It's just after noon, and Doris Carlin is watching the workers outside put a coat of bright red paint around the top of the building before hanging the sign to her new business, Keller-Williams Realty.

She analyzes them approvingly before stepping back inside to tackle more of those move-in pains - rooms still being organized and the phone company working to get lines wired into the right offices.

She smiles about the chaos while taking a seat in an unoccupied office, crossing one black-booted leg over another. "There's always a few glitches, but this is exciting. This is the company of the future as far as I'm concerned," she says.

Getting the office's doors open isn't the only thing on her plate this month. Carlin just returned from Jefferson City, where she was appointed by Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt to the Missouri Real Estate Commission - the first person from the area to be named to the board in 40 years. One would think this appointment, which coincided with the opening of the business she's spent a year planning, would be a little overwhelming. But if there's anything for which she's known, it's being able to make more room on that plate.

Starting fresh

A leading real estate agent in the Joplin area, Carlin recently left her position of 19 years with Pro 100 to open Keller-Williams Realty of Southwest Missouri. Keller-Williams is one of the five largest real estate franchise firms in North America, with nearly 400 offices in the United States and Canada and 35,000 agents worldwide.

It was just over a year ago that Carlin first noticed Keller-Williams, and she was immediately impressed. "I had my eye on them," she said. "I think they're a very visionary company. They see what the future of real estate can be."

Joining together with about six others who each left their companies, Carlin began working with Keller-Williams to get an office open in Joplin. Although she serves as the "designated broker," the company is designed so each employee can also be an investor.

Agents can pay in a certain percentage, and then 100 percent of earnings go back to them. "There's an appeal to being an owner and making ownership decisions," said Kent Eastman, a part owner who has been in the real estate business 30 years. "People say 'Keller who?' because they've not heard of it. Let's hope we get that out of their heads."

Another advantage: profit sharing. By hiring people to work below you, agents have a chance to earn part of the team's sales. This practice, says Eastman, is unlike what any other real estate company in the area is doing. "I think it's a new concept and some people are going to be hesitant. But it's very exciting."

Fast growth

The Joplin team is showing as much confidence as the company's founder did back in 1983 when Keller-Williams first got off the ground. Unable to secure a loan, Gary Keller partnered with fellow real estate agent Joe Williams to raise the start-up funds. The company surprised everyone by earning a profit of more than $100,000 its first year.

Since then, it's been a home run. Over the past 10 years, the company has grown 40 percent annually in agent numbers, earned commissions and profit sharing. Today, it grosses over $1 billion in commission income - thanks, it says, to the unique set-up of brokers and agents working together to share successful strategies and bring even more new employees into the fold.

It was a year of studying the company the finally led Carlin to take the leap, and to talk other agents from Pro 100, Charles Burt, and Realty Executives into coming with her. So far, the Joplin office has hired 20 employees, and hopes to bring on even more. Houses have already been closed, and they hope to get into property management within the next 60 days.

"It takes a lot of guts to leave what feels safe and take a risk," says Carlin. "But this company is ahead of its time."

Advantages

One of the advantages, says new partner Mike Flannigan, is the dedication to continued education. "The company is highly motivational and they're making great things happen online. There are some great geeky people," he said with a laugh.

Although he doesn't have totals yet on how agents are doing in sales, he says he expects to be at the same level he was last year at his former company Pro 100. "You would think there would have been a little bit of a slowdown, but there wasn't. It was busy from the moment we got here. And the great thing is they're going somewhere. You're not just sitting here waiting to do something, you get the feeling you're going somewhere."

Carlin agrees, and says investing in Keller-Williams is a move she was more than ready to make.

"When you've been in business 20 years or more, you find that people get in a rut and don't want to change. For me it was a matter of moving ahead. I wanted to and I didn't feel I could with the company I was with," she said.

"I believe this will offer me opportunities that will allow other agents to change their lives for the better. It's thrilling to be on the cutting edge."
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