what I smell on

Blair: Friday night, state night, date night? Ah,

Marcus: yeah.

Blair: Keeps the romance alive. Whew.

Marcus: Smells good too.

Blair: Come over.

Marcus: Yeah. I'm sure Gillard would be real appreciative of us, like crashing on his, uh, date night. favorite restaurant in lower Alabama.

Blair: Mm, in lower Alabama. Oh, you can't beat Felix's. It's my favorite.

Marcus: Okay. Favorite city outside of mobile. Oh,

Blair: that would be everywhere. On 30 a Destin. Everywhere over there. Yeah. Seaside, beautiful.

Marcus: Rose Mar, city you want to travel to, but have yet to visit

Blair: anywhere in Scotland and I'd love to visit London.

Marcus: Do you have ties to Scotland?

Blair: Goard loves Scotland and apparently there's some Scottish I was gonna say because

Marcus: what is the lineage of Lad or because Gillard is, if it's not Scottish or Irish or something, he.

Blair: Uh, French and British. We have never done that ancestry thing. Okay. So I don't, I don't know.

Marcus: I would've thought, yeah,

Blair: no, I would rather not there, man. These are

Marcus: not rapid fire.

Blair: Sorry. Okay. No,

Marcus: it's, that's my fault. Alright. So you said, uh, you, you gave the answer of, uh, London or mm-hmm. Or, uh, Scotland. So what comes to mind when I say guilty? Pleasure?

Blair: My mind.

Marcus: Okay. Dogs, cats are none of the above. All of the above.

All of the above. The above. I was gonna say, I should say that. All of the above. All of

Blair: the above.

Marcus: Summer or winter?

Blair: Summer.

Marcus: Favorite movie or TV show?

Blair: Ooh, this is gonna be bad. zombie land.

Marcus: Really?

Blair: That's so great. Gosh.

Marcus: Never. Okay. Favorite holiday?

Blair: Christmas.

Marcus: Favorite color?

Blair: Hmm. Teal.

Marcus: Favorite cereal?

Blair: I'm lactose intolerant.

Marcus: What? Yeah. Doesn't mean you can't enjoy cereal. Uh,

Blair: come on. Okay. All right. Puffs. The like little,

Marcus: the, the,

Blair: the things that you like the little Yeah.

Marcus: Yeah. The water in the yellow

Blair: box.

Marcus: Yeah. Pops, uh, corn pops.

Blair: Yep.

Marcus: What are you most thank What? And this is, that ends rapid fire. What are you the most, what are you most thankful for?

Blair: That I can freely worship my god.

Marcus: Very cool. Um. Well, I guess tell people where they can find you.

Blair: well you can email me at blair lad@kw.com or shoot me a text or a phone call (251) 379-4552.

Marcus: Awesome. Well, I wanna thank you again for coming on the podcast. Wrap up. Any final thoughts or comments? Thank you

Blair: so much for having me.

Marcus: Absolutely. I appreciate it. This is fun. Yeah. This has been a pleasure. So I, Blair, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and be barraged with questions and all kinds of weirdness, but mostly just sharing your journey as a business owner and entrepreneur. It's been great talking with you.

Blair: Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it.