We recently connected with Torry Maxwell and have shared our conversation below.
Torry, 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 could truly speak on so many of the topics presented, however this is the one I was lead too. My resilience comes from God, my great-grandfather, and my commitment to journaling for continued self-awareness and reflection. When you know and understand where you come from, you can have a clear picture of where you want to go. My great-grandfather was an amazing soul that had me to study and apply biblical principles. I grew up in a divorced single parent household and had to learn the art of survival at an early age. So the challenges I have faced and life lessons from my grandfather taught me to bet on myself. He taught me that people come into your life for a season, a reason, or a lifetime, but you are forever. So, If something needed to get handled I had to do it. If it didn’t get handled I could only fault myself. I live by if I may make a mistake, what is the lesson in it and how can I move forward to ensure I will never make that same mistake again. I am a very analytical person and sometimes it hurts my progress, as I am not so trusting to take risks. Yet, at the same time it has saved me from some major hurdles. I have 2 boys that depend on me so there really is no room for error….not to say there hasn’t been any because there has been. I have been through therapy to keep me grounded. I have a sister circle that I can lean on and allows me to be my authentic self without judgement regardless of what type of day I am having. They also tell me when I a m messing up or not being as productive as I need to be. They are the ones that challenge me in my current journey and I am forever grateful. We were not meant to be on this earth alone and God has lead me to my tribe that continues to bring value into my life and pushes the boundaries so I can continue to demand greatness from myself.
Currently, I am going through a life change where it has me re-evaluating my entire life over the last 20 years, from marriage, kids, family, and career. I have been knocked down hard over the last 8 months, however, my faith in God and commitment to see myself and my children to win in life is the force that is currently driving me everyday. It is important for them to know that life is not always peaches and cream, it will give you lumps and coal, but you have to clean it a few times to understand the smoothness and shine that is underneath. Those are the moments where lessons are created, mistakes are acknowledged, solutions are born and growth occurs.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I currently run and own The Maxwell Luxury Group which is a realty company in the Atlanta area. I also have an inspection company I-Vision Home Inspections and a catering company called Taste for Tables. I have been in real estate for 20years and licensed in 2 states. I travel for work servicing clients. I get great joy in connecting with new and past clients. My goal is to always provide a relational level of service by listening to their needs and assessing what the clients’ current journey is and how I can best service them. I don’t ever assume, I always take a deep dive into our consultations to get to know the client and how they do life. I also am the agent that will recommend someone else if it is in the best interest of the client. Most agents will not do that….simply because they are just looking for a transaction. I purposely set my business model in the manner because I remembered when I purchased what happened and how I felt. I felt like a transaction! I never wanted any of my clients to have that feeling. When you become a client of any of the businesses I run you are a client for life. It will be a memorable experience that you would want to share. Keep in mind people may not remember your name or your face or even what you said, but they will remember what you did.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Oh, the 3 most important qualities I would say that have helped me both personally and professionally are:
Communication
Listening
Thinking outside of the box to provide valuable solutions.
Acknowledge when I am wrong and being willing to correct it.
Being knowledgeable about my craft and market.
I know that is 5 qualities however all are important. They are important because you have to understand who you are and how you show up in the room. What is your communication style and effectiveness? How well do you listening? Are you an over talker?…meaning you will not let anyone get a comment in. Do you think outside of the box for valuable solutions or are you someone that is always looking to skip steps for the easiest path. Taking the easy route always has costly consequences for those involved. Are you taking time to become skilled in your craft? Are you purposely learning one new thing everyday? Are you sharing with others so you can learn as well or are you a gatekeeper?
With me being a psychology major it has always been important to me even as a young child to properly communicate, yet it was not until I entered college and was made to take a communication class that I realized how important those skills would become to me in my current journey.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
There are 3 books that have helped in my development
1. “One Day My Soul Opened Up” by Iylana Vanzant
2. “Boundaries” by Henry Cloud
3. “The I Factor” by Van Moody
I read “One Day My Soul Opened Up” in my 20’s. It was the anthem to self-awareness and understanding my trauma cause my by relationship with my mother. Iyanla’s depiction of her mother on Day 1 of this book lead me to look at my own foundation and found it to be very similar and that is what I have had to live with my entire life. It helped me to grow up and establish true goals and not be afraid of taking chances. It taught me that I was worthy of anything my heart desired. There were daily required journaling, prayer, and deep dive questions that pushed me beyond my comfort zone to confront myself. The main principle was operating in TRUTH. Truth is eternal is the same today as it was yesterday. I stopped attempting to be manipulative and lying my way out of situations because of this principle. It was a behavior I learned form my mother. Therefore the last 20+ years of my life I live by truth. I will give it all to you the good, bad, and the ugly from both perspectives with documentation to back it up. It has been a game changer in my life and offered me such freedom when communicating with people. This is why this book helped me tremendously. It is still in my library with notations and I read it when I need a reminder that I am great and can be whatever I set my mind to….I am not what my mother wishes on me.
“Boundaries” was given to me by my mother-n-law…well actually she gave it to my sister-n-law and she did not want to read it so I took it instead. But OMG, this book had me crying and classifying everyone to their behavior and helped me to see how I enabled them to continue that behavior. It also helped me to understand the effect their behavior was having on me. What this book allowed be to do is be able to say “NO” and not feel guilty about it.
Last, but not least “The I Factor”, this book teaches you how to gave a great relationship with yourself. This book has not only giving me tools for life, it has also given be tools for business. It has taught me the art of forgiveness and understanding that business is not personal, its just business. People make it personal with showing their emotions and operating out of insecurity, pain or a place of ill will. It teaches from a biblical perspective. Just like in life and business you have to operate on principle and not let your losses dictate changes in your values, priorities, and prospective because something did not go the way you thought it should. The right thing to do is go back to the drawing board, re-access, identify the misstep, create a solution, and execute again. However, you always show up with a positive attitude that is in line with your business model and who you are.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: torry_txgarealtor
Image Credits
All photos were taken by my camera.
