The Tiffany Martin Team
MARCH COVER STORY
STORY BY LALEY FREEMAN | PHOTOS BY PEAK RES
TIFFANY MARTIN
When Tiffany Martin bought her first home over twenty years ago, she knew she had found her passion. From the very beginning, she hit the ground running. Since then, she has continued to grow and accomplish more each year.
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: “I’m passionate about life and living it to the fullest. I’m a positive person and surround myself with people that are the same.”
Q: What makes you stand out in this industry?
A: “Honesty, integrity, and keeping it classy! I’ve met many great REALTORS® over the years and I’ve learned that, when things get tough, keep it classy. It’s easy to lash out when you’re in a stressful situation because we are the ones that the buyers and sellers lash out at. Ultimately, we all want the same outcome: to make our clients happy and get them to the closing table.”
Over the years, balancing work and life has been the trickiest piece of her successful career in real estate.
Q: How do you balance work and life?
A: “That’s a tricky question because this career has a lot of flexibility if you let it. When I first started in real estate 21 years ago, I hit the ground running. I got rookie of the year and became successful pretty quickly. I struggled to have the work/life balance and let the business consume me. I enjoyed it so much that I didn’t realize that all I was doing was working and not having much of a social life. Being a REALTOR® is a lot of work and requires long hours but it’s the most rewarding feeling knowing that I have made someone’s dream of being a homeowner come true. It took several years but I finally found a way to balance the two and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I’ve met so many great people along the way and consider most of my past clients my friends.”
Q: How do you define success?
A: “Just be yourself. Most people think that being a REALTOR® means that you have to be a good salesperson, and that is not the case at all. The client either likes the house or they don’t. I’m not here to push someone into buying a house; I’m here to help and coach them through the process because it’s more of a psychological process than anything. Buyers and sellers are usually so stressed with the process that they are not thinking straight. My job as a real estate agent is to listen to their needs and help them, even if it’s not related to real estate. I’ve had clients confide in me and tell me things I have no business knowing,” she laughed.
Q: Who is Tiffany Martin outside of work?
A: “I am a dog mom with an amazing life. My family and friends are very supportive of all of the decisions I’ve made…the good and the bad. God has been great to me! I am very blessed and loved. I love to travel and try to take a few trips every year. My nieces and nephews refer to me as an ‘old lady’ because I also love to work in my yard–I got that from my mom, who always had the most beautiful flowers in the neighborhood. I pride myself on having 85 potted plants in my backyard that I keep alive all summer…well, most of them!” she laughed.
HAYLEY BAKOVIĆ
As the child of a REALTOR® and a home builder, Hayley Baković grew up in the real estate industry. “When I was in kindergarten, my mom made me wear a shirt to school that said, ‘My Mom is a REALTOR®’...so maybe that’s when it all started for me,” she laughed.
Although she continued to have a deep interest in real estate as she grew older, her parents encouraged her to stay away from it because of the market’s unpredictability. She had, in fact, seen them struggle with the real estate roller coaster time and time again. After graduating high school, Hayley attended Oklahoma State University, majoring in entrepreneurship with a double minor in marketing and management.
Q: How did you get started in real estate?
A: “After college, I had two jobs but neither of them met my personal goals, expectations, or what I wanted out of my life. I wanted more and I wanted to be challenged. In January of 2020, I texted Tiffany Martin to see if she could meet with me to talk about real estate. Tiffany has been a part of my life since I was about 14 and was practically my stepmom throughout high school. She is a friend to many and a wonderful colleague to others; however, to me, she is a role model, a leader, and a person I aspire to be like in many ways. We ended up meeting up for a couple of hours, discussed my options within real estate and she left me with contact information for Steve Oliver at Oklahoma Real Estate Academy. I remember leaving our conversation excited for what was to come because I knew this was the right move for me. I was beginning real estate classes that next week and the rest is history!”
Q: What makes you stand out in this industry?
A: “My hustle and work ethic are the reasons for my success so far. I am always willing to further my education and continuously evolve as a REALTOR® with this ever-changing market. I believe that if you are not continuously evolving, then you are continuously falling behind.”
Although real estate is a demanding and time-consuming career, Hayley has found unique ways to experience the world while also staying present for her clients.
Q: How do you manage your work and life balance?
A: “Managing my work and life balance can be difficult. One of the things I enjoy the most in life is traveling. I travel, but also make sure that I am available to take care of clients wherever I am if need be. This past year I took business calls and emails from Greece, Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia, but that balance works for me because I thoroughly enjoy what I do.”
While many things have made Hayley into the driven and hard-working person she is, there is nothing that has left a bigger impact on her life than her relationship with her late father.
Q: Tell us more about who shaped you into the person you are today.
A: “This question is emotional for me, but the most important one. Without a doubt, my dad, Eric Peaden. He passed away from his battle with cancer on his 44th birthday in September of 2016, but during that battle, he showed me so much. I got married in June of 2016 and, the week before my wedding, his oncologist told him that he wouldn’t make it to walk me down the aisle. That oncologist quickly learned that doubting my dad only turned into him proving others wrong, because he did make it to walk me down the aisle. He had stage IV melanoma and, less than a week after my wedding, he was admitted to the hospital where he spent the last couple months of his life before being sent to Clarehouse on hospice for three days.
"During his time at Hillcrest, I watched him work from his hospital bed, talking to clients on the phone and calling subcontractors to make sure the work was being done. He’d send me, my grandpa, or my uncle out to the jobs to make sure everything was up to his standards. He had one surgery while in the hospital and he only had a 10% chance of actually making it through the surgery. While in the hospital, a tumor the size of two NFL footballs grew on his arm and he was told the only way he had any sort of chance at survival was to amputate his arm. He took the leap of faith and said if there was anyone who could make it through, that it would be him.
"I’ll never forget the night before the surgery. I remember sitting in his hospital room waiting for him to get off the phone with a client he was in the middle of building a custom home for. I waited for him to hang up, but the wait grew longer and longer. He was deep into conversation about the home and didn’t hang up until about 11:30 pm that night. He worked harder than anyone I have ever known no matter what the circumstances were. On the day of the surgery, I walked next to his hospital bed as they rolled him away. He looked up at me and said, ‘Whatever you do in life, don’t give up. Peadens don’t give up.'
I have gone back to that moment time and time again during the difficult moments I have experienced. Proving everyone wrong, he made it through the surgery; however, the stress his body was upholding became too much and he passed away 10 days later. Because of him, I am strong, I don’t give up, and I work as hard as I can, day in and day out. I think of him daily and hope that I am making him proud following in his footsteps.”
TAWNI HERBURGER
Before becoming a Tulsa real estate agent, Tawni Herburger was a small business owner in Tulsa for many years. After selling her boutique business to spend more time with her son and experiencing a major life change, she was driven to start a career in real estate.
Q: How did you get into your specific niche in real estate?
A: “I got into residential real estate due to my love of architecture, home design, and the fulfillment that helping people brings to me.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: “My son, life, friends, family, helping my clients, and fashion!”
Q: What makes you stand out in this industry?
A: “I feel that I bring a newer, more modern approach to my clients with my energy, ideas, and marketing. I go above and beyond for my clients. It’s not rare for me to run to make beds and clean for my clients before showings and even help them move!”
As a single mom, balancing work and life can be difficult at times, but Tawni finds comfort in the fact that she is not the only single mom out there doing life and figuring things out as she goes along.
Q: How do you balance work and life?
A: “Don’t get me wrong, it can be challenging. As a single mom, balancing a career and life–most moms can relate to that but, by far, the best way to balance it all is with faith, as well as making sure to take time for yourself.”
Tawni’s parents instilled a strong work ethic in her at an early age, which is evident in her success, not only as a REALTOR® but also as a mom. Her son, Rhett, is attending Metro Christian Academy as a fifth-grader. Today, Tawni enjoys spending time with her son, friends, and traveling!
