Meet Teresa Padilla | Real Estate Virtual Assistant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Teresa Padilla and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Teresa, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I was born in Tijuana, Baja California Mexico, and I was brought to the United States at just 9 months of age. My father had the privilege to have found a Tile company that offered a Status Sponsorship, and my mother was a stay at home wife. I have two older siblings and two younger siblings, putting me as the middle child. Looking back at my childhood I can say financially I had a decent upbringing, considering both my parents were immigrants, but both my parents being immigrants also took a roll on how I grew up emotionally.

Growing up in a home where only Spanish was spoken, while outside only English was spoken became confusing to me. As a kid my Spanish was never perfect and when I improved my English I was a “Pocha” and when my Spanish improved I was “too Mexican” and for a long time this always made me feel like I was neither from here or there. My family always laughed at the way I would pronounce words in Spanish, and my friends at school would laugh at me when I would pronounce words in English with an accent. This only pushed me to pick a side, and I went with English. I had lost practice with my Spanish but I felt proud because my accent had left when I spoke English. Throughout elementary I danced baile folflorico, I stopped during middle school, and later in high school I rediscovered the love for baile folklorico again. Learning to dance folklorico and deciding to continue it was one of the best decisions of my life. It gave me an insight to my roots, it also taught me discipline, and dedication. What started out as a curiosity during an afterschool program, become a life long lesson leaving a huge impact in who I am today.

When I was about 6 or 7 years old my fathers sponsorship was revoked, and he remained with ITIN, due to this he became a Self- Employed Tile Setter in San Diego. I grew up seeing my dad in many stages of the business world, from consulting, to marketing, to budgeting, to accepting losses, to hiring and I also saw the discipline, the compassion, the consistency and the empathy to running a business. This also meant there was long working hours, and sometimes this also meant him having to travel for work. Seeing his hustle everyday definitely took a major impact in the career choices I have taken.

Throughout my life I have had several role models, and the strongest one was my Nana. She had the heart of a grandmother, and the soul of a politician. She was a proud activist for a political party in Tijuana and I grew up hearing a lot of political talk from her. She sparked an interest and left a certain foot print in me. Hearing her political campaign stories from back in her day inspired me as a little girl, and even now as an adult. She was a character and I always felt like her tenacity and spark was her legacy to me, She was a beautiful impact in my upbringing and her memory still remains one now.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Real Estate has always been a fascination to me. The endless opportunities for growth, and the smiles that come with is what inspires me the most about Real Estate. In my early 20’s I watched Los Angeles Million Dollar Listing, and I’d be lying if I said that the show didn’t play a part in my desire to be in the real estate industry. I first got my feet wet in real estate when I started working for an Escrow company as a Escrow Assistant. Escrow was NOTHING like the shows lol. Although, learning escrow did give me the fundamentals I needed to decide if this was something I was going to pursue. I knew I did not want to continue in escrow for long, mentally it was a very heavy job to carry, and personally my mental health is something I’ve always prioritized. Don’t get me wrong, its a great career, very rewarding but I wanted to interact more with people. Calculating closing costs, and balancing a loan behind a computer was not going to give me the interactions I wanted. Opportunities in this Escrow company closed down, and I left my position. For about 6 months I learned everything I could learn on my own and kept practicing what I knew about Escrow. I then took a trip with my family to Florida and during that trip I received a sign, and when I got back I got to work on a new idea. Virtual Assist San Diego.

With my background in Escrow, I decided to offer a Transaction Coordinator service to realtors. And considering I had an extensive background in sales, administrative, business development, and an exceptional customer service I also extended my skills as a variety of services to Realtors. Starting out, I knew it was not going to be easy, I didn’t have the funds to pay for marketing, to hire a professional photographer, content creator etc. So I really needed to crack down on learning to produce content & social media marketing, because social media was going to be my main lead generator. I started out offering services to other small business and soon realized it was taking me away from the real estate industry. I quickly reverted back to only partnering with real estate professionals, and I haven’t changed it since.
About 8 months ago I officially began to offer Social Media management to real estate professionals. I deal with burn out at least 2 or 3 days every 2 months, and I admit it’s from not taking enough breaks, feeling overstimulated or I go out of routine. Do I let my clients know? Yes, I do, and a lot people will judge and say “you’re going to shoo them away”. This hasn’t happened, and I like to believe it’s because of transparency and communication. We’re human not robots, and if a client can’t empathize with that then I’m not the Virtual Assistant for them. Working within corporate you don’t have this freedom, which is another reason why I started this journey. I had my fair share of bad experiences working a 9 to 5, and making sure I don’t experience this again is my personal mission. My point is, don’t dim your light for anyone, because not everyone will light you up.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
For Friday vibes definitely downtown Chula Vista, the entire 3rd Ave is filled with bars, mini restaurants & with a touch of history. My favorite bar is “Bar Sin Nombre”, when my husband and I first discovered this bar we were out with our Millennial friends and we realized the bar had video games lol. Now I’m not a fan of video games but the vibe was right and so was the music, and since then the vibe has always been right. For Saturday I would say a mini off road trip to Dulzura would be nice. Sunday brunch at Hash House a Go Go, for me personally the crunchy French toasts are a must try. After brunch a walk around Balboa Park for a cute photo op. Monday we make our way to one of San Diego’s most ghettos neighborhoods lol where the most bombast taco shop is located, Taqueria Imperial. Tuesday is Belmont park, I’m not a fan of going during the weekend because of the insane traffic and the lack of parking. Belmont park is perfect for tourists and natives to experience a family vibe, and having the beach right next door is a plus. My family and I love going to Seaworld, that would be our next spot. For Wednesday I’d say a trip to the San Diego Zoo would be nice, and I admit we do have a beautiful Zoo. If it’s July the Delmar Fair Fair is an option and if it happens to be Fall, the pumpkin patch on Sweetwater Rd in Bonita is our go to. I know it’s supposed to be local spots but with the border being so close to us we find it hard to resist not going to TJ and having some bomb tacos at Tacos El Franc, or going to Ensenada for a fun night of clubbing.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My family definitely deserves a huge shoutout lol, Running a business from home has it’s perks but also faces it’s difficulties. My husband and two daughter’s have been so supportive throughout this journey, and I feel so grateful for them. There was a time when I thought I was crazy, it just wasn’t worth it continuing, and I was ready to just throw in the towel. I remember crying to my husband in the shower expressing to him how sorry I was for wanting to quit, he held me and let me feel it out, he then reminded me of when I told him why I wanted to start this journey. He figuratively fixed my crown for me as I stood back up, just like a King would do for his beloved Queen.

Website: https://linktr.ee/virtualassist.sandiego

Instagram: @Virtual.assistingsd

Image Credits
Teresa Padilla