I was born and raised in Bellingham Washington to a mother, father and 1 sister. We Moved around quite a bit when I was a child. Ive been place to place back and forth from small town to big city. From rags to riches, never had anything handed to me. My up bring wasn’t always easy.  I survived, because I am a survivor.

We made our first move when I was about 3 to Kirkland Washington.  We Lived there till my 10th birthday then it was off to Cannon Beach Oregon where I attended a private school called Fire Mountain Elementary. The school was great except they really didn’t teach us much. I had a huge learning curve when it was time to go to middle school.

While I was attending middle school in Seaside Oregon about 7 miles north of Cannon Beach, our dream house decided it was time that is was going to fall off a cliff.  So we decided to move all the way back up to Bellingham Washington. I was 13 at the time, we lived in a little house on Fraiser St.  Where I went to yet another school called Kulshan Middle School. Halfway through the school year we moved again to a house my parents bought in north Bellingham on Lange Rd., where I attended Vista Middle School and then onto Ferndale High School.

My last year in High School my mother took off and left my father, shortly after that they were divorced. I then had no guidance, I took to my mother a lot and she usually watched out for me.

With her not around, I moved out when I was 17.  Life wasn’t never easy for me my family wasn’t well off and didn’t have a lot of money.  I was all on my own now since I moved out and remember not having any money for lunch so I would have to steal my lunch everyday so I could eat.  It was terrible, I only did that for a short time until I got my first job at the local Les Schwab Tire Center.  Some friends of mine took me in and I was able to keep afloat while I was going to school and working.  Juggling everthing made it tough for concentrating on school work. I didnt know that I was going to graduate until I walked, I remember saying this to my principal “so if I walk does this mean I graduate”.

After I graduated I moved back to Kirkland Washington where I worked for my uncle Gary mowing lawns.  I was at the lowest point in my life, I drove a 1976 Plymouth Valiant that my great grandma passed down to me when she died, lived with my cousin and mowed lawns for almost minimum wage to make ends meet.

After working myself to death, I decided it was time to move on with my life.  I met a gal where I used to live in Cannon Beach Oregon, so I packed all of my things in my 1976 Plymouth Valiant and started driving south.  I was able to find a place to live for $200 on some dudes coach and found a job a local pizza joint.  I stay in cannon beach for the summer and then moved to Vancouver Washington where my girlfriend at the time was going to college.

Once in Vancouver, I applied for a job at a KUI.  I had seen an add in the paper and had no idea what it was.  Turns out is was a Kirby Vacuum distributor that sold door to door. This was the pivotal point in my life.  To me this was sales 101, which I was good at, I would sell at least one of these a day.  Finally I found something that I was good at “Sales”.  I was so good at it that I had won a car and a trip for being a top sales person.  I worked at K.U.I. (Kirby Unlimited Inc.) for about six months and figured if I was good at selling a vacuum door to door I could probably sell a car.  I then applied at the Dick Hannah Auto Mall, it wasnt easy but i got the job.

I was 20 at the time and working at the auto mall selling cars at Dick Hannah Mitsubishi, the next step in my sales career and a step up from selling vacuums.  I was on top of the world, and guess what I was good at it.  I was so good that every one hated me because I was a young punk kid out selling everyone that was twice my age. I felt like I was in the major leagues and at the time I didn’t even have a car, I would walk a mile every day in my suite to work.  I was making really good money for my age.  Suddenly I got board of it and thought it was time to move on with my life. Then I moved back up to Bellingham.

21 years of age back in Bellingham no job, living on my friend Michael Koenen now NFL kicker for Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  I kinda took a step back, I was living off unemployment.  Again I was at a low point.  Then one day I was reading the news paper and saw an add for a real estate sales person position. I figure well shoot if I could sell a vacuum and a car, I could probably sell a house. After applying I was hired on the spot.

Success!! I found my calling, you bet I was good at it too.  A 22 year hot shot agent selling 4 homes a month.  I was instantly good at it too, I caught onto it quick.  The office I was working for was Prudential Kelstrup Inc. The way it worked was if you were good after a few months you get an office.  I sold 2 homes my first week and my boss, Gordon Stafford says here I have something for you, my own office!!! I was so excited, there were agents that were there for a year and were still in the boiler room.  I ended up getting the rookie of the year award for selling the most homes in 2005, when I started in March. I outsold everyone that was new in just 9 months when everyone else had the full year.

After being an agent for a year I launched my own website www.bellingham-realestate.net I read up online how to get the website to rank in google with the help of Real Estate Webmasters I was able to be at the top of the serps within a year of launching the site.  At the time the search IDX was terrible and you were only aloud 2 data feeds per office so I quit and went to RE/MAX Whatcom County INC.

2 years and $30,000 later I had the one of the most powerful real estate website in the Whatcom County/Bellingham area, with 15-20 buyer leads a day and around 12,000 unique visitors a month. I consider my self an expert at seo, I had pretty much built www.bellingham-realestate.net as high as it would go so I started another site www.kreick.com.

My job no consists of working on my sites and referring out my leads to my 6 agents.  I rarely work with a buyer anymore. I love what I do for a living.  I have been at the lowest point, had to steal food to eat, sleeping on peoples couches.  This is maybe why I am so successful at everything I do, because I am a survivor.  Nothing was ever handed to me.  I have worked for everything that I have starting when I was 17.  I am very into my work and believe that I will be making a enough to retire in the next 5 years.  Domains are the real estate of the future.

More to come my fingers are tired.