If I have one goal in residential real estate, it is to ensure that every single client I represent is *by far* the most caffeinated—er, educated—in the market. From the nuances of fine flavored cold brews to the complex flavor profiles of the illustrious iced mocha, I will do everything I can to guarantee you are as awake as humanly possible throughout the entirety of your home selling or buying process. In seriousness, this is the biggest asset you will ever buy or sell: Clients who are well-versed in both the overall process and the lesser-known options available to them are the ones who will be the least stressed and most empowered throughout the experience. My job is to help you compile your real estate A-Team, turn you into one of those hyper-empowered clients, and to have fun doing it. Since 2017, I have helped clients buy and sell more than 175 homes spanning from small condos and single-family starter homes to large move-up houses and upscale multifamily investment properties. Regardless of what your goals are, you deserve to be hustled for and communicated with, and that's my promise to every client. When I'm not helping folks buy & sell houses, you can find me in the crowd at First Ave, searching for brunches in Grand Marais, keeping the lights on at a number of Twin Cities coffee shops, and writing music in local bands First Dates and He Who Never.

• Specialized in working with homebuyers and managing all aspects of the home-buying process; promoted to Lead Buyer’s Agent after 14 months on the team• Successfully converted buyer consultations into fully signed buyer clients at a rate of 95%• Sold more than 150 homes after joining the team, with a career-long average of 40 homessold per year (compared to the national average of 12 homes sold per year)• Consistently increased average price point year-over-year, with a rolling average sale pricenearing $375,000 across 90+ sales in the past 24 months• Cultivated an excellent rapport and trust factor with clients, which facilitated long-term relationships, referrals, and repeat business• Maintained a healthy backlog of 5-star client reviews across Google Reviews, Zillow, Facebook, and Realtor.com, amassing 50+ total positive public-facing reviews just for MKT• Alongside the Director of Operations, led interviews with new prospective team hires, builtgoal-tracking systems, and introduced team-wide accountability backed by clear-cut metrics• As Lead Buyer’s Agent, co-developed and implemented a training program for onboarding new agents and personally coached up to 5 agents simultaneously• Participated in panels alongside some of the top realtors in Minnesota on various topics• Acted as the first line of assistance for all other realtors on the team, helping the team owner protect his schedule and meet his own goals• Willfully acted as the Token Office Tech Guy, troubleshooting enough Chromecasts and mesh networks that it will haunt my nightmares in perpetuity• Regularly failed forward and bounced back from the keen, spicy sting of rejection

As the Bortel & Co. team grew, I became Director of Sales for the group in the spring of 2018. This role combined my day-to-day responsibilities as a REALTOR® for sellers and buyers with internal agent-to-agent coaching. I assisted in the tracking of team goals/numbers, held 30-minute one-on-one coaching meetings with each of our agents every week, and worked directly with the team owner and Director of Operations to establish team standards.

When I obtained my real estate license in February of 2017, I initially specialized in working with buyers, helping all Bortel & Co. clients looking for their dream properties. Between February and November of that year, I sold 30 homes while representing buyers. Then, when Jennifer Bortel (our team owner and lead listing agent) accepted a new corporate role as Team Leader of the Keller Williams Integrity Lakes office in Uptown, I agreed to switch over to the listing side as Bortel & Co.'s Lead Seller Advocate. With a previous buyer-only specialty behind me, I understood how home-shoppers think, and was subsequently equipped to help sellers get top-dollar in their home sales. In this role, I specialized in working with sellers to get their listings sold, while continuing to work alongside my Bortel & Co. colleagues to grow the brand and its presence in the market.

After joining the Bortel & Co. team as Chief of Marketing & Operations in October of 2016, I obtained my real estate license in February of 2017 and was immediately trained by Jennifer Bortel to become the team's Buyer Advocate. In this role, I specialized in helping Bortel & Co.'s clients find homes (while Jen specialized in listings). From February '17 to November '17, I sold 30 homes while representing buyers.

After consulting with me for some freelance copywriting/marketing work, Jennifer Bortel—then a solo real estate agent—hired me as her Chief of Marketing & Operations. My immediate goal was to help her establish her brand identity, rebuild her website, and begin putting super-efficient back-end systems in place so her business could become scalable over time, leveraging her time & efforts as a REALTOR® by offloading administrative duties. We renamed the company Bortel & Co., and I built bortelandco.com and its supplementary social media pages. All the while, Jen trained me on the finer points of real estate transactions, knowing it was likely I would soon become an agent myself.

After GoDaddy acquired Mad Mimi in 2014, our platform was expanded to fit GoDaddy's pro-small-business product suite. Now, I help users all over the world use GoDaddy Email Marketing (GEM) to represent their brands, send bomb-lookin' emails, and analyze their long-term marketing strategies. Responsibilities include lightning-fast email support, live chat support, internal help docs & integrations, customer-facing webinars, training new colleagues, and the occasional public presentation. See the Mad Mimi description below for all the coffee-laden details.

• Offered email & live chat written support, technical troubleshooting, and phone support as part of a 24/7/365 remote customer service team for roughly 200,000 Mad Mimi users (acquired by GoDaddy in August of 2014)• Compiled & wrote product integrations between Mad Mimi and external platforms, along with supplementary help docs• Assisted with the training of incoming hires; created a new system of onboarding documentation in WordPress from scratch• Spearheaded full-team internal inbox support migration from Gmail to FrontApp in January of 2015• Company-wide top bonus earner since eligibility began in Dec 2013, with hundreds of career bonuses (average of 20+ bonuses per month) based on feedback from both customers and internal colleagues• Reached an accurate typing speed of 110 words per minute (slightly faster under the influence of iced mochas)• Grew capable of reliably handling 20+ support threads per hour during solo rush periods; became irreversibly addicted to the notion of going above & beyond for customers• Was given full, consistent live chat duties during third month of employment; achieved an average response time of 10 seconds (data provided by SnapEngage); currently confident supporting 4 to 6 simultaneous live chats• Gained experience in pre-scheduled phone support; mindful of approaching frustrated users with tolerance• Developed a dedication to the ongoing expansion of personal capacity for empathy, positive in-team collaboration, coolness under pressure, and openness to criticism & improvement of troubleshooting skills• One customer named Brenda thinks I’m an OK guy: bit.ly/AaronOnCLH

Junior Marketer for Home & Garden Titles:Assisted in writing, copyediting, and delivery of press releases, advertisements, and B2B sell sheets; utilized the Cision database to research effective media contacts for upcoming titlesContent Craftsman:Created and synthesized SEO-minded marketing copy for book catalogs and digital retail channels (Fall ’13 pub season onward)Co-Editor of the Motorbooks Blog:Copyedited and finalized 5 blog posts per week; assisted the Motorbooks marketing manager in procuring content and meeting regular posting deadlines; redistributed blog content to various social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest)Co-Editor and Social Media Manager for Whole Home News:In 2.5 months, collaboratively engaged Cool Springs Press & Voyageur Press colleagues to conceptualize the end-to-end design, construction, and logistical back-end strategy for the imprints’ first-ever joint blog; organized and oversaw all blog contributors, annual scheduling, and subject matter for 5-6 posts per week; maintained the fledgling Whole Home News Facebook and Pinterest pagesCompany-Wide Social Media Advisor:Provided 24/7 support for 15+ company pages across numerous genres and social networks; acted as an ongoing resource for editors, coworkers, and authorsColleague-Elected Project Manager for the Redesign of Motorbooks.com:Managed a team of 6 colleagues for 4 months in an effort to fully redesign the website & online store; developed and implemented office-wide blogging best practices while overseeing blog building & designTour Coordinator and PR Manager for Bruce Gamble’s "Sweet Chariot" Tour:Pitched, secured, publicized, and supported 8 cross-country book signing & presentation events in promotion of Swashbucklers and Black Sheep (Zenith Press, 2012); garnered tour & book press in major outlets including About.com, the Hemmings Classic Car blog, and Mustang Monthly

Senthor would consult me whenever they needed proofreading or fresh, demographically targeted copy.

• With precise attention to detail and organization, analyzed user data and created summative reports with recommendations to improve a key product based on user feedback• Provided insights that were recently published in "The Work of Leaders" (Wiley, 2013), earning a mention in the book’s acknowledgements section• As part of the product development team, actively contributed to both large and small company meetings• Drafted scripts for leadership facilitation training videos• Assisted in the digital editing of video footage, adapting quickly to new software• Built and developed rapport with colleagues from multiple departments; befriended the awesome basement cooks

• Gathered sales orders across a conjoined warehouse of two companies and prepared them for shipping• Received and processed incoming stock• Acted as a true multipurpose employee, demonstrating versatility by carrying out tasks ranging from everyday housekeeping to data entry

• Learned that a personal relationship with customers is invaluable• Relied on consistently high enthusiasm to satisfy a demanding, dairy-addicted American public• Maintained amicable, continuous face-to-face customer interaction amid an extremely hectic working environment• Was once personally given a plate of fresh-baked scones by a kind-hearted local woman