Karen:
Today's guest brings energy, creativity, grit, and one unforgettable
brand story. Erica Deuschle is the managing partner of KW Main Line and the
powerhouse behind Trust the Pineapple — a brand, a vibe, and a story that
people love. I was introduced to Erica by my amazing sister, who told me, you
two have to meet, you'll hit it off instantly. And she was right. Erica, I am
so excited that you're here.

Erica:
Thank you so much. We like to pack a punch early.

Karen:
Before we get started, I feel like you have a background where maybe
this isn't such a crazy space for you to be in. A broadcasting degree?

Erica:
Broadcast degree, and some really fun internships — one of which was
at the Howard Stern show at K-Rock. I always thought that's where I'd end up,
in New York City on the radio. So yes, this is pretty comfortable.

Erica:
First and foremost, a pineapple is a sign of welcome, a sign of
hospitality. Being in the real estate business as a solo agent years ago — I've
been in about 18 years, and was by myself for a long time — I always had a
pineapple in my logo, in my email signature. The reason I chose it is that
growing up, my parents didn't have much financially. We had everything we
needed, but they always had the most beautiful home. Whether they were having a
large party or hosting holidays, they were always bringing people into their
space. I think that's what they were most proud of and what they worked so hard
for — to open up what they did have to everyone else.

The silliest little thing:
every year at Christmas, my dad would build this wooden board, and you'd put
all this fresh fruit on it above your front door. Right smack dab in the middle
was a fresh pineapple. It was a labor of love — a board my dad built, and every
year the fresh fruit would go on it, go above the door, and then come down. And
this was long before pineapples became popular, before Charleston and Savannah
made them a thing. My pineapple affair came way before that.

Erica:
It was me, and then I hired my husband in 2015, and we grew this
team of 15 agents and three administrators — and in building the team, the
brand grew. Trust the Pineapple is really a play on Trust the Process, the
Sixers. Our friend Scott was the first person to say it — he said, trust the
pineapple — and we thought, oh my gosh, that's great. Then other people started
saying it, because it was that same era of trust the process. Using it as a
tagline, it just grew.

For perspective: when I was
solo I was maybe doing 20, 25 million on my own. I brought my husband on,
started growing a small team. In 2020 I was the number 20 realtor in the
country with Berkshire Hathaway, and we transitioned to Keller Williams in 2021
for a lot of reasons — industry changes, wanting to be more cutting edge. We're
now close to a $250 million a year business.

Hospitality, and opening up who
I am personally and where I came from, is one of the reasons I'm successful —
I'm an open book. Early in my career, when I was really getting this going, I
had two little boys. I'd have clients come to our house and sit at our dining
room table, and my kids would come down and kiss me before they went to bed.
Opening myself up that way probably differentiated me when they referred me to
family or friends. It became less you should call our realtor and more you
should call our friend Erica.

Karen:
When you're looking for the right people, you told me something I
thought was profound — it's not about the commissions.

Erica:
In any sales business, you either have it or you don't. I can talk
to somebody for five minutes, maybe five seconds, and know. Meaning they have
something in them where they're going to give so much of themselves — not in a
salesy way, in a giving, loving, compassionate, listening way. As soon as you
start thinking about the commission you're going to make on a sale, we're not
even having that conversation, because then you're not putting your client's
best interest first. People are very smart. They can see right through
something that isn't authentic.

Erica:
At first in my career I was struggling, because my husband and I
were just starting out with little babies and a mortgage, and getting into real
estate is really tough when you don't have a cushion. We bootstrapped it with
absolutely nothing. Very, very stressful. I was blessed to have a good partner,
and wonderful parents I'm still lucky to have, grandparents rooting me on — I
had a lot of people in my corner, but it didn't make it much easier. You start
with a certain kind of struggle, because you just want to make it in the
business. And I always say: just don't quit. You will make it in the business.

Then you almost have a
different struggle once you make it enough to breathe and pay your bills. You
start to feel resentful sometimes, working so hard in a client-based industry —
I'm working when my clients aren't, nights and weekends, when I want to be
tucking my babies in. What I've learned over time is you have to find gratitude
for everything you have, the peace within yourself, the comfort you've built
with the success. You take a deep breath and keep doing what you have to do to
service the client. It's not a struggle, it's a juggle. It's become part of my
life.

Karen:
Do you have practices to put boundaries around that?

Erica:
I'm in a bad way right now, honestly — I always say I'm either in a
good way or a bad way. I'm not getting up and walking my dog the four miles a
morning I used to, and I should be, because it's so good for my mental health.
We bought a big old fixer-upper in May, so that's been my outlet. I always have
to have something I'm working on, which drives my husband crazy. I always need
another big thing — buying an investment and renovating it, throwing a huge
fundraiser for 300 people, whatever it looks like. My brain always has to have
that extra.

And having three kids — a
17-year-old, a 15-year-old, and my youngest is now 10 — your priorities change.
I don't want to leave early in the morning because I love getting my daughter
on the bus and my boys out the door. Any free time now is spent going to my
son's basketball game or watching my daughter dance.

Erica:
I scaled the business a few years ago and now work only with sellers
personally. One of the biggest gifts is to sit down at someone's kitchen table
and hear their life story. I'll ask people, why have you loved it here so much?
Tell me what you've loved about it. Can you imagine sitting down with a woman
who raised her children in a home she's been in for 50 years? There's so much
she has to say, and maybe not many people around to listen.

Karen:
You're almost providing therapy through the process.

Erica:
I've been a therapist for years. The only thing I can't do is
prescribe meds. There are so many stories — people who hosted weddings in their
backyards, the parties in the old '70s basements with the leather sofas and the
bars. Just hearing the stories and being that listener. I always say the most
successful people in sales, across any industry, are the ones who can listen.

I'm very detailed and creative,
so working with sellers gives me an outlet. I can walk in somewhere and paint a
picture in my head right away of exactly how it should look before we go to
market, then manage all the things that have to happen to make it look that
way. I'm not frazzled by dealing with contractors or picking colors — I thrive
in management. And I'm lucky because I've built a great team of resources.
They'll be over in half an hour if I need them, whether it's an electrician, a
contractor, an organizer, a packer.

Erica:
My biggest challenge is one of my children, who has quite a few
different diagnoses. My Wesley is 15 now. He's on the spectrum, he has
epilepsy, which is a new diagnosis we just got in August, he's needed heart
surgery, he has an arachnoid cyst on his brain we discovered when he was two.
Going through all of Wesley's things has made me so much stronger and given me
such perspective on life. I have no time to be anything but very direct, with
love, in everything I do. I think he made me who I am. They all did — but being
his mom has pushed me to a certain level within myself, and it's given me a
confidence, because at the end of the day, that's the hardest thing.

The cards have always been
stacked against him, but he is the most positive, loving, resilient — he's one
of a kind. All of my children are special in different ways. My oldest is an
old soul, came out of the womb like an old pop. He doesn't say much, he's a
listener, very bright. He's taught me a lot because he and I are very different
— I'm completely out there, and Wyatt is the total opposite. What I've learned
is that's okay. He's teaching me every day to adjust and adapt. And my daughter
is just a bright, shiny light in our lives.

Erica:
To lift people is to listen to where they're at in their life,
listen to what they have to say, and help to elevate them. If I'm meeting with
someone on my team and I hear what they're going through, personally or
professionally, I try to figure out what the core of the issue is, then offer
solutions and advice on how I'd go about changing it. Be a good listener.
There's so much information at all of our fingertips, but that personal
one-on-one connection is huge. I don't know how much people get that anymore.

Karen:
What's lifting you right now?

Erica:
Finally feeling like the home we moved into is ours. Feeling proud
of where I got it, and excited to have the holidays and time with my kids and
my husband, friends and family, hosting. My aunt said it best this summer, when
I was mourning our old home — I was shocked I had that sadness. She said: it's
not the house, it's the moments. All the moments within the house. That
probably goes for everything. The process of moving really humbled me and made
me appreciate my clients that much more.

You always have to trust your
instincts. Your goal should be to be better tomorrow than you were today. In a
competitive business like real estate, compete with yourself — know what's
going on in the peripheral, but stay focused on your own goals. And just be
kind. The kinder and more giving you are, don't hold your knowledge and
experience within yourself — share it with other people. It will come back to
you a hundredfold. And don't give up. There's a reason why you started.

Karen:
You remind us that connection, community, heart, and kindness can
all be part of your success as a business. You're lifting people with your
energy, your courage, and your pineapple magic.

Erica:
Thank you so much.