Rising Star - Elissa Yarrow

Elissa Yarrow - From Desperation To Determination

Written by Susan Marquez

Photography by Abe Draper Photography

Elissa Yarrow had an idyllic childhood. “I grew up on a farm in South Dakota with my parents, two brothers and two sisters. My grandparents lived next door.” But Elissa always wanted to see the world. After graduating from high school in Bismark, ND, she went to college at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, MN, where she got a degree in vocal performance. “I thought I was going to sing for the rest of my career!”

Elissa Yarrow

Instead, she got married at 21, and various job opportunities took them all over the country living in Minnesota, Dallas, Chicago, Detroit, Sacramento and finally, his job brought them to the Jackson area. It was here, after nearly 26 years of marriage, that Elissa found herself as a divorced single mother to three children. That changed the course of her life, and the journey wasn’t an easy one.

Before moving from Sacramento to Jackson, Elissa knew they would need to rent a house in Jackson because their California house had not sold yet. “I asked the Lord to help me find a place. I put my finger on a map of Brandon, MS, and asked God to help me find a house in that map, and it was perfect!

I flew to Jackson to secure the lease agreement and met the owners/landlords. Their names were Phil and Marsha Landers. At the time, I had no idea that he was the operating principal and broker at Keller Williams. And I had no idea that one day I would be in real estate.”

That friendship developed, and soon Elissa realized her life was about to drastically change. She had coffee with Marsha and asked her what she thought she should do. Marcia said she should sell real estate and that she would help her do just that. “I had never thought of doing that,” laughs Elissa, “but it seemed like a good idea. I thought about it for a day and decided I would take the leap and get my real estate license. I had inherited a small amount from my grandmother, and I used that money to purchase a laptop and to take the real estate pre-licensing course offered at Keller Williams at that time. I’m not going to lie, I got into it under duress of the divorce and with very little means. Failure was not an option.”

Elissa’s license went active with Keller Williams on April 1, 2017. “I had no one in my database. I moved here knowing no one. I had no family anywhere near here.” She had to get creative, and that required Elissa to be brave. “I put on my Keller Williams shirt and name tag, carried my clipboard and went to every community event I could find. It was so awkward for me, but after I got the first couple of people out of the way, it got better. After 10 people, I got the hang of it.” She asked the question over and over, “Who do you know who needs my help to buy, sell or invest in real estate?”

Elissa enrolled in the BOLD class at Keller Williams, an intense goal-setting course that challenged her to talk to 100 people a day. “I learned that you get a lot of nos before you get a yes. I would introduce myself to people in coffee shops or anywhere else I went. I just knew I had to make it work.”

That first year, Elissa only closed two deals. The next year she knew she had to do better, so she joined a team, and that helped her. “It taught me the business. I got daily coaching. I loved it.” But the next year, the team split up, and Elissa was on her own again. “I was lonely and depressed. It was a dark season for me. I struggled in real estate because I struggled as a person.” At that point in her business, Elissa was still living closing to closing. At one point in that year, she had six deals and every one of them fell apart. She was devastated and thought she could not stay in the business. It was a desperate season. “I was very blessed during that time that my family stepped in to help me and they got me through until I could figure things out.”

Elissa says she was so discouraged, she almost went into insurance. “Sadly, the reason I even considered that is because it would pay me a base salary of $1,000 a month. My limited thinking at that time caused me to rationalize that at least I could feed the kids on that. Then I realized that I would have to get licensed in a whole new field. I felt so insecure and unstable.” Then she got a real estate coach. “The personalized real estate coaching really helped me more than anything else I had experienced. As it turns out, my coach was a former counselor, and he was able to coach me in a way that helped me overcome my limiting beliefs and negative outlook due to my life circumstances. That helped me regain my confidence as a real estate professional and as a person capable of succeeding in business.” Elissa finished out 2019 with six closings. “I finally had an influx of cash, and that meant I could breathe.”

As the pandemic unfolded in 2020, Elissa began to panic, but her business continued to grow. By 2021, she was doing great. “All the networking I had done in previous years really started to pay off. People knew me, and I had developed a reputation for myself. I had enough closings under my belt that I felt like I knew what I was doing, and that added to my confidence.”

In that short time, Elissa says she was able to pay off all her debt, increase her credit score and, most significantly, buy a home all on her own. “I finally felt independent. When Phil and Marsha helped me get into real estate, they gave me the greatest gift. They taught me how to fish for myself. The gift of being introduced to real estate put me on my own two feet, and then they celebrated all my wins with me. It’s amazing how when you are down so low, you can discover something you’re good at. I have a deep love for people, and I love to talk to people, and I found I have a good mind for business, despite training to be a singer! So, it turns out that real estate is an ideal business for me.”

Elissa’s favorite part of her job is the closings. Making it to the finish line. “I love the connections I make with my clients. So many have become good friends.”

Her children are now 12, 14 and 19. Whittaker (Witt) is her youngest, and he is in the seventh grade and loves gaming and writing. Delaney is the middle child, in the eighth grade, and plays volleyball at school and for Infinity. Makenna is the oldest, a sophomore at Jones Community College, where she is on a full scholarship for both soccer and academics.

Elissa is athletic as well and enjoys training at the gym and running. “I’ve completed two marathons, and I’d like to train for a third. But finding time to run is getting harder and harder.” She is also active in her Business Networking International chapter. “I’m in the Jackson Referral Connection group in Flowood. I love being in that group because we really trust each other with our referrals.” She is currently studying to obtain her broker’s license and aspires to start her own team at Keller Williams. Her mission going forward in life is to finish raising her three amazing kids, keep growing her real estate business, and take every opportunity she can to let other women experiencing life situations know they can overcome their circumstances. “If I can do it, others certainly can, too! I am excited to help anyone who wants to join me on the real estate journey!”