From Doubt to Dominance

Carla Healy never expected to be a business owner. She'll even tell you that she was more than happy to remain a sales assistant.

But when things lined up for the Burdekin local to purchase Raine & Horne Ayr in 2024—the company she’d worked at for almost a decade up to that point—she took an uncharacteristic leap into the unknown.

For better, or for worse? Well, it would depend on when you asked her.

The purchase marked a momentous milestone, but where champagne should have flowed, tears did instead.

“I cried for the first week," recalls Carla.

“I thought, ‘what the hell have you done? What were you thinking? You're an agent. You're not a business owner.'”

She had no formal training. No bona fide experience in business ownership.

But she had one asset that overrode every one she lacked.

Sheer determination.

“I’m not a quitter—never have been,” she said.

“There were definitely days I wanted to in those times. A lot of times it crossed my mind…

But pride never let me.”

And with that attitude in her sails, there was nothing that could stand in the way of her subsequent success.

With each passing day, she became increasingly at home in the position.

“I remember one day towards the end of 2024, driving to work, pulling up to the office, looking at it, walking in and going, ‘Yeah. I do love what I do. You do love what you do, Carla—and it's only going to get better from here,” she said.

And that, it did.

In her near two year stint at the helm, Carla has led the office to levels it hadn't previously known. The branch was recognised with four different awards at the 2024 Queensland/Northern Rivers State Awards, and then a further six at this year’s iteration just last month.

Personally, Carla has hit milestones of her own—most notably Top Principal Number of Sales Transactions in the state, as well as becoming Ayr and Home Hill's top-rated real estate agent on RateMyAgent for the second year running and the Top Agent for Ayr, Home Hill and Brandon with RealEstate.Com.

But for all the tangible recognition, she derives the most pleasure from helping people make one of the most important decisions of their lives.

“You're fulfilling people's dreams,” she said.

"You’re matching the right person to the right property. People entrust you to sell or buy their most valuable asset—their home. Seeing them all happy, that’s all the reward needed.”

Although technically the owner and Team Principal, she never truly left her post as a sales agent, still attending to calls, appraisals, and handling clients directly—just as she did in her formative days at Andersen Real Estate before it franchised to Raine & Horne in 2019.

“I didn’t take the boss’s office—I’m one of them [the sales agents], just with a different title underneath me,” she says. “It still doesn’t click to this day—Principal/Owner.”

Behind the scenes, her husband Keith is her anchor, and, in her words, her “biggest fan.” Retired, he manages the home, allowing Carla to tackle the volatility of a real estate day head-on.

“He always believed I could when I didn’t," she said.

"For once, I listened."

As she continues to grow the business, she remains optimistic for the future.

“We've just started. We’ll keep powering on, doing what we're doing,” she said.

"I’m always of the opinion that if it’s working well, you don’t fix it!”

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