OTP 24 - OT Meets Real Estate: Empowering Accessibility and Community Impact with Gretchen Kingma

OT Meets Real Estate: Empowering Accessibility and Community Impact

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:00:00]:

Ever thought about combining your occupational therapy skills with real estate? Today I am so excited to be chatting with Gretchen Kingma of empowered homes to share her passion and her insights as an Otpreneur working within the world of real estate. Are you thinking about starting an occupational therapy business but don't even know where to begin?

Jayson Davies, MA, OTR/L [00:00:21]:

Whether you're starting something on the side or going full time in your business, the Otpreneur podcast is what you need.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:00:27]:

This show will help you get in the right mindset and give you actionable tips to go from just an idea to Otpreneur. I'm Sarah Putt, and today I am joined by the lovely Gretchen Kingma, an occupational therapist and accessibility consultant and senior specialist. How are you doing today, Gretchen?

Gretchen Kingma [00:00:47]:

I'm so good. I'm excited to be here.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:00:50]:

I am really, really excited to have you here. I have been wanting to talk to you for probably years at this point and really learn all about what you're doing because you are up to some amazing, fantastic and I want to say kind of different things, like, you are utilizing your ot skills on a daily basis, but in, in a unique way that I'm really excited to jump into and learn more about today.

Gretchen Kingma [00:01:17]:

Yes. Thank you. That's so I can't. I've never had an introduction, so great. So thank you for having me.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:01:24]:

So I want to kick it off and going to make you think for a little bit here, but I'm really curious to know what has been, like, the one, the one thing, the one, like, most impactful thing that you have experienced so far as an Otpreneur working within real estate.

Gretchen Kingma [00:01:45]:

So I typically have my answer ready to go for this question, and that would be when I got to help my parents and maybe we could talk about that in a little bit. But right before I jumped on with you real time, just got off the phone with a client that brought me to tears. And I would say that has been the most impactful moment as an OT realtor. And to go a little bit deeper, I'll take you along the journey of helping said client. Husband and wife. Husband had a benign brain tumor removed 30 years ago that he was able to bounce back from. And while he had some residual effects of that surgery, he was a stay at home dad. He raised their children, was just an awesome present dad and got to live a pretty normal life.

Gretchen Kingma [00:02:39]:

Fast forward to 2023. November of 2023, another benign tumor on his brain he had to have removed. He had a stroke while in surgery and is not so lucky this time. With, obviously, he's a lot older. Neuroplasticity is not there. And so he was referred to me by an OT in the inpatient hospital here in St. Louis. I get a call from the wife.

Gretchen Kingma [00:03:07]:

Hi, we're referred by Barnes Jewish Hospital. I still don't know the OT that referred me. So, like, such a beautiful thing that I'm getting these referrals from mystery occupational therapist. But we've had this major life change, and we need to find a house that allows me to get my husband into the bathroom because we live in a two story colonial, and we're checking into a hotel once a week so that we can bathe my husband. So I'm like, oh, my gosh, that is terrible. I take them on as clients. They hire me to be their realtor, to find them an accessible alternative. They tell me very constrained parameters that they have.

Gretchen Kingma [00:03:50]:

They want to be walking distance to their daughter because their new grandparents, they have their first grandbaby. So all the ot things, you know, this is like my occupational profile, my intake meeting, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, so much to work with here and so little to work with on the real estate side because you have all these constrains. Accessibility just doesn't exist in the neighborhood that they want to be in. So after showing her a couple of condos, she tells me, that is not it, Gretchen. We do not want to see a condo. We really want a ranch style home. But the third strike of a condo, I say, I know, let's just go look at it. We go.

Gretchen Kingma [00:04:29]:

We look at it. There are tears when we go into the condo at the first showing because she says, this doesn't even feel like a condo. This feels like home. The hallways are wide. There's an elevator. It is so accessible, with the exception of the bathroom, but it's still way better than what they're working with. They closed on that condo two weeks ago. We flipped it over to my construction company to help get the bathroom to be fully accessible.

Gretchen Kingma [00:04:57]:

And I just got off the phone with her this morning, and I'm helping her list and sell her two story home. But she says, gretchen, you just need to know that even with the bathroom not fully universally designed, this place has brought so much dignity to mister Homebuyer. I won't use their names, but she got choked up. I was crying. That is a very long story, but I think it gives you an idea of, like, how I'm using ot in real estate.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:05:25]:

I love. Gosh, I love so much about that story. And I think the part, there's a lot that stands out, but I think the part that really stands out to me is, like, this, like, literally just happened right, like today, this morning, like, this happened right now. And I feel like that is just a testament to show how much of an impact we can actually have as occupational therapy entrepreneurs that, you know, you never quite know exactly what you're going to be doing or how you're going to impact your clients. But there it is. Like that, that happened and that, you know, that's going to be one of those stories that you have and that you're going to probably be sharing for the rest of your life, especially, you know, talking to people that are interested in potentially getting into being an Ot in real estate and all that kind of stuff. So thank you so much for sharing that story. And I'm just glad that that family, you know, those homebuyers, were able to connect with you and that you were able to help them in that way.

Gretchen Kingma [00:06:19]:

Yeah, they were a fun one, for sure.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:06:21]:

So, let me ask you this. Do you feel like, you know, growing up or maybe in an OT school, do you feel like you. Like we're destined to become an entrepreneur?

Gretchen Kingma [00:06:31]:

That I get asked that question a lot, because now that I am, I am, like, all in some days, I love my business more than I love my family, which is something I'm working through with my counselor, but I don't. I never dreamed of being an entrepreneur. I never dreamed of having a business that is literally changing my life with. With the financial benefit that we are experiencing. I truly believe that I stumbled into this life, this entrepreneurial life. And that's what makes it so crazy.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:07:07]:

I feel like. I feel very similar to what you are saying. Like, I never really thought that I'd be an entrepreneur, but, like, now that I'm here, it's like what I eat, breathe, sleep, and. Yeah, like, so passionate about it and love the fact that, like, I'm stumbled into this role. And, you know, I think this is the part that I really want to dive into because I think a lot of people, when they hear real estate, I've listened to a lot of podcasts about real estate. I have a lot of friends that do real estate now. Of course, not ot, not healthcare, not anything related there, but I think a lot of people, when they hear real estate, they automatically think that could be an additional revenue stream. Right.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:07:48]:

You have your traditional OT job, and then you are selling houses on the side, or you're doing something within real estate on the side. And that's not exactly what you are doing. You have actually found a way to merge and kind of blend these two worlds together to really make an impact for your clients. So can you kind of elaborate a little bit more about how you are in OT and also in real estate, but you're doing it at the same time, not kind of two different revenue streams?

Gretchen Kingma [00:08:18]:

Yeah. So that was. That was a huge thing for me. When I got started in 2017, I was coming out of maternity leave. I feel like. I feel like babies and pivotal life things are what birth a lot of businesses. So I always worked with adults. I never worked in peds, and I knew that I wanted to be in that senior space.

Gretchen Kingma [00:08:41]:

So when I went on maternity leave and realized in the senior living community that I was the lead Ot in that I had over a hundred pages on my own caseload and I had four codas under me, that it was just nutty and that I didn't get to be with the patients, that I didn't get to spend the time with the people that I cared about deeply, that I was really just a paper pusher. And there is a need for clinical Ot, so don't everybody leave that role, because then we'd be in shambles. But it just. It just made me so mad that no matter how much we got our patients independent, no matter how much work we did to get people independent before they would discharge back home, that we had so many repeat offenders. And so 03:00 in the morning, feeding a newborn, you just think about all the problems in life or think about the gaps that there are. And I thought, oh, this is because nothing is changing at home. So, actually, initially, I started my business merely to be a consultant and to do home modifications. And I quickly realized, as Ot's, we don't do a great job selling our value.

Gretchen Kingma [00:09:56]:

And so the reason I decided to blend the two, to answer your question, is because I needed to make money. I had six figures of OT school debt. Still, that was about five years into my clinical world. And so I thought, very simply, if OT's job is to keep people happy, healthy, thriving at home, why are we not proactively looking at the home? And my husband and I had just bought our first house and didn't have a great experience. So it sounds terrible, but I thought, if this woman can make a career off of helping people buy real estate, what if I could do the same but bring in a level of expertise that no other realtor has? So it was a very, like, small, simple mindset of, like, we have seniors discharging home that keep coming back to the rehab hospitals. They keep coming back to rehab. So home didn't change. And if I could be a highly professional, healthcare backed realtor, how different could we impact those home buyers and impact the way people age at home? And that's what led me to going all in and making it one career, not a side hustle.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:11:04]:

And I love that. I mean, I think you've said like, it sounds so simple, right? Like, to you and me and anybody listening, it sounds so simple of like, the problems at home, right? The problem is something going on. And I know I went through the same thing when I was working in. You know, I've, I've always, I've always been on the other end of doing pediatrics, but I was working in the clinics and it was the same thing where my clients were having difficulty at home, but because of the funding source and, you know, because of logistics and all the red tape and everything, I was not allowed to go in the home. And I'm like, but that's where the issue is. And so, yeah, you said it's so simple, but like, why, why haven't ot practitioners been going into that space and utilizing our skills to be able to help and assist and really change, you know, change the lives of our clients within that space? So, yes, it sounds simple, but I'm like, I'm so glad that you're doing it. And hopefully, hopefully over time, we can inspire more people to get into that role to help those repeat offenders. Right? Help people not have to keep going back to the hospital, keep them.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:12:09]:

What did you say? Happy, healthy and thriving at home. I love that. Yes.

Gretchen Kingma [00:12:14]:

Yes.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:12:14]:

So can you explain a little bit more? Because I know I kind of mentioned it when I was introducing you and bringing you on the show, what maybe kind of what the difference is or what are some of the key roles of being an accessibility consultant? But then I also know you have the senior specialist role as well, so can you dive into those terms a little bit?

Gretchen Kingma [00:12:32]:

Yeah. So all of that, all of those crafty titles came out of a lot of introspective work and thinking about how am I going to stand out in this realtor world? Because everybody knows ten realtors or knows ten people doing real estate. And I. Well, let me back up. When I made the career pivot, I had a lot of shame. I had the imposter syndrome, even though it's so overused in today's vernacular and culture. But I thought, gosh, I am highly, I am highly trained. I have a high level of skill sets in the medical world and now I'm going to go sling houses.

Gretchen Kingma [00:13:11]:

So I had to really push through that psychological barrier before I could embrace the things that you just mentioned, the senior specialist, the accessibility consultant. So it was. It didn't happen overnight. Like, I got into real estate and I had great success, but branding myself as these things did not happen overnight. It took a lot of pushing through and getting through ceilings, pushing through ceilings to get there. But in that introspective work of, like, who is my ideal client? What clients are the best? Like, the example I gave at the beginning of our conversation that brings me so much joy. Somebody has a major life change and I get to solve their housing problems and benefit financially for my family. Like, that's a win win win.

Gretchen Kingma [00:13:59]:

I am impacting lives. I'm making money doing so, and I'm getting to apply my expertise in a world where people aren't asking the questions proactively pointing out the cons of homes. So I got those titles by really just owning them and knowing that this is what my bread and butter is. I've only worked in the clinical setting with adults and seniors, so that makes me a senior specialist. And when I owned that on social media, when I owned that in my branding, my business took off because it was. I was no longer like, oh my gosh, I'm an OT, but now I'm a realtor and people are going to judge me because I'm slinging houses and have this degree. So the accessibility consultant piece is just a level of expertise that I bring into my real estate business. If somebody calls me and they say, hey, this is a real scenario.

Gretchen Kingma [00:14:54]:

Gretchen, I was referred to by the ALS association. My ALS is getting really bad and I need to sell my house tomorrow. I come in, I do in OT terms, occupational profile and client facing terms, a free consultation strategy session. And I say, what if? What if you don't have to sell your house and move? What if we could make this laundry room? Because you're not doing laundry, by the way. Like, I hate to be crass, but, like, your als is not allowing you to do laundry. Your caregiver is going to do laundry. So what if we can get rid of this laundry room, bring it upstairs and make it a bathroom? That's the accessibility consultant piece. So it's just bringing all of the options to the table so that the client is able to be empowered to make what decision is best for them.

Gretchen Kingma [00:15:39]:

Not coming in as a realtor and saying, oh, my gosh, we got to sell your house. That was a very long winded answer, but it is something I'm super passionate about. And, like, it goes to your last question. It's how I am an occupational therapist in the real estate space.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:15:54]:

Really what you're talking about in, gosh, there's so many things that I want to dive into right now, but I'll start by, like, really, that kind of main piece is owning your niche, right? Owning who you are and understanding. This is what I bring to the table. And I feel like a lot of us, especially, you know, new grads or people that are interested in starting an OT business, a lot of times we get that imposter syndrome. We get that I'm not good enough to do this. There's other people doing it. Who is going to pay me? Right? These are all thoughts that I had. Who's going to actually pay me for my services? And so, first and foremost, it came to, like, recognizing what you bring to the table and owning that, right. And being proud of what that is.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:16:34]:

But then on top of that, you had to dig into that imposter syndrome and be like, wait, okay, now I have to show up and actually do the things that I need to own, right. And so I'm really thankful that you brought that up, because I think it's very easy for people that have been in business for years to just be like, oh, yeah, that part was easy, or, oh, I'm just going to overlook that. But, like, it's true. We all overcome these hurdles and these obstacles and these barriers, either internally, maybe it's stuff that we're bringing on ourselves, or externally to, you know, to really get our businesses off the ground. And so I'm glad that even though I didn't ask that question, I'm glad that you are like, wait, hold on. Let me.

Gretchen Kingma [00:17:16]:

Let.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:17:16]:

Let me go back a step and bring you back to Gretchen, what, seven years ago. I think it's about how long you've been in business. Let me go back to that moment and share. Like, there was some stuff that I had to get through, and I, you know, I had to kind of climb my way out in order to get there. And then the last thing that I wanted to say is that I really feel like I'm appreciative that you brought up the making money piece, too, because I am one of those people that I am very open about talking about money. And, you know, me and one of my friends, Amir Condoleezz, she has the OT Money podcast. Like, we've talked so much about, you know, being open, about being a healthcare practitioner and making money. Right.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:17:54]:

And especially as an otpreneur, you have to be able to make money for your business, for your business to continue, but also for you personally to be able to support your family and contribute and, you know, live the life that you want. Right? We're not supposed to be out here just being servants to help people. Yes. That's what we do. That's our job. But we also need to be able to support ourselves and our family as well. So I just feel like you just said so much there that I'm like, yes, this. Thank you.

Gretchen Kingma [00:18:22]:

This is a side, and you probably don't even know this, but it's because of you that I charge a consult fee, because I reached out to you on Instagram years ago, and I was like, I would love to know about this podcast. I still don't have a podcast, by the way. And you were like, that's great. It's a meet with me. Here's a link to sign up. And I was like, that's amazing. Way to go. And so, yes, protecting your expertise and, like, the number.

Gretchen Kingma [00:18:49]:

Now I'm on the flip side. People are reaching out to me all the time and saying, can I pick your brain about? And that's, like, the number one insulting thing to an OT entrepreneur. Like, don't let people pick your brain. Get paid for a consultation. Because we got into this field to help people, and I think we all default to, I just want to help people, and that makes us great practitioners. We all want to help people, but we also don't want to feed our family ramen noodles because we're balling on a budget either. So, yes, yes, and yes.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:19:20]:

Okay. Yes. I did not, like. I don't. I remember when we, like, initially kind of met, and I believe it was during one of the workout challenges, like the monthly workout challenges that I used to do, like, years ago, but I don't remember that part of it. So thank you for sharing.

Gretchen Kingma [00:19:37]:

Yeah, good for you. Way to set boundaries and to like. And that's how you level up your business. And then I think of Sarah as like, oh, this chick's got it going. On my way to set boundaries and be there for your family. And don't let anybody take that time away from you unless they're willing to invest in your business.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:19:55]:

Yeah, I think that's such a big. A big point there, because we are, we as healthcare practitioners, as occupational therapy practitioners, we want to give. We want to give so much and especially as you are starting and really diving into becoming a business owner, you have to recognize all of your expertise has been years in the making, not just necessarily OT school, Ota school and being a practitioner, but even before that, we all have these different kind of opportunities, these different journeys that bring us to where we are today. And we really have to own where we are and be like, yeah, I can bring a lot to the table. Even if you feel like you're like, I don't know. I don't know exactly what going to be doing, but yeah, yeah, that's so cool. So, gosh, this is going to be kind of a loaded question here because I feel like probably every day looks different for you, but could you kind of just share a little bit about what, what a typical day or maybe even a typical week? Like, what does it look like to be Gretchen Kingma, accessibility consultant, senior specialist Otto in real estate?

Gretchen Kingma [00:21:04]:

That is loaded and it is very dynamic. I just started with a new business coach. Shout out to doctor Aaron Joy. And we started our coaching journey with the disc assessment. And I'm sure a lot of people have taken it. If not, you can take it online for free and it will help you in your entrepreneurial journey decide, like, what is my type?

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:21:26]:

How.

Gretchen Kingma [00:21:26]:

How is my brain wired? What does that make me good at? So if there are people listening that are dipping their toe into the entrepreneurial world or dreaming about one day, I would start with these types of assessments. But in my meeting with her just yesterday, I was reviewing my type and I am a strong id. We won't dive into it. But I read the synopsis and it nailed. I mean, it nailed it.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:21:52]:

I was like, oh, crap, like, are.

Gretchen Kingma [00:21:53]:

They in my brain? But it talked about how a lot of entrepreneurs are this type or di I with that comes. I don't like monotony. I enjoy spontaneity. I'm a big visionary. I'm a big thinker. And so my day to day reflects that. So I'm constantly thinking about ways that I can grow my business, that I can build more relationships. And so that's how I'm wired.

Gretchen Kingma [00:22:21]:

In order to actually move the business needle, I have to zero it in. And that looks like weekly networking meetings. It looks like building relationships with people who touch that ideal client. So if I know that I find great joy in serving a senior that's experiencing all of the junk that comes with aging or a family that has a loved one that just experienced a major Life change, then I have to spend time with the people that touch those ideal clients. So it looks like grabbing lunch with home health professionals, grabbing lunch or coffee with other OT's that are working in the hospitals and referring people. I run a local level therapreneur mastermind where I bring OT's, pts, and speech therapy owners, business owners to my office once a month. And we just support each other, pour into each other. So those are the day to day, week to week activities that I sustain my business growth.

Gretchen Kingma [00:23:20]:

But day to day, it looks different depending on what I have going on. So today, another real time activity, another, I love this. Another realtor reached out and says, I have a downsizer that wants to age in place, but this is your expertise. What do you charge to go do an assessment? Just like if anybody's bought a home, you paid your home inspector to look at the integrity of a home. Here's this new package being born because somebody asked me for it. Can you come give us an assessment of what it would take for my client to age and place in this home? I said, sure. I charge $500 for that. It will be an hour going to look at the home, and then I'll type up a one page, two page report of all my recommendations.

Gretchen Kingma [00:24:05]:

I said, okay, no problem. So, like, that is crazy. It's not on my website, it's not something I market, but it's a need, and I'm feeling the need, and I'm going to get paid for doing it. So that's what today is looking like.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:24:16]:

I'm sure, too. Like, I, you know, I'm going to over generalize here, but I feel like there probably are some non healthcare, non ot real estate agents out there that will go in and be like, oh, to age in place, you're just going to need, you know, a couple grab bars here and, you know, maybe lower the carpet threshold or something. You know, like very kind of like simple, basic things. But like, I feel like you can kind of just step in there and be like, okay, wait, hold up. Like, what is the diagnosis? What has happened? Right? What is the reason that I am being brought in here and then be able to specifically tailor your recommendations for whatever the reason is. It's not these kind of global, just kind of universal design techniques, but it's really understanding exactly who the person is, their occupational profile, what is it they want to be able to do, what it is they don't care to be doing or they won't be doing or anything like that. And really being that specific of like, yes, I got you, and I can understand you as a whole person, as well as also, you know, the family. And I love you said, like, the touch points, right? Everybody else, that is, either that person is coming in contact with or, you know, they are supporting that person, too.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:25:25]:

So it's, I feel like you are coming in on a much deeper level and supporting as a much deeper level because of your expertise and your training, 100%.

Gretchen Kingma [00:25:35]:

And that, and that is encouragement for all ot's. Like, know your worth and then add your tax. I go into so many homes where they're like, oh, yeah, we got mom and dad grab bars. And they are. And we can all laugh about this because, you know, we're ot's. But I'm like, okay, do mom and dad have inspector gadget arms? Like, how are they going to sit on the toilet and reach this grab bar over here? Who? Who? And they're like, oh, I didn't think about that. So, like, 100%, it's going deeper. It's having tailor made solutions for each client.

Gretchen Kingma [00:26:07]:

One of my favorite homebuyer experiences was a home buyer almost fired me because I told them I was not going to write an offer on a house that they loved. And they were like, but it's a ranch. Mister Homebuyer had Parkinson's, and he's doing great. And he was doing LSvt big, and he didn't use a device to walk. But they loved this ranch home that was a rehab by a flipper in St. Louis. And every room had a different flooring type, and there were thresholds going into every room. And I was like, I understand that this is a ranch style home, and I understand that Mister homebuyer is doing phenomenal, and I love that for him.

Gretchen Kingma [00:26:44]:

What I also know to be true is that Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disease, and it could be tomorrow, it could be next month, it could be five years down the road. But these different patterns and thresholds and flooring types are going to give his brain a heck of a time. And you're going to see increasing freezing episodes when it goes through a doorway from room to room, which is going to increase his risk of fall. And like, yes, everything's on the main level, but the flooring is a disaster. And they were like, oh, we didn't think of that. And of course they didn't think of that because I'm a nerd and I'm an OT, and that's what I bring to the table. So you hit the nail on the head for sure.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:27:22]:

Yeah. The one thing that I did want to bring up. You shared this a couple weeks ago on Instagram. But I think, you know, a lot of us go into entrepreneurship because we want that flexibility. We want to be able to do the things that we want to do. You know, we want to cut out the middleman. We have a lot of different reasons. But, you know, one of the reasons that I asked you about kind of what does your typical day look like? And for those listening, we are recording in the summer.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:27:46]:

You posted a couple weeks ago that you're like, hey, these are my summer hours. Like, this is. This is when you're going to find me working, and this is when you are not going to be able to reach me because I'm going to be spending time with my family. And I just. I love that you did that, you know, and you owned it. Right? We've been talking a lot about just kind of owning who you are and what you want to be doing that you're like, yeah, like, during the summer, I'm guessing your kids are out of school, and you want to be able to spend time with your kids and your family and do things that bring you joy outside of your business. That also brings you joy.

Gretchen Kingma [00:28:14]:

Yeah. And summer hours are hard. Like, don't hear me say, oh, it's so easy to just shut down work and go to the pool. It's hard. And I'm so grateful. And I also, like, my biggest learning in that is that we get to train people how to treat us. Like, in any business, you get to train your clients how to treat you. And when I was trying to make a follow up appointment with my dentist, and they told me, oh, she's not working Thursday or Fridays in the summer, I was like, wait a minute, like, that's awesome.

Gretchen Kingma [00:28:46]:

And that's where I got the. Well, that's one of the places I got the inspiration also. Just like, my kids are growing so fast and I can't imagine losing that. So, yes, while entrepreneurship, I think work life balance is a hoax, it's not real. It's all about minimizing the friction that your business has on that family life. There's never going to be balance. There's always a counterbalance. But summer hours were in my effort to minimize the friction that my business is having on my family and to really love the time that I get with them.

Gretchen Kingma [00:29:19]:

Because you only get so many summers.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:29:21]:

Exactly. I mean, my kids are little right now, but I feel like every time that I'm, like, working or doing something, I'm always like, oh, gosh, I'm missing out an hour that I could be spending with my kids and it's, you know, mom guilt and that's a whole other can of worms there. But yeah, I just, I love that you were just like, yep, this is, this, this is what we're going to do. And also that you said that it's not easy, right? It's not. Just like, this is what I'm doing and I'm just going to embrace it and it's great. Like, no, it takes work. It takes work. It takes time.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:29:46]:

It takes effort to set those boundaries and maintain those boundaries. Right? I totally get that. So I want to, I want to take, take a step back to kind of the beginning of this conversation. I think it was the first question I asked you and you mentioned something about your parents and your parents story. How did that actually kind of play a role in this whole, you know, ot business, in your otpreneur journey? What? Where? Now I'm curious. I got to hear more about this.

Gretchen Kingma [00:30:12]:

I shared a little bit about how I got into the business and that was just dreaming while on maternity leave and realizing huge gaps in the housing market and having people re enter rehab after going home. But it wasn't until I will say my parents story that really allowed me to own my niche and go, go all in. And I think it's crazy how I'm sure many people have this experience, but you choose this career path and it's so easy to treat or serve patients in a clinical setting. And then when it becomes your own family or your own parents, it's so much harder. It's like, whoa, wait a minute. I'm totally fine with misses Smith being my patient, but when it's Mister Miller, my dad, not, not cool. And so in 2020, in the midst of COVID as if things weren't hard enough for everybody in the United States, my dad was diagnosed with stage four cancer. And it was rather traumatic.

Gretchen Kingma [00:31:14]:

We were on a road trip. I'll save you all the details. We're on a road trip to take his hunting dogs to North Carolina. And my mom asked me to ride along because I had that flexibility in business. And dad was seeming a little lethargic. So I dropped everything to go on a twelve hour road trip with my father. And his cognition and his motor functions were declining so fast and he was driving. So we get to, we get to a toll booth and his fine motor skills to hand the dollar to the person at the toll booth were like shot.

Gretchen Kingma [00:31:46]:

And so my OT instincts like kicked in and I was like, dad, pull over. I will be driving the rest of the way. Don't care what you say. And maybe it's men, maybe it's dads. Maybe it's that generation. But he kept trying. He was like, oh, I'm just dehydrated. I just need water.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:32:02]:

Blah, blah, blah.

Gretchen Kingma [00:32:03]:

I'm like, okay, that's great. You can drink water in the passenger seat. And I am driving the truck. Fast forward to we get to our destination. His friend is an ex army medic. And instead of like, hi. We get out of the car. He's like, what's wrong with you? I'm like, exactly.

Gretchen Kingma [00:32:19]:

So we spend less than 24 hours in North Carolina, and we head home. We end up in Lexington, Kentucky, at UK med because we can't make it all the way home. Because his cognition was just going. All of his. All of his brain functions were drastically declining, like, right before my eyes. So we check him into the emergency department, and he has emergency brain surgery to remove two tumors off of his brain. There's the backstory. We get home back in St.

Gretchen Kingma [00:32:47]:

Louis, and he's recovering well, but the chemo is kicking his butt. My mom calls me one day, and she says, it's time. We have to move. Dad cannot safely go up the stairs. They lived in a two story home, and all bedrooms were on the second story. So, okay, I know what to do, but this is hard. This is my parents. This is the house I grew up in.

Gretchen Kingma [00:33:07]:

And, oh, by the way, just moved out of my husband and our two kids. We lived there while we were looking for our home. So, like, now it's not only a cancer diagnosis, but it's the emotional toll of getting rid of stuff, selling the house that we've lived in that we have all these memories in. And for the first time, I had the experience. Experience of, like, the client. I experienced what it was like on the familial level of what these families are going through. And, I mean, I could tell you all about the house. We found them, and it's been a great, great story.

Gretchen Kingma [00:33:44]:

A happy ending. Even though we lost my dad in 2022, the bungalow that we found them, a normal realtor would have looked at it and said, no way. There's steps all up the front. But with a little bit of extra thinking and a Google satellite map, I could tell that the grade of the lot went towards the back of the house. So we designed and created this amazing back porch that had a sloped entry into double doors primary bedroom. And my dad was able to die at home, he didn't have to go into a hospice house or a hospital. We made it so accessible so that he could spend his last days there. We had parties on this amazing deck we built.

Gretchen Kingma [00:34:22]:

My sister got married in my parents backyard, and that ramp, the sloped sidewalk, was the aisle. And that was the last day that dad walked. So, like, I was able to experience to the nth degree how an OT can provide, provide a service and provide forethought into how a home can work for a family in tragic times. And it unfolded before my eyes while I served my own family. So a very long answer, but. But that definitely helped me embrace the niche and embrace, like, wait a minute, there are families, the sandwich generation, you and I, that have aging parents and have young kids, and we need help because this is really hard. And so while I set out to serve a niche, it was that personal experience that allowed me to really own it.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:35:12]:

I'm not even really sure how I'm supposed to follow up with that. Like, I. Oh, my gosh, I'm. The holding back tears at the moment is such a beautiful story. And, you know, I'm very sorry that you did lose your dad a couple years ago, but I'm so appreciative of you sharing that story to not only, like, I think a lot of people, when they're thinking about real estate and buying, selling houses, it's kind of very, like, black and white, and it's like, oh, it's just a home. But a home is so much more than just, you know, a place that you. That you live and, you know, you. You sleep and you eat and whatever, like, stuff happens.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:35:46]:

And the fact that you brought up, like, the emotional toll of really understanding. Like, this is the house you grew up in. This is, you know, where your parents have been for years and years and years. And there's. There's so much more to owning a home and living in a home and all of the experiences that happen. So being that person to support, support a family, you know, support an individual going from that into a new space and then being able to kind of embrace everything that that space needs to have, I'm like, I am speechless. It doesn't happen very often, but I am absolutely speechless because of that.

Gretchen Kingma [00:36:22]:

And that is why more OT's need to be in real estate, because we understand the. The whole person, like, all of the social, emotional, the physical toll that these types of moves take on somebody. And that's going back to one of your previous questions, like that consultant piece. Everything I do is through the OT lens, whether it's someone our age buying their move up home, I'm telling my friends all the time, like, you've got to put runners on your wood stairs. You're going to drop your baby in the middle of the night, you're going to fall, you're going to slip. Everything that I do is through that OT lens. And so I have found a way to create a very niche real estate business. While selling and buying real estate is my number one payer source, I'm bringing a level of expertise and care, frankly, that most people aren't.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:37:12]:

So what does being an Otpreneur mean to you? With everything that you've said already, like, if you could kind of boil it down, what does it mean?

Gretchen Kingma [00:37:20]:

Yeah, that is a great question. And with it being July, I just went through a mid year review where I forced myself to think about this because with that di I d personality, I had never stopped to think. So I was able to identify three core values that I'm really going to lean into over the next six months, and I think they fit perfectly here. Being an OT entrepreneur means that I get to have impact. I get to pour into my family and my community. So my three core values are impact, community, and family. And that this journey has allowed me to really pour into all three of those and continue.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:38:00]:

I mean, I think you've already done so many amazing things in the past seven plus years. Right, even before you had kind of gone down this Otpreneur path. But I'm excited to just see, like, where. Where you go in the future, right, where we don't even know what you're going to be doing in a year or two or five or ten. Like, what kind of impact you are going to continue to bring to your clients, to your community, but also to the OT practitioners and students out there that could be listening, and they're like, wait a second. I could do this. Like, this could be something that I could do as a business and to be able to support. And if anybody follows you on social media, they will see that.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:38:41]:

I mean, you are all there, all in for your community. We're all there for supporting those around you. And I'm like, I don't even live around you. And I'm like, I can feel it. I can feel it from where I am. Thank you. Yeah. All right, Gretchen, I can't even tell you how thankful, how appreciative I am for you taking time out of your busy day and coming on today, talking to me and sharing a little bit more about you, about kind of your Otpreneur journey and the beauty that you have found being able to kind of merge and bridge the gap between occupational therapy and real estate and really impacting so many people.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:39:26]:

So thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Gretchen Kingma [00:39:30]:

Thank you for having me. It was a blast.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:39:32]:

Wow. Just wow. I'm so happy that I finally, the episode has been in the works for a very long time, and Gretchen has always been somebody that I have been wanting to bring on the show and talk to, and I am just absolutely amazed with everything that she is doing and everything that she's already accomplished in her ot pure journey. You know, I think some of the really, some of the key points that she brought up was really kind of recognizing your own journey. Right. And really understanding where you are at these kind of different points. And, you know, she mentioned some things from kind of early on in her journey, and some of these are hurdles and obstacles that she had to overcome and the imposter syndrome and, you know, really being able to kind of, like, own who she is and what it is that she brings to the table. But then also recognizing, and I didn't even touch on this in the episode, but right at the end, she was talking about a business coach that she had just met with, and recognizing that even us business owners still can actually seek out and benefit learning from business coaches and other, you know, other people within the business world that can support us to help us grow and evolve, you know, and progress our businesses.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:40:47]:

And so, you know, really recognizing that journey and then going back to owning. Owning who you are, what you bring to the table, owning your niche. Right. Jason and I, we talk about niche all the time. Owning what it is that you really want to be doing, the clients that you want to be working with, the people that you want to be supporting the type of work that you want to be doing and owning that right. And embracing that and know that you can't be everything to everyone. That's very hard. I think, at least for me, I knew, you know, getting out of OT school, I was like, I'm just gonna, you know, save the world.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:41:24]:

And it's like, yeah, okay, maybe I'm not gonna be able to do all of that, but really kind of embracing who it is that I want to be supporting and what that work is that I want to be doing. And then also not underestimating the expertise that we bring to the table, you know, that you. That you individually bring to the table within that realm that you want to be working in. And I love so much that Gretchen tied. Tied that into her story, that it was woven into her story. So much of. I am an otto here. I am buying and selling houses, but they're not separate.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:42:02]:

They are together. And that she utilizes her ot skills. She utilizes her ot lens in everything that she does, even though she's not working, you know, clinically as an OT and getting paid specifically as an OT. Right. Like in a. In a very kind of compartmentalized way. Right. She's utilizing those skills within real estate, and that she has really kind of brought that all together.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:42:27]:

I think another thing that I really wanted to bring up really quickly was just being able to kind of tailor your business to fit your lifestyle, but also being able to support and assist and contribute to your clients that you want to be supporting, but also your community and your family. Right. And I think Gretchen just did such a great. She painted such a great picture of how she's able to do that. Right. And it's not necessarily just the work that she's doing with the clients, but she was talking about the therapreneur mastermind. Right. And getting together with other people within her community to brainstorm to, you know, to talk about different things.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:43:08]:

And I think that is one of the beautiful parts about being an Otpreneur is that you can really tailor your lifestyle. You can really tailor your business to fit directly into your lifestyle. Right. Maybe in the beginning, it might be a little heavy on working on getting the business off the ground, but as you get more confident, as you get more established with your business, you can learn to figure out exactly how your business is going to fit your lifestyle and what it is that you actually need from your business. And then I, you know, the last thing that I really wanted to kind of mention here is that it's okay. And I think we all grapple. Well, I shouldn't say that I don't even want to over generalize, but I know I've grappled with this before, and I'm sure other people that, you know, other people that are thinking about starting an OT business that might not be that, quote, unquote, traditional OT role, right. Where you're in direct client care and you're doing exactly what you were taught to be doing in OT school and otae school.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:44:10]:

I just want to mention, like, it's okay to not be that traditional, quote unquote, traditional Ot practitioner. You can still use your ot lens. You can. You can still use your ot trainings, your ot expertise. You can use all of that in everything that you do, even if you are not that, you know, kind of traditional OT role. And Gretchen is just she's a beautiful example of how how she has developed her business, how she's created her business and how she's able to do that still being an OT within real estate and blending it all together. And it's absolutely beautiful. And I am just so glad that we had the opportunity to connect and, you know, share a little bit about who she is and what she does.

Sarah Putt, MA, OTR/L [00:44:58]:

Thanks again for tuning in to today's episode. We'll catch you next time, in the next episode and over@otpreneur.com. and remember, wherever you are on your Otpreneur journey, we're here to support you. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Otpreneur podcast. For links or resources mentioned in the show, head on over to otpreneur.com. it's otpreneur where occupational therapy means business.