This week on Mindset Matters I sat down with my friend and fellow Green Mountain grad, Mikelle Adkins Smith of Keller Williams Advantage.

Mikelle grew up an only child who loved books and writing, with a very straightforward plan: become an attorney, make the grades, do the work, check the boxes. She got into DU, worked 40 hours a week while carrying a full class load, and stayed locked in on that path… until real estate and the title world showed her two things at once:

1. She could make more money, faster, without going hundreds of thousands into debt.
2. She could actually build a life she wanted, not just a résumé that looked good.

From there, her story takes a lot of turns - leaving the law-school dream behind and jumping into title, burning out during the refi boom, meeting her now-husband Brian and, within six months, watching him buy a struggling franchise while she quit her stable job and they got married, and eventually her decision to enter real estate and build a life and business simultaneously.

We get into motherhood, too. Having kids during the 2007–08 mess, choosing to be home as much as she could while still selling, and how having three boys (now 18, 16, and 13) completely reframed how she talks to clients about homeownership.

And then there’s hockey.

A random flyer in a kindergarten Friday folder led to roller hockey at Skate City… then ice hockey… and now all three boys are all-in. They shoot pucks every day without being asked, they study film, they battle each other in the driveway, and they make choices most grown adults won’t make to protect their opportunities. Mikelle and Brian don’t try to be their coaches - they just ask good questions, keep them grounded, and let the work ethic be theirs.

What stuck with me most, though, was this:

Mikelle will tell you she’s guarded, that she keeps a small circle because of some of what she lived through growing up. But if you listen to how she talks about her boys, her clients, and even the kids they play with, you can hear the truth - she’s got a massive heart, and her sons have inherited it. They care, they stick up for people, and they don’t let past hurts decide how they show up.

If you’re in real estate, a parent, or just someone trying to figure out how to chase big goals without losing your mind or your family in the process, this episode is worth your time.

And Mikelle's story... starts now!

www.everettslending.com
720-979-8742
jimmy@everettslending.com
IG: @jimmythesaint5280

This week on Mindset Matters I got to sit down with my friend and straight shooter, Sasha Smothers of Keller Williams Advantage in Lakewood. If you’ve ever felt like you were “the quiet kid” who didn’t quite know where you fit, or if you’ve been staring at this housing market wondering what’s real and what’s just noise, this episode is going to land.

Sasha grew up outside of Boston as an introverted, sometimes overlooked gymnast - the kid who didn’t always feel worthy of speaking up. She was raised by entrepreneurial parents in mortgages and real estate, watched them build businesses and still show up for every important moment, and somewhere along the way picked up an early belief that her voice might not matter as much as everyone else’s.

Fast forward - she moves to Denver on a 24-hour decision, survives a pandemic in a brand new city, hires a coach, does the hard inner work, and slowly starts to rebuild her identity. While this massive change is taking place, she meets her now-husband and stepdaughter at the apartment pool, falls in love with both of them, and over time steps fully into what she was built for - helping people navigate one of the most complicated housing and financial environments we’ve ever lived through.

What I admire about Sasha is simple - she tells the truth, even when it isn’t trendy and she’s not afraid to talk about the uncomfortable parts of our financial system that most “professionals” ignore because it doesn’t fit on a postcard.

During our conversation we talked about her journey from introverted gymnast to confident, outspoken agent, the mindset work that helped her finally see her own worth, how she and her husband think about money, control systems, and what might really be coming next, and why she believes community, curiosity, and questioning the mainstream narrative might be the only way we get through this together.

Her story... starts now!

www.everettslending.com
720-979-8742
jimmy@everettslending.com
IG: @jimmythesaint5280

Stephen Berg’s journey reads like a crash course in perseverance. Growing up in Evergreen, CO, with a pilot father, his childhood was shaped by curiosity, travel, and an early fascination with aviation. After 9/11, that dream dissolved — both because of his opposition to the war and witnessing his father lose his pension when United Airlines filed bankruptcy. The experience planted two lifelong seeds: distrust in corporate systems and an obsession with independence.

He tried it all - flipping houses, running a wine department, even becoming a certified sommelier and assistant winemaker in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. But when the financial fallout from a mold-ridden home and a costly lawsuit left him nearly bankrupt, Berg rebuilt again. This time, back home in Denver, as a real estate agent.

With a newborn, another on the way, $80K in debt, and his family living in one bedroom at his in-laws’, Stephen started from zero and within two years was the Denver Metro Association of Realtors (DMAR) Rookie of the Year, discovering that the only real limits were the ones he’d been placing on himself.

Our conversation covered a lot of ground - from the danger of comparing your chapter one to someone else’s chapter twenty, to how punk rock, science, and critical thinking can shape a career and a worldview. We also dove into why structure and patience are underrated superpowers in an unpredictable industry and how fatherhood reframed his idea of success — not just as freedom of income, but freedom of time.

By the end, Stephen’s story becomes less about selling homes and more about how to build a life — one defined by adaptability, curiosity, and conviction.

www.everettslending.com
720-979-8742
jimmy@everettslending.com
IG: @jimmythesaint5280

On this week’s episode of Mindset Matters I had the honor of sitting down with my friend and absolute pro, Jessica Lentz of eXp, Colorado native who turned hard seasons into repeatable excellence. Jessica grew up in Littleton (Columbine class of 2000), walked through more loss and challenges by nineteen than many see in a lifetime, and somehow found a way to raise a family, build a life and grow one of the more impressive real estate businesses in all of Denver.

At one point in her life a teenage mother both working and studying full time, Jessica earned a biology and nuclear medicine degree, moved to Seattle for a rare program, and still somehow found the energy to read her son biology textbooks at bedtime.

And when life pivoted, she pivoted. A severance check and six weeks later, she took a shot at real estate with zero expectations and a very un-Instagram start: FSBO, HUD, messy buy-sell—trial by fire from day one. What followed is the part I want every agent and entrepreneur to hear: Jessica built a durable business on three FOCUSED hours a day. No frantic “always on,” no “I meditate about my ice bath” monologue - just clear boundaries, fast communication, and a bias for service over spectacle.

Not to say she didn’t work outside those hours, but those three hours have become the foundation on which everything in her business has been built.

Jessica has a clear understanding of what she wants and what her expectations are. From playing offense with clients (set expectations so emotions don’t run the show), to refusing to tie your identity to a paycheck, to why doing one deal a month is a legitimate business that doesn’t require you to sell your soul.

We also get into the good stuff: raising great kids (shoutout to Collin taking his real estate exam the day before Thanksgiving to match mom’s milestone, and Hayden patrolling center field), leaving railroad life for a healthier family rhythm, travel, concerts, sunshine, and yes - logging miles on a treadmill to the Eras Tour.

Jessica’s story is proof that consistency beats chaos, boundaries beat burnout, and a servant’s heart beats slick tactics - every time.

www.everettslending.com
720-979-8742
jimmy@everettslending.com
IG: @jimmythesaint5280

On this week’s episode of Mindset Matters…

Jason Dalbey has the kind of story that reminds you growth doesn’t happen in straight lines - it happens in leaps, pivots, and a few well-timed faceplants that teach you what really matters.

A self-described “awkward, lanky kid” who learned to adapt through constant moves across the country, Jason discovered early on that being genuine was the quickest way to build connection. That same authenticity is what defines him now as the founder and team lead of The Denver Group at Compass, a real estate team built on integrity, collaboration, and actual value - not ego.

After grinding through corporate sales, surviving a failed business attempt around the 2008 collapse, and later house-hacking a Congress Park triplex with his wife Meg, Jason found his lane in real estate and never looked back. What he built since isn’t just a successful team - it’s a culture that reinvests in people first, values presence over production, and focuses on selling Denver, not himself.

A husband, a dad to three amazing kids, and a self-proclaimed LEGO therapist, Jason is refreshingly honest about leadership, burnout, and balance. He’s proof that ambition doesn’t have to come at the expense of family, and that “always happy, never satisfied” might be the healthiest mindset in the room.

His story... starts now!

www.everettslending.com
720-979-8742
jimmy@everettslending.com
IG: @jimmythesaint5280

In today's episode of Mindset Matters we changed it up a little bit and I sat down with two men that I very much look up to.

Sergio Nazarro was $1m+ per year producing real estate agent when he realized that what he was building professionally was simultaneously tearing his personal life and marriage apart. So... instead of ignoring the problem and hoping "success" would solve it all - he made a massive pivot, leaving real estate entirely and entering the world of coaching. Now a few years into his new journey, Sergio has found his calling by helping men find their strength within themselves and their marriages.

Lewi Gault may not have torn his personal life down - but after rapidly building a substantial real estate business, he realized that everything he was working towards was in the opposite direction of the life he wanted to create. In an industry obsessed with terms like grind and non-stop - Lewi decided he could accomplish more by helping people in a similar situation to recognize what is most important to them rather than what they're told is most important by an industry bent on production.

In this episode we have a great conversation about life, marriage, family, operating a business, and what success really looks like.

That starts...now.

www.everettslending.com
720-979-8742
jimmy@everettslending.com
IG: @jimmythesaint5280

Andre Whitt is the fun-natured, down-to-earth type you can tell early on takes things in stride. Having been in the real estate game for years, he’s experienced it all — operating his own brokerage (twice), navigating market shifts, and managing both the hot stretches of non-stop work and the cool stretches of regrouping.

A husband and father of two, Andre's journey as a man has been shaped by his understanding of what he wants for his family, for himself, and for the people he surrounds himself with. In a world that struggles to define the word “enough,” he at least has a sense of what that means to him and works very intentionally toward its accomplishment.

An avid golfer and a natural content creator, Andre’s work has evolved into a lifestyle that fits him and allows him to show up for people in a way that matters. Whether he’s discussing the market on the 9th green or shooting a video that entertains and educates, if it’s good energy and positive vibes — Andre is all about it.

His story… starts now!

www.everettslending.com
720-979-8742
jimmy@everettslending.com
IG: @jimmythesaint5280

Taylor Bunney has long been the person who is going to care, who is going to find a way, who is going to put more into a challenge than even she will give herself credit for. A Colorado native, she was both the kid that wanted to please and to be helpful, and one who realized early on that hard work and determination would take her just about anywhere she wanted to go.

A highly -skilled realtor at eXp, Taylor takes a tremendous amount of pride in how she represents her clients and how she shows up for them. Compassionate and understanding, tenacious and blunt (in the best way possible), as she is described by her colleagues, Taylor's natural tendency to put her all into something has lead to becoming a repeat Icon agent with the company and a loyal client base that love working with her.

A nurturing spirit to the core, it is no surprise that Taylor derives the most joy in her life from being a mother to her son Drake and the relationship they have forged. She is also not the the type to shy from the truth, and her acknowledgement of where she finds lessons, faults and growth in herself as a parent and professional are as real and genuine as they get. As she shares her story, it's impossible not to hear how heavy the responsibilities she places on herself can be - and how much pride she takes in holding it.

www.everettslending.com
720-979-8742
jimmy@everettslending.com
IG: @jimmythesaint5280