Andrea Curran thinks teachers make the best realtors: “They’re proactive, they’re organized, and they’re good at conveying information,” the Houston-based teacher-turned-realtor says. Andrea, an Alabama native, spent fifteen years teaching kindergarten, middle school, and everything in between. “I have a passion for literacy, and I worked in rural, high poverty areas, so I felt a real calling to try to level the playing field for my students.”

After moving to Houston, Texas (which was a long time dream) Andrea shifted courses away from the test-centric education system, eventually getting her real estate license in 2016. “I actually thought this is the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done,” Andrea says. “I felt so exposed seeing pictures of myself everywhere.”

Reluctantly, Andrea met with a development company, who offered to do business planning with her. “So we met and we were just going through the motions—talking about geo farming, sphere of influence, and all these things. I didn’t know what SOI meant, and I didn’t even know what CRM meant for another year,” says Andrea who felt in over her head.

And then something clicked.

During one business planning session Andrea remembers thinking, “Well, fine. If I’m going to do this, I might as well do it right. It’s more embarrassing to half-ass it.” From that moment on, Andrea decided she would be all in.

As a teacher, Andrea believes there are learning lessons to be found everywhere. During her first two years she was a top producer at her small brokerage, but worked on instinct alone. “But to think about what I could have done if I only had some coaching…” she says. “I wish I knew to get a coach—just to even get the basics. I think that would have been smarter money than a lot of the things I did spend my money on.”

Andrea has now been working with her coach, Chirag Shah, for six months. “I’ll tell you what I like about Chirag,” Andrea says. “He thinks outside of the box. We’ve had coaching before that’s beneficial, but with Chirag, it’s next level. He is helping me with specific marketing campaigns, and procedures and processes to hit our goals—and very specific goals. We are prioritizing making sure I have consistent client care across the board.”

Andrea’s team, who joined Compass in the fall of 2020, has had tremendous success in Cypress, her suburban Houston-market this year. “If you look at our numbers, we were neck-and-neck with agents who are a household name in our zip code. But we had to work exponentially harder to get there.”

With the support of her team, and coach, Andrea has worked hard to “become more of a fixture in our community.” Though once mortified to see her name and face around town, Andrea is now a fixture on Cypress’s food and mom blogs, and has even stepped in front of the camera to film Community Spotlights, where she interviews local entrepreneurs and showcases the best of Cypress living. Just recently, Andrea was approached by a community member who recognized her team’s videos, and called Andrea, “Cypress famous.”

Here’s how she sees it: “When you’re not willing to slow down and be progressive, whether it’s in your marketing, your client care, your offerings, or your listing management, then you’re stagnant.” This teacher-turned realtor can give us all a lesson about stepping outside of our comfort zones, going all in, and making progress—one listing and vlog post a time.

Watch Andrea’s Community Spotlight videos and follow her journey in Cypress HERE.