Losing Her Best Employee Was the Wake-Up Call Betsy Pepine Needed to Reinvent Her Real Estate Company

My guest for Episode #306 of the My Favorite Mistake podcast is Betsy Pepine, a serial entrepreneur in real estate and the founder of Pepine Realty. Betsy leads a top-producing real estate team consistently recognized by The Wall Street Journal and has built a family of companies that includes a property management firm, title company, real estate school, and a nonprofit.

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She’s also the author of the 2024 book Breaking Boxes: Dismantling the Metaphorical Boxes That Bind Us, which explores the limiting labels and roles we assign ourselves—and how to break free from them.

Betsy’s favorite mistake was starting her brokerage with no clear plan. What began as a solo effort out of her home unexpectedly turned into a team, and eventually a company—but without intentional structure or culture. That all came to a head when her trusted assistant resigned right before a long-overdue family vacation. Her assistant’s honest feedback—about the lack of family, growth, and purpose—was a painful but pivotal wake-up call. Betsy responded not by retreating, but by reading leadership books on her cruise, hiring a coach, and reinventing her company with clear values and a defined mission.

In our conversation, Betsy shares how she rebuilt Pepine Realty around core values like family, impact, and growth. She talks about initiatives like creating a nonprofit to address housing affordability and designing career paths that include a rare salaried-agent model in real estate. We also discuss the power of learning from mistakes—including how her team shares “learnings” each week in a psychologically safe environment that accelerates growth and prevents repeated errors.

Betsy’s story is about far more than real estate—it’s about leadership, self-awareness, and responding to failure with action. Her perspective will resonate with anyone building a team or culture where people feel seen, supported, and inspired to improve.

Questions and Topics:

• What’s your favorite mistake?
• What did your assistant say when she resigned—and how did that become a turning point for you?
• How did you respond to that feedback, and what changes did you make in your business?
• What were the first steps you took to start shaping your company culture?
• Did you create your mission and core values on your own at first?
• How did you define and build a “sense of family” inside your business?
• What inspired you to create a nonprofit—and how does it fit into your overall mission?
• What’s the purpose behind your unique salaried agent role?
• How do you help team members shift roles if they’re not in the right seat?
• What’s the weekly “learnings” segment in your team meeting—and how does it support growth?
• How do you balance encouraging learning from mistakes without being careless?
• Do you use checklists or systems to help prevent mistakes?
• What prompted you to write Breaking Boxes, and what’s the core message of the book?
• How do we recognize when we’re stuck in a metaphorical box—and how do we step out of it?
• What are the main fears that keep people in those boxes?
• Can you share how fear of failure has influenced your thinking over time?
• What does it take to build resilience to change?
• What’s your approach to managing fear of loss—especially status or social connections?
• How did your connection with Barbara Corcoran come about?
• What lessons have you learned from Barbara as a mentor?