We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dante Burl a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dante, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I think there are two aspects of where I got my resilience from! The first is seeing resilience in my mom growing up and throughout my life. Now that I am older, I look back and realize that our lives were never easy, but I would have never really known because of her strength and resilience. She has been successful at everything she has ever done, and has done it as a single mother. As a mom myself now, I know how extremely difficult that must have been and I have so much respect for her resilience and appreciation because it was definitely instilled in me. The second part of it is through my own life. I have been an athlete my whole life and have faced a lot of adversity that I have had to overcome. Being an athlete really conditions you to have resiliency and that has definitely carried over into my life beyond athletics. I think my mindset has always been that I can get through anything and my resilience has helped me overcome life’s obstacles. I’ve also always been in sales and everyone in sales knows that you have to be resilient to succeed! You have to be able to hear no’s, take criticism, etc and bounce back quickly! I always joke, but am actually serious, that everyone should be a server or bartender in their lives because that job builds resilience 100%! haha.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a Realtor® here in Denver CO and one of the Co-Founders of the Ivy Collective team at Compass! I have almost a decade of experience in the real estate industry and absolutely love what I do! I have a design degree and have always had a passion for and been involved with design and translated that into real estate and made a career out of it! I truly believe homeownership is not only an incredible milestone, but a path to generational wealth. I love helping first time homebuyers get into their first home, and then see what that equity can do for them! Whether it’s to purchase their second or dream home, invest in an investment property, pay off debt, travel whatever it may be, it can truly be life changing. I recently have also been helping clients and others with their design needs, and will officially be offering design consultation in the new year! Whether it’s helping my clients buy or sell a home, help them with design needs or both, I love helping people make their real estate and design dreams a reality! I love the quote “Owning a home is the canvas where life’s memories are painted”.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Like I mentioned before I think resiliency is important in any sales job, and that is definitely true in real estate! Each day is different and brings it’s own challenges and that definitely requires the ability to bounce back after those challenges. It’s not always easy, but it gets easier with time! Another quality that has been a huge part of my career and impactful in my journey is empathy. I joke all the time that i’m a part time therapist, but it truly is a huge part of the job. People are making one of the largest purchases of their lives and it can also be one of the most stressful times in their lives ,and it’s important for me to be a safe space and comfort zone for them. Being able to see the process objectively from an outside perspective and empathize with my clients usually creates a very harmonious experience for everyone! Finally, and possibly the most important skill, that I have only recently acquired in the last few years, is optimism and a positive mindset. A few years ago I really started focusing on my mindset as I was feeling really burnt out and had just become a mom, which was a tough transition for me! I found myself in a bit of a rut, which affected my resiliency, empathy and everything that made me a great agent. I really dove into working on my mindset through reading a ton of self help books, listening to manifestation podcasts, THERAPY and practicing gratitude everyday. Your mindset really does dictate your entire day and outlook on everything you do, including work! What you put out you get back, and that includes your thoughts! I could go on for days about the law of attraction and manifestation but I really do believe in it and try to practice a life of optimism!
I think my biggest piece of advice on how to develop these skills or qualities is to know that it all gets easier and better with time. Nothing comes easy in this world and if you just try and be 1% better everyday, thats a win! Work on yourself first, and that will translate over into your business and career. Always come from a place of empathy, objectivity and gratitude and you won’t lose!
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
Although I am still a work in progress, I feel like I have gotten better about setting boundaries when I am feeling overwhelmed. I am a working mom of a 2 year toddler boy, who is ON THE GO! There are days that I truly am not sure how I survive haha, but it has taught me so much about what I can and cannot take on, mentally and physically. For me two things have really helped me: therapy and boundaries. I am a huge proponent of therapy, and really think everyone should do it. Even if you think you dont need it, trust me, having someone that you can talk to about your problems and give you an outside objective viewpoint is invaluable in my opinion. It has helped me in so many ways, and if anything, when I am feeling very overwhelmed, it’s a safe space for me to liberate that feeling! Boundaries are also something that I have started to really focus on and am still working on. Specifically when I start to feel overwhelmed, I will look at my schedule and everything I am doing that day or week and decide what is going to serve ME the best. Because if I dont set those boundaries, and it stresses me out or makes me feel overwhelmed, it affects all aspects of my life, my career, being a wife, a mom etc. It’s so important to take note of what is making us feel overwhelmed and then figure out how we can set a healthy boundary around those things to better ourselves. Sometimes it’s not what you want to do, but in the end, it’s for the best!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.compass.com/agents/dante-burl/?referrer=omnibox
- Instagram: @denverdante
