How I Got My Start
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Over Over Again Starting over is never easy. Just ask Randy Martin, who found out that the third time is a charm.
For years, Martin, a sales associate with Watson Realty Corp. Mandarin South in Jacksonville, thought his career would be spent in healthcare. He graduated with his registered nursing degree in 1973 and worked as a nurse for many years. Disaster Strikes Twice When he was 40 years old, disaster struck. He went through a divorce, found himself a single Dad with two children, Chad and Danna, and ended up “emotionally breaking down,” says Martin. “I lost everything,” he says. Martin filed bankruptcy and was forced to start over. “It took me six months to sort out my life, and I got involved in healthcare again as an area director for a homecare agency,” he says. Then, the unthinkable happened— his 21-year-old son was killed. “My son was killed in a wakeboarding accident. The neat thing about Chad was that he was a carefree, loving person. He put a lot of living into those 21 years.” In fact, Martin had been called to visit the emergency room so many times that he wasn’t even concerned when he first heard that Chad was in the hospital.
“This was probably his fifth or sixth accident. He was a daredevil.” At age 50, he was involved in a corporate downsizing. “I was devastated all over again. I was one of the top-performing area directors. What was I going to do now?” After losing his job, Martin decided to take a month off to clear his mind. Soon after, while reading the Sunday newspaper, he saw an ad that caught his eye. “The ad said, ‘Tired of working for the corporate world? Want to be your own boss?’ It was a Watson Realty Corp ad. “I called the next day, met with the recruiter and started a real estate class the following week,” he says. While interviewing with the office broker, Martin mentioned that Sunday’s would be difficult to work due to his commitment to his church. He was reminded that it would be a challenge to be successful in real estate and not work on Sundays. Martin says he has been “blessed to have worked few Sundays and still have a successful career” while maintaining his church commitment. Within the first year, he was named Rookie of the Year and closed just over $5 million in sales. That was August 2002, and he’s with the same office today thanks to the support of his broker and fellow agents. Lives of Real Estate
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