CAREER & MONEY
ENTREPRENEUR SPOTLIGHT
KELLY HAGER
Kelly Hager’s story from coma to CEO of
Kelly Hager Group Real Estate Services
and Kelly Hager International, and
manager of the U.S. operations of a third
brand, began when she was faced with
an illness and near-death experience in
2010. She awoke from a coma with organs
shutting down, on a ventilator, she could
not walk, could barely speak, could not
see, and had very limited memory. Her
husband left her and their 3-year-old son
the first day Kelly came out of the ICU. But
she worked hard to regain her health, and
became the architect of her own economy.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
I started my real estate business in March 2005. Having a love for
sales and helping families, along with the flexibility, made it exactly
the career I was looking for. Being my own boss and becoming
successful were two very important goals for me.
grown from $12.5 million in 2011, to $53.4 million in 2014, and we
are on pace for a 30 percent increase this year. The next big goal is to
break $100 million in revenue and have 100 people working within
Kelly Hager Group.
FEARS
With LiveTeamLife, I have written a book, “Building a Dream Team:
Battling From One Foot in the The Grave to Creating an Innovative
and Collaborative Company.”
How was I going to replace my $100,000-plus annual salary? My
husband thought I was crazy. I had been in real estate for 10 months
and we went on a very expensive vacation. When we came home,
I delivered the news. I am not going back to my corporate America
job. I am going to use my 401K for the next six months and if I don’t
succeed, I will go back. And here I am today.
MOTIVATION
68
I love growing business teams. The collaborative, innovative
environment that is within my company is electric. The people that
surround me are all driven, hard-working, amazing people. We are all
committed to the success of the team.
INSPIRATION
I want to live a life where I can work from anywhere. If I want to be
in Australia for a few weeks, I can work from there. If I want to be
in New York, I can work from there. The freedom to work on the
projects I love the most is inspiring.
GOALS
The goals I have achieved are: I am healthy. I am truly happy. I have
surrounded myself with amazing people. My real estate business has
GAZELLE STL
I have spoken internationally, nationally, regionally and locally. I want
to speak at Harvard University, as well as the rest of the Ivy League
schools, and I want to put on conventions that will help entrepreneurs
build businesses. I also love to do bootcamps and workshops within
large corporations and with entrepreneurs. I want to meet Richard
Branson, Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres in 2016 or sooner. Continued
growth and development of myself is extremely important, and I feel
like I can achieve that by speaking with people who have done what
I want to do. We are also launching liveteamlife.com, which will be
entrepreneurial development courses with a subscriber base.
WORDS OF WISDOM FOR ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS
The majority of people live risk-free lives and are fearful to follow
their dreams. Some of that is a self-confidence problem. Some of
that is a financial problem. Figure out a way to achieve your goals.
What do you really want to happen in your life? Make it happen. Your
energy introduces you before you speak. Get excited about all of the
possibilities. If you shoot for the moon and you only hit the stars...Life
is pretty good!