Meet Ivey Jacops | Founder: SMART Real Estate Consulting and SMART Real Estate Solutions

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ivey Jacops and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ivey, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
As a salaried leader in my previous 8:30-5:30 corporate career, I had the following expectations placed on me: 1. Be productive during those hours
2. Be available to meet with the team during those hours
3. Offer support to clients during those hours and after hours when necessary (often)
4. Lunch meetings are essential to building rapport with the greater team and clients
5. And, my favorite, demonstrate an ability to think strategically

Since leaving that world, I have found the most essential tool in my toolbelt as a creative leader in my organization is brain space. When your day is completely full of meetings and tasks, you have no space to think about strategic improvements and creative problem solving, key functions of not just leaders, but everyone in an organization. This leaves our productivity & performance simply check-the-box task management instead.

Now, I have recognized my most energetic times are first thing in the morning: 5:30am to noon. I use this time to brain fire creativity in front of my computer, going for a hike, or going for a walk with other leaders in my organization. I also take breaks to have coffee with my husband, work out, take my son to school, and manage my household during this time. I meet with clients in the afternoon. Then I take another break to pick up my son from school, have a snack and hang out with him before leaning into my natural “task-execution” time-late afternoon/early evening. My brain loves to work on task-oriented projects at that time.

Not only am I more productive, I’m happier. My family time is more peaceful because I’m not on the phone with clients or processing things from the work day that I had no space to process during work. I’m not rushing to cram all my personal and family time into just a few hours each day, I now sprinkle them throughout the day giving me sweet little breaks with my family. I’m happier, more productive, more engaged, and more joyful. All traits that that allow me to lead my clients towards the same goals.

As a leader, I’ve recognized if we want the best out of people, ourselves included, we have to trust them to work at their best.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I started a real estate training, coaching and consulting business in 2023 after leaving behind a corporate career where I had been coaching and training within the confines of a corporate structure. I left needing time to figure out my next steps, but my network had different ideas. I found myself with a calendar full of coffees and lunches where I met so many new people, agents and brokers alike. I started recognizing a theme that there was a huge need for small business leadership and support, but with the small margins of local brokerages, the budget for hiring a full-time person was limited. I saw an opportunity to help by bringing my skills to the table offering outsourced leadership services. I love growing and developing others aligned with their unique skillsets. I love people. I love being involved in that growth process.

I launched SMART Real Estate Consulting a few months after leaving my corporate career. I started small with a few coaching and training clients and then slowly started adding people to the team to help grow the number of people we can help.
As I coached clients, I found myself recommending outsourcing and delegation of certain tasks but had nowhere to send clients. I essentially was leaving them with researching outsourced solutions. From that, SMART Real Estate Solutions was born. It is a vetted network of service providers offering outsourced business solutions for real estate agents, brokerages and other small businesses. Solutions providers are independently owned businesses who can work collaboratively to serve clients in their outsourced business needs.

The hardest part, and one that I rectified early, was being the only one in my organization. I outsourced my marketing early to TealHaus Strategies and that was a huge relief to have experts handling the marketing side, but I still needed more people. I work best when I have someone with a shared vision to brainstorm with. I’ve always been a big believer in outsourcing or hiring administrative tasks first as this frees up your time to do more of what you’re best at. I actually did the opposite and hired a COO as my first employee. We have a different skillset but an aligned vision of “Do Good” for people and having this type of partnership has been amazing to elevate our level of service, and our brand. And it’s a lot more fun.

My biggest lesson is to surround yourself with the right people. Those who support you with mentorship or friendship and those that share your values and vision to outsource things to or grow with.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’d spend one day touring the local artists on the River in downtown and then head over to Good Art Co. to check out my favorite local artist, Erika DeRoberts with Cherry Lane Art. From there, we’d walk to Cook Station for a great glass of wine and shop all our favorite cooking gadgets. We’d continue on to the West End popping into some cool local shops like Custard. I love being outside, so a trip to Conestee Park for a sunrise hike to see all the wildlife in their most active time and then another day taking a day trip a little further north to Table Rock for a really intensive hike. On the way, we’d stop at Tandem for some coffee and crepes.
I love the view at Passerelle Bistro in the spring. Sitting outside next to the Falls at Falls Park is magical. I also love an afternoon drink at Up On The Roof-the view is amazing, the rooftop seating is comfy and the drinks and apps are wonderful.
Another fun outdoor spot is 3’s Golf. Perfect for someone who likes golf but is bad at it (like me). It’s a beautiful setting with a fire pit, drinks, putting green and a fun par 3 golf course.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband, Ryan Jacops, is an exceptional leader of our family. He leads by example and prioritizes his family, health & well-being, and hard work. We are high school sweethearts. When we were freshmen in college, he made Dean’s List our first semester… and I did not. That is my first real memory of him as a leader and he showed me what can happen when you work hard to reach a goal. The next semester, I was on the Dean’s List and was on the Dean’s list every semester thereafter with straight A’s the rest of my undergraduate and graduate career. He has always encouraged me to excel at whatever I take on and it is because of him, I learned how to set big goals and take the necessary actions to reach them.

Erika DeRoberts a former co-worker now friend and fellow-entrepreneur. She left the corporate world to find more balance in her life and to pursue her passion for art. We share a belief of balance and joy in the pursuits of life and I value her mentorship and guidance to keep me grounded and aligned.

Claudia Moore a former co-worker now friend and fellow-entrepreneur. She left her previous career to pursue her passions building and remodeling and has since built a company with her husband. We started our entrepreneurial journeys at the same time. At the beginning of our journeys she reached out and told me “we all need a team to help us when we are feeling overwhelmed.” Her words were so timely and prompted me to start building a team of great people around me.

Website: https://www.smartrealestateconsulting.com/

Instagram: @ivey_jacops

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iveyjacops/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IveyJacopsSMART

Image Credits
Chelsey Ashford with CMA Photo