One Year In, and We Know We’re Exactly Where We’re Supposed to Be

In just a few days, The Closing Collective will officially celebrate one year with All City Real Estate, and looking at the photos from our latest branding shoot at The Peach Orchard in Spring, Texas, it’s hard not to think about how much can change in one year.

A year ago, the vision for this team was already there. We knew we wanted to build something different in real estate. We wanted a team where women could build businesses of their own while still having real support behind them. We wanted mentorship that actually taught agents how to navigate this business, leadership that wasn’t afraid to have hard conversations, and a culture where women could genuinely celebrate each other instead of constantly feeling like they were competing with each other.

What we needed was the right place to build it.

And that’s exactly what we found at All City Real Estate.

We Had the Vision.

We Needed the Freedom to Build It.

Joining All City didn’t mean being handed someone else’s version of what a real estate team should look like. It was the complete opposite. I was given the freedom to take the vision I had for The Closing Collective and structure it exactly the way I believed our agents needed it to be structured.

That freedom changed everything.

We were able to create different levels of support based on where an agent is in her business. We could build mentorship into the foundation of our team, create leadership opportunities from within, strengthen our systems and give our agents room to grow without expecting every single person to follow the exact same path.

Because they shouldn’t have to.

Some agents need hands-on mentorship. Some are ready for more independence. Some are incredible with buyers but still developing their listing business. Some want to grow into leadership. Some are building a business while raising families, working another job or navigating a completely new season of life.

There is no one-size-fits-all version of success here, and All City gave us the ability to build a team that recognizes that.

The Right Room Changes Everything.

The freedom to structure our team was only the beginning.

Over this first year, All City Real Estate has given us access to tools, resources, relationships, connections and opportunities that have opened doors we simply could not have opened on our own.

We have been introduced to people who have become part of our business. We’ve been invited into rooms that have created new opportunities. We’ve been given the support to keep taking ideas that once felt huge and actually make them happen.

And if you know anything about The Closing Collective, you know we have a lot of ideas.

What has happened since making that move has been bigger than simply growing the number of agents on our roster. Yes, our team has grown, and we are incredibly proud of that.

But what matters more is how we have grown.

Growth Looks Like More Than Numbers Around Here.

We have watched newer agents get their first clients into homes. We have watched agents take listings they once would have been nervous to handle. We have watched women become mentors, step into leadership roles, expand into new markets and start believing a little bigger about what their businesses could become.

We’ve also created a culture where asking for help isn’t something to be embarrassed about.

Our agents review contracts together. They ask questions. They share vendors. They show up for each other’s open houses. They create content together. They send referrals to each other.

They talk through the deals that get complicated, and they celebrate the ones that finally make it to the closing table.

That’s growth.

Not just adding names to a roster, but watching the women behind those names become stronger agents and more confident business owners.

We’ll Cheer for You. And We’ll Tell You the Truth.

Supporting each other doesn’t mean blindly agreeing with each other.

Sometimes support looks like celebrating a closing.

Sometimes it looks like answering the phone when a deal is falling apart. And sometimes it looks like telling someone something she may not necessarily want to hear.

We believe there is a huge difference between surrounding yourself with people who always agree with you and surrounding yourself with people who actually want you to grow.

The women on this team can cheer for each other while still holding each other accountable. We can have hard conversations and still sit at the same table afterward. We can tell the truth, learn from it and move forward.

That is the kind of environment we wanted to create from the beginning.

One Year Later, We Know We’re in the Right Place.

One year into our relationship with All City Real Estate, we know without a doubt that we could not have built this version of our team anywhere else.

They didn’t ask us to become something different to fit into their brokerage. They gave us the power to become more of who we already knew we wanted to be.

They trusted the vision. They gave us the tools. They made the connections. They opened doors.

And then they gave us the room to run with it.

So we did.

A Note From Our Team Lead, Sara Englishbee

When I look at these photos, I see more than a branding shoot. I see a vision that I refused to water down and a group of women who trusted me enough to help build it.

I’ve never wanted The Closing Collective to grow just so we could say we’re bigger. I want us to be the team people look at and wonder, “What the hell are they doing over there?”

We’re building businesses, creating opportunities, developing leaders, having the hard conversations and putting our agents in rooms they weren’t in before.

All City Real Estate gave me something incredibly valuable: the freedom to lead.

They trusted the vision, gave us the tools and connections to make it bigger, and then gave me the room to build this team exactly how I envisioned it.

And apparently, giving me that kind of freedom was a little dangerous.

Because the vision is a whole lot bigger now.

I know where I’m taking this team. I know what these women are capable of. And after seeing what we’ve built in just one year, I know we haven't even scratched the surface.

So to the women who trusted the vision, showed up, worked their asses off, supported each other and decided there was room for all of us to win:

Keep going. We have a lot more to do.

And to everyone else?

You might want to keep watching.