Realty Life
Veteran realtor and industry leader Ken McLachlan talks with real people about their passions, their accomplishments and the moments that changed their lives. Realty Life is an inspirational and powerful look at how life turns and the journeys that follow.
Realty Life
From Curtain Calls to Closing Deals | Laura Catalano
What does it take to pivot from Broadway to buying and selling homes?
Ken McLachlan sits down with Laura Catalano, a former professional dancer and Broadway performer turned successful Toronto real estate agent.
Laura shares her extraordinary journey—from disciplined years at a brutal ballet boot camp to performing at Lincoln Center and sharing jokes with Mel Brooks, all before seamlessly transitioning into real estate.
She discusses how her intense background in the performing arts prepared her for the rigors of real estate, the power of mentorship, and why taking action always beats waiting for perfect conditions.
Listen For
2:09 Why She Watched the Same Broadway Show Four Times
4:53 When She Knew: The Childhood Moment That Sparked It All
7:07 A Brutal Ballet Boot Camp in Belleville
16:40 Dinner with Mel Brooks and Pinching Herself in the Washroom
20:31 Ten Minutes to Real Estate Her Sudden Career Pivot
25:11 Why Relationships with Colleagues Matter Just as Much
29:27 Her Advice to Struggling New Agents Just Take Action
Guest: Laura Catalano
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Laura Catalano (00:00)
And my thing was I wanted to be trained to the point where I could choose what I wanted to do.
Ken McLachlan (00:15)
Hey everyone, it's Ken McLachlan ⁓ Welcome back to my podcast called Realty Life, where I get to hang out with really cool, interesting people and hear their stories and what gets them through life. And many of are in real estate, some are, but many aren't. And we get to learn what got them to where they are today. And I have a special guest today, my friend Laura Catalano Why don't I say your last name? How can you believe I screwed up your last name?
Laura Catalano (00:43)
Okay,
no one else is my name. Yes. Yeah
Ken McLachlan (00:46)
I know, I'm Italian, you know. But I stumbled through it, so I'm going to leave that in because that's the reality of who we are. Laura, welcome. I'm glad you're here. This going to be fun because there's so much about you that I want to learn more of. you know, one of the things that really interests me is how people got to where they are today in life. you weren't obviously you weren't born into real estate. You are a real estate agent now in Toronto.
Laura Catalano (00:49)
You are Italian
Thank you, thank you for having me.
Ken McLachlan (01:16)
And you weren't always that though. So tell us, you know, what happened? How did you get to, what did you do before this?
Laura Catalano (01:23)
Well, I worked in the theater. So I worked in musical theater as a performer. I worked in Toronto. I worked in ⁓ New York and I did quite a few Broadway tourists. So I toured a lot. that was my life. ⁓ I was actually very fortunate when I got into musical theater. When I was a dancer, I thought, you know, I had trained classically, hardcore training, and I thought I am going to be
to my art form and I am just going to do dance company work and all of that. it. Yeah. so soon enough I learned about musical theater and so
Ken McLachlan (02:00)
Tell me more because I believe that I know nothing about Broadway and musical theater. So you just don't walk up and get into musical theater. mean, no. How did you do this? How did you, a Toronto girl, right?
Laura Catalano (02:09)
No.
Yes, there was a show in New York that I had seen called Crazy For You. My parents had taken me to New York and I fell in love with it. And I had trained in tap, jazz, ballet, and all of those dance forms were in this show and I fell in love. And I knew that they were coming to Toronto. The show was eventually coming to Toronto. It was on Broadway. Then it was branching out. So what I did when I found that out, I went back to New York. I saw the show four times to study it.
and then I auditioned for it here in Toronto. And so I ended up booking the Toronto show, but they also asked me to do the Broadway tour. So I was so fortunate. mean, you know, horseshoes. booked two shows on one audition and I ended up Crazy For You, which was a Gershwin musical based on Girl Crazy, the Mickey Rooney movie from years ago.
ended up doing that show for about three and a half, four years.
Ken McLachlan (03:15)
So
was this, was this, this wasn't your first gig, right? mean, you just show up and do New York and come back to...
Laura Catalano (03:24)
I had done quite a bit of company work. had choreographed here. I used to choreograph like the NHL Awards and stuff like that and work as a dancer, do industrials, corporate shows, all of that here in Toronto. then, but that was my first musical foray into musical theatre. I was very lucky. And it just happened that the woman who was, you know, doing a lot of work on Broadway, Susan Stroman, I ended up being her type of
performer, her type of dancer. She liked dancers that were trained in all forms, but also very classically trained, which I had. And she also liked tall dancers. Which you were. Which I am. When I went into the audition, they actually ⁓ measured you, measured your height for you to be able to get in the room. Yeah. So which was a little wild. But I always used to joke that in Toronto or in Canada, I was one of the only dancers who didn't do
and of Green Gables. know, and of Green Gables is a big show in Charlottesville. One of the only ones who never did it because of my height, I could have five, 10. I could never be a school girl. Right. So nobody would ever buy it. So, yeah. So I found my, you know, I was so lucky to find this woman. She, she had Susan Storm and she did the producers and all of that. ⁓ And she took me under her wing and I ended up doing her shows. So very, very fortunate. But yeah, so you were.
Ken McLachlan (04:23)
Classic,
How old were you when you first started getting this inkling that you wanted to be in theater? ⁓ Or that was your genre, the theater?
Laura Catalano (04:53)
In theater or?
So dance, I was about eight or nine, eight or nine years old. And I knew, I knew I wanted to be in New York. I knew I wanted to dance. I was obsessed with it. think earlier in my years in school, I was bullied quite a bit. You know, I was tall and all that. So I think I, just found my own world. And when I, when I found dance, it became my world.
Ken McLachlan (05:17)
Family
connection to dance or somebody in your family? So you just at school, how did you first get introduced to it?
Laura Catalano (05:22)
I
first got introduced to it, I think I saw a film and I, of the, you know, the era of golden movies, golden dance films, and I fell in love with it and that I wanted to take dance. And so my parents let me. And then that's how that started. And then I just became obsessed and I knew what I was going to do from the age of about eight or nine. Like I knew, and there was no going back. Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (05:50)
So the life of a dancer in musical theater, I can imagine this is all guessing on my part, so hang it with me. ⁓ The discipline involved in this would be unbelievably difficult. The work that you have to do, the physical strength day in and day out on your body, even as a young person would have been incredible for you to do that. And the discipline you had for doing that, was that right or?
Laura Catalano (06:16)
Absolutely. When I ended up going away to, I ended up going to a camp, a ballet camp. I knew that I needed a certain amount of training. I don't know how I knew this at 13, but you know, when I was 12, 13 around then. Oh, okay. But I knew and there was a ballet camp and I decided that I asked my parents if I could go to this ballet camp because I knew I needed this training if I wanted to be able to work.
Ken McLachlan (06:29)
I'm going to ask you about that later.
Laura Catalano (06:44)
know, as a dancer in whichever form I wanted. so I ended up doing this, ended up joining the school and going there. And I boarded up LA school from, you know, 13, almost 14, up until the end of high school. And it was not enjoyable. Like it was like boot camp. ⁓
Ken McLachlan (07:04)
Where was it, Laura? Belleville.
Laura Catalano (07:07)
And they, you know, they weighed you in every week. were hit with, you were hit, yeah. For 13 year old girls, how healthy is that? Put up on a, put up on the wall. weight, you know, hit with, you know, the canes to get your legs higher. And so it was not enjoyable at all. I mean, most days before class, felt a little nauseated, but I knew, I knew that I needed that training to
Ken McLachlan (07:32)
this
Laura Catalano (07:33)
And my thing was I wanted to be trained to the point where I could choose what I wanted to do because I knew that...
Ken McLachlan (07:41)
Back that up you wanted to be trained to the point that you knew what you want you could do whatever you wanted to do. Yeah, I
Laura Catalano (07:45)
that I could
Whether
it be company work, dance company work, or like I was quite taken with the company Les Ballets Jazz back then in Montreal, quite taken with that company. ⁓ You know, my friend was Alvin Ailey, you know, so I wanted to be able to do whatever type of work I could do. So I wanted my training above and beyond so I could just choose because I knew at that point that being a dancer and making a living as a dancer was... ⁓
I know if anyone should really do that. you know, so I was.
Ken McLachlan (08:20)
You're
saying there's not a lot of money in this, is there? Well.
Laura Catalano (08:23)
No, and that's, it was funny, they switched to, again, with my pure art form and then finding out, you know, in musical theatre, there's a bump in your, in your pay. So I was like, okay, I'm in. you know, so then that started. But, and I think I knew because in my family, we had the arts world and the corporate world. My dad, you know, my dad pioneered art, IT in Canada. He was one of Ted Rogers' right-hand man and people. ⁓ So we always had the business world and the arts world in
Ken McLachlan (08:52)
And the is your mother, Arcee, or what?
Laura Catalano (08:54)
Well, my mother's eyes was a library technician and then she managed an artist management group. So she ⁓ conductors dance companies, ⁓ Dizzy Gillespie and Moe Kaufman. mean, she, you know, so she, had that in our home and then, and then the business side as well. So my dad, even though was a dancer, my dad always talked to me about business, always. So that sort of, I think that's why I was aware enough.
to know that if I was going to do this dance career, I needed to have things in place.
Ken McLachlan (09:29)
you're actually born with that ability or did you actually something when you're eight or nine that tweak you that you know what I can do this I want to train to do this I mean you didn't have the background your mother wasn't and it your dad was business you didn't have I suppose friends you just had this natural inclination to be drawn to it yeah is that yeah
Laura Catalano (09:50)
And it's interesting that you asked that question because I've never really thought of it that way, but I think it was my safe space for me to go and to dance. And that's why I became obsessed with it. then I loved it. It's interesting because I found that, and I mean, I think I did to a degree have a natural talent, but I worked my butt off.
You know, I used to have this underdog t-shirt that I would wear that I loved, which was what also motivate me. But I found that the women, the women who were incredibly talented ballerinas, there were two at my school when I lived in Belleville, neither of them went on to dance. So I found that. The level of dancer who really had to work hard for it, I found that a few of them went on to have professional careers myself.
but the ones who I deem to be extremely talented?
Ken McLachlan (10:48)
They didn't have the drive.
Laura Catalano (10:50)
Yeah, and maybe it's that connection with being so talented where it isn't, you know, it was just a bit easier in that way. But yeah.
Ken McLachlan (10:59)
Interesting because because I don't imagine you were you had a lot of maybe it was what you said Maybe it was a safe place for you to be Based on what we were going through and as you mentioned But and I don't think you from what I've heard that you had a lot of friends that tagged you along that pulled you along to do this It was more your own
Laura Catalano (11:18)
It
was me. It was me. you know, don't get me wrong, in Belleville, we had the junior eight hockey team. So it was, know, I wasn't, you know, I wasn't badly done by in terms of attention, but it was, but it was, ⁓ yeah, four years.
Ken McLachlan (11:34)
How long were you in Belleville?
Four years. Then you were old.
Laura Catalano (11:39)
Yeah, I was so I would have been going on by the time I went to the camp and decided and went going on 14 to a Just before 14 to just before 18, I guess. Yeah, okay
Ken McLachlan (11:51)
So
let's get back to 13, 14 year old Laura. And this is the premise that I have for my readings and all that is that what happens, something happens to us at that age. I always talk about this in my podcast that compel us to be who we are today, such as on the right direction. Now it might have happened for you when you're eight or nine based on what you said, but something happens to me, it happened. I got my career in real estate going. I made the decision.
looking back at that age to do it. What happened at 13, 14 to you?
Laura Catalano (12:26)
I believe it was when I asked my parents to go to this summer camp. And because I had been dancing, but I had not been dancing on this level. I had not been dancing with this commitment. I didn't know this world. I didn't know this world at all and what it entailed and what it meant. And so when I did this, my parents said, yes, and I did this camp. And I remember knocking on the, so the ballet master, I remember knocking on his door when we had finished the summer camp. I mean, he didn't come to me.
I knocked on his door and I told him I wanted to join the year round program. And I think that he was so kind of, well, I remember you've even said to me, you ask for what you want, right? And I think he just looked at me kind of taking it back that this kid isn't, you know, and he said, yes. And I asked my parents and then I joined it and I went into this world of complete discipline and structure and it changed my life.
Ken McLachlan (13:20)
So Laura, go back to that moment, that time, 13, 14, 15-year-old Laura, having the nerve or the confidence to put yourself forward to go to the full-time program, and the dedication to actually, I don't know a lot of kids, and certainly not a disrespect to the kids' hope there, but that would make that decision four years in Belleville, tough school.
this is what I want to do. At 14 years old, we're not really today, you know, they're just out there. But that's amazing that Laura back then, what the discipline you had and have to do that stuff. Do you acknowledge that or?
Laura Catalano (14:05)
And I think I have always sort of tied it to the trauma before where I found my world. was my sad place. That was my world. And I loved it. I I was just lucky enough to find something that combined with everything else that compelled me to go there that I ended up. was my path.
Ken McLachlan (14:29)
So
they, I've had that too. They can't get me there. mean, people, can't compete with me there. They can't get me. It's my world. I'm not going to let them in.
Laura Catalano (14:39)
Yeah, wow. Yes. Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (14:41)
So you also did movies.
Laura Catalano (14:45)
I did, I did, you know, and what it was, it was sort of, I mean, dance was my primary, you my main thing. ⁓ But it was in between gigs, in between jobs, you had to work. And so I sort of, you know, did everything. I would audition for film and TV. I would ⁓ do corporate work. I would do, you theater work. I would do dance company work. So it was sort of that where I had to audition for. And, know, it was, and I mean, not to,
diminished my ability. you know, if they needed a tall blonde for something, I generally would book it. So, you know, it was that.
Ken McLachlan (15:22)
Well, you I wouldn't diminish your ability as well at all, but I get your point. Yeah, they there we get stereotyped at different things. Yeah, so you are You leave Belleville you get into the theater you do this stuff dance theater and you're in New York and you're living in New York for three four years
Laura Catalano (15:41)
Well, I lived in New York. So I lived in New York ⁓ for a few years. And then when I would do the Broadway tours, would go and we would like the last one I did, it was out of the Lincoln Center. So I would like pinched myself that I was actually going in to rehearse at the Lincoln Center. And we're there for a few months and then we go out on the road. And that kind of thing. So I was there on and off and but amazing community.
Ken McLachlan (16:08)
I
was going to ask you, are you connected still with it or?
Laura Catalano (16:12)
I am, I have friends who are, one of my dear friends did come from away in New York. And funny enough, is, it's a small cast and his niece also got the same show. So in a cast of very few people he was with. But one of my, being in New York, when we were rehearsing at the Lincoln Center and this,
Ken McLachlan (16:31)
Yeah, isn't it? Brilliant.
Laura Catalano (16:40)
director choreographer was also doing the producers, which was also going up at the same time. ⁓ I ended up in my, my girlfriend was in the chorus and ⁓ in, in producers. We ended up going out for dinner and we ended up going out for dinner with Mel Brooks and Thomas Lee Han, who wrote the book for Annie. And I, was true. And this was, you know, back a bit.
And I was sitting beside Mel Brooks and he's sitting there riffing, making up cell phone jokes. Like that's how long ago it was, but he making up cell phone jokes and trying them out and everything. Ken, I actually went, we were in Allen's and I actually went to the washroom in the stall and pinched myself. Like literally pinched myself. Just
Ken McLachlan (17:27)
I would too. I mean to me that would blow me blow me away to sit next to him. ⁓ listen to him riffing on things and
love that world. mean, have, I have, this is how weird I am. I could, for me, I don't know why I'm gonna tell you this, but for me, I would spend my time watching bands rehearse. I would just sit there and I love watching them put together songs and the choreographing of their music and their singing and their bass and Dave Breckels are who we love. I've watched him rehearse.
Laura Catalano (18:03)
dude.
Ken McLachlan (18:06)
so many times and there's no better way for me to spend an afternoon than watching him rehearse his group. I love that that vibe that the theater that stuff and the knowledge of so for you to have that relationship in theater and to meet these people must have been extraordinary.
Laura Catalano (18:12)
said.
Well, they and I have to tell you the best story I have was when so then we opened in San Francisco and Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, his wife, came to the opening night. And because he had met me, he introduced me to Anne Bancroft and I was just. Oh, no, I was the standby for the leading lady in the show, so I only went on when she was off. Yeah. So I come down the alleyway by the by the stage door and he's there with Anne Bancroft and I'm like, oh, my gosh, this very photograph.
Ken McLachlan (18:36)
You're kidding.
Laura Catalano (18:52)
And he introduces me and I'm just like, so lovely to meet you. And she says to me, because I guess Brooks had told her that I was the standby for the leading. She said, and Holly was the lead woman. She said, do you want me to push Holly down the stairs so you can go on?
Ken McLachlan (19:11)
I can hear that. Oh my gosh. Isn't that beautiful? Oh yeah. What a memory. So how did this all end? What did you?
Laura Catalano (19:15)
Yeah. So I was really fortunate.
After that show, I mean, being a dancer, you've to hang up your dance shoes at some point. And I had choreographed, but I knew I didn't want to be a choreographer. ⁓ And so I retired after that show. I mean, after that show, had done what I wanted and I could put it all in a tiny box, put a bow around it and put it on.
Ken McLachlan (19:39)
How old were you, Laura, at the time? just... ⁓ Okay, so that's... It just took our turn I don't know, but I'm thinking that, I mean, hockey players quit in the 30s, some of them play in the 40s. I don't know. I mean, you're not getting beat up by the hockey player, but it's a lot of strain on your body, I'm sure.
Laura Catalano (19:41)
before 40.
So, and I knew, and I also knew I wanted to plan when I wanted to retire. I that. And then I went in and for a year, I worked for a not-for-profit, a fair trade not-for-profit. ⁓ And so we worked with artisans in developing countries to ensure they were paid a fair living wage and like coffee producers, chocolate producers, even rugs. ⁓ So all of that. And then they closed, in Toronto they closed. And I was also managing the volunteers, ⁓ but they closed the not-for-profit in Toronto.
And truly, I did not know what. No, had no idea. And within 10 minutes, I made a very quick decision that I was going to go and get my license.
Ken McLachlan (20:31)
What the hell you're gonna do?
wait, okay. So that's a great segue into this. So you quit dancing, you retire from dancing, you do some volunteer, not volunteer work, but you work for nonprofit and they close up and in 10 minutes you make a decision to get into real estate. Why wasn't it into insurance? Why wasn't it into retail? Why real estate?
Laura Catalano (21:01)
You know, I have, I, it was a very quick decision and I, you know, I, I'm not completely sure I had, I had sold two of my houses funny enough with Hallmark Agents, one being Dave Breckel's. And Brian Ross. Yeah, absolutely. But I was cognizant that
Ken McLachlan (21:17)
I could live.
And the greats. Yeah.
Laura Catalano (21:26)
because I was a client didn't mean I knew anything about being a realtor. Like I knew that. And I remember thinking, you know, while I was doing my, my classes, you know, I hope I, I hope I like this. I hope I like it. Like I was all in, but I hope I like it. Um, but I think, I think maybe it was my dad's influence because my dad was sort of like the OG, like excellent, excellent customer experience. was very into the client experience. And I think that
Ken McLachlan (21:49)
The
Laura Catalano (21:56)
customer facing that I had experienced. I could, you know, that had something to do with it. but yeah, I, ⁓ then I, and as I said, I got into it just hoping, you know, I hope I like it. And, ⁓ I remember, and I remember calling up Brian Ross and I said, can I meet you for lunch? And we went to Il Fronello on Danforth and I, I told him that I wanted to get my license and I was taking up for lunch and he said to me, ⁓ now until you get your license, I'm taking you for lunch.
So, haha!
Ken McLachlan (22:28)
That's Ross,
Laura Catalano (22:29)
Yeah,
and then he gave me your your contact info. He said when you're finished, contact Ken and yeah, absolutely.
Ken McLachlan (22:37)
So looking back at it, at those beginning years, the how many years you've been in it now? soon. Ten. So let's look back at the beginning years and your expectation of what it might have been or what you thought it would be. Is this something that has it turned out to be the business that you thought it would be or what surprised you about it?
Laura Catalano (22:59)
a few things with that. And again, as I had said, I knew that I didn't know what I didn't know. Like I didn't think I had an idea of it or what it would be like. But I would say it is more work than I had suspected. The complexities of each deal. I would say this. What I didn't realize was how much you're learning on the job. When I started,
learn and I was starting out on the job. I had five people, five realtors, very good realtors, who I would ask questions to because you. And I would rotate them because I didn't want to. I didn't want to, you know, pose on someone too much. So I would rotate the five of them asking because I knew no one in real estate. I mean, except for my realtors, I knew no one in real estate. I would rotate.
Ken McLachlan (23:46)
years up.
Laura Catalano (23:57)
the people I called and I ask a lot of questions. But I remember because my dad would always say to me, it rings in my head, ⁓ it's all about relationships, all about relationships, your clients and your colleagues. I was so fortunate in that, that I developed such good relationships with my colleagues as well because I...
Ken McLachlan (24:19)
I think that's incredibly important because we hear, I think many of us think this business is just about the client-realty relationship, but it isn't. It's about the relationship you have with your colleagues as well because there's a lot of stuff and I always tell people, I mean, it's important to have a good relationship with people because it's important to have good relationships. Yes. But I think that part of my job as a realtor is promoting and selling
the product I have to my callings as well, to make it available to them, to make it easy for them to show it, be involved, to satisfy the needs of the clients involved with that. I've always felt that having that, like you just mentioned it now, and it's some very important information, that relationship you have with your peers is critically important to have that. And many of us forget that.
Laura Catalano (25:11)
And you you are so, so right, absolutely right. know that one, you know, like one deal I'm working on now, I have, because it's an exclusive, I have called 45 agents. And if I didn't have those relationships, and I mean, and again, you want to have those relationships, but you know, if I didn't have those, ⁓ but it just...
in terms of your work in a deal I did earlier in the year, it was again, calling 45 agents and selling it off market because that was what was best for the client.
Ken McLachlan (25:43)
Well, it's the connections too. Exactly. What's the connections that serves your clients best?
Laura Catalano (25:48)
Absolutely. And to be able to draw from that. And I'll say before this year, I hadn't really had that many exclusives where I, but right now we have to be more creative and it's, you know, so you, you work the corners, you work the nooks and crannies and it's, it's, love talking to my colleagues. I love, and also with social media, you can reach out to so, you know, so many agents, you know, across the board.
Ken McLachlan (26:12)
Yeah, I think that's really important information you just passed on. Are you optimistic about the market or how much does the market get into your head? Because let's face it, we hear a lot of conversations now about, the market is tough, the market is this, the market is that. And for me, it's the experience of perhaps we allow the market to get in our way. It's always going to be the market is the market. I we can't do much about it, but how do you deal with the...
the markets out there, the peep, the negativity. You know what?
Laura Catalano (26:44)
What I have found now in the market, I have more than a handful of clients who need some creative problem solving, really. And so I more look at it that I go in and I dig deep and see how I can help them, whether it's doing the deal a different way or positioning it a different way or waiting or whatever it is. But I find that
my mind has gone to helping them rather than being outside of that and being stressed about the market. I find, you know, and when I do get stressed and when I do get apprehensive and when I do get that, ⁓ one thing I ask myself, which works for me is to keep me on track is who am I being? Like who am I being as a realtor and advisor?
Ken McLachlan (27:40)
and a person.
Laura Catalano (27:42)
daughter, a partner, a sister, all of that. ⁓ So that helps me and calms me down, but it keeps me on track. But then for me, what's very important, and I think it's from that structure and discipline, is taking action. If I'm not taking action, I'm to have a problem.
Ken McLachlan (27:58)
Wow, that's what it is, Laura. The whole thing is taking actions for what we're doing. And I found that whenever I got into retinous business, when I was selling real estate, because we get into funk, that's life, we get into funks. For me, was I had to revert to the basics and get out there and start talking to people again. And once I did that, it reinforced, yeah, you know what? I actually have a purpose. I'm doing it. I get disciplined back and do these things.
Laura Catalano (28:28)
You know, and thank you for saying that because that just reminded me, you know, I've got to, I've got to get back to my door knocking, you know, get getting those basics and getting which I would.
Ken McLachlan (28:38)
That's exactly what I did. That was my go-to thing to get me back in this business, door knocking. I think I can actually say that door knocking built my career. ⁓ It was because I got to talk to people, face-to-face. You know what? It is what it is, but there's a lot of things out there. I think that the discipline that you got from the work in theater and dancing, that to me is like, wow.
I mean, it's overwhelming how much work you had to do do that. And that helps you today. And the work, when things get tough, I'm sure you can draw upon this 13 year old, where you went through, right? At the time to do it. And what would you tell people that are new in this business that are suffering, frustrated right now?
Laura Catalano (29:27)
I ⁓ would say, you know, it's what you said in terms of get back to the basics and do the work, drown out the noise, drown out the negativity of the market and this and that, because I do feel that sometimes we fall back on that when we don't want to take action. So that's a good
layer where we can sit in there and that excuse because one thing and I'm gonna answer what you just said but one other thing I want to mention was what I realized and whether I'm doing it or not. I feel that in this industry you get out of it what you put into it and it come from somewhere else but if you're planting these seeds here you get out of it what you put into it and I almost have found it to be like a tap. So when if my tap goes off that's on me.
because I know whether I'm doing it or not. I know that I'm going to get out of it what I put into it. And I think with new people, I've said to them, don't be afraid. Don't be, you know, you are providing a service. Do not be afraid to reach out to people. Do not be afraid to speak to people. Do not be afraid to do all of that because you are providing a service. And yeah.
Ken McLachlan (30:50)
Also,
don't be afraid to take a stand either on who you are in this business, what you're representing this business and what you want to do in this business as well.
Laura Catalano (30:58)
Yeah,
and what you want to get out of it and what your boundaries are. Absolutely, absolutely.
Ken McLachlan (31:03)
So this is brilliant. So we're come to the end. you had fun?
Laura Catalano (31:08)
⁓ my god, I had the best time. The hour version? Come on. No, you're getting fat.
Ken McLachlan (31:11)
Yeah, and it's
Yeah, this is, ⁓ I mean, I've liked how you, how this has been about your background in the theatrical arts and how that set the foundation for you and a lot of things, not just business, but a lot of things in your life and the discipline you had. Listen, to be a 13-year-old to have that discipline that you had at that time is a real great thing. I mean, that is, you know, that's really
kudos to you on who you were and being away from home I'm sure you had to live away from home. Yeah, yeah. I mean and I've been to Belleville. Okay, I'm from Prince Edward County. Okay, so yeah, it's not a lot going. It's a lovely place Belleville, but it's a lot a lot going on there, right?
Laura Catalano (32:01)
The highest number of churches and bakeries per capita, ⁓ No, churches and bars. Sorry, churches and bars.
Ken McLachlan (32:08)
I know bars for sure. So Laura, you sell real estate in Toronto. Are there any particular areas you sell in or is it you go where your clients make
Laura Catalano (32:19)
Yeah, I'm all over. mean, right now I'm in the West, I'm in the North, I'm in the East and all over. Yeah. I also wanted to mention one other thing, mentorship and mentors. I've had some great mentors, been very lucky to have those including yourself and I thank you for that. And that's another thing I would say to new people coming in.
Ken McLachlan (32:40)
Yeah. But you have a dear friend of ours, Gary, you don't mention his name, who I love. He's the best. And he's the sweetest guy and he's been a big influence on my life as well. Yeah.
Laura Catalano (32:53)
Absolutely,
absolutely. The crowds. The crowds, yeah.
Ken McLachlan (32:58)
So how do people get a hold of you?
Laura Catalano (33:01)
How do they get a hold of me? They can reach me. Do you my phone number?
Ken McLachlan (33:07)
Well, whatever, So, wherever you want people to reach you.
Laura Catalano (33:11)
⁓
Instagram, I'm on there and I'm quite active. My handle is...
Ken McLachlan (33:18)
So what's your handle? Do you have a?
We're going to post it, but just say it anyway.
Laura Catalano (33:24)
I am lauracatalanodotremix.
Ken McLachlan (33:28)
There we do. So ⁓ they can reach you that way. We'll put all the acknowledgements and the connections up top here so people can see you. Laura, this has been a blast for me. I I love, I mean, could sit, I probably could sit and watch, listen, I probably could sit and watch people doing their rehearsing and dancing longer than watching Uncle Dave do his drumming. Okay, so maybe it's a new thing for me to do. ⁓
What I love about that is the discipline and the dedication to doing the work and in creating something as magical as you do. you do that a lot by your smile in this business, the dedication you have to your work and the difference you make to your colleagues and the help you give to people. So thanks for being you. Thanks for being here. And this been fun for me. I've had a blast and I've loved it.
Laura Catalano (34:16)
And
I gotta tell you, we're gonna go out and see Uncle Dave's band. Yes. ⁓ yeah. great. Yes.
Ken McLachlan (34:21)
Soon that blacks won ⁓
Okay, so thanks Laura it's been fun. Thank you so much
Laura Catalano (34:28)
Thank you so much.
Ken McLachlan (34:39)
Thanks for listening everybody. I've had so much fun talking to Laura Cataliano. I finally got her name right. Learning her journey through life, through theatrics, through dancing, through... I mean it's amazing the discipline that she's had to have. So I appreciate you guys all being here. If you like the podcast, I like it. Share it with your friends. Tell people about it. And if you have any ideas, drop me an email. Ken at remaxholmert.com. If you have any ideas for guests or...
people I should be talking to or you can nominate somebody, I'd love it. So have a great one and I'll see you next time.
