Kiama real estate agent Marnie Beauchamp has returned to the industry, and the town she loves, after stepping away for several years “to heal emotionally, physically and spiritually”.

Several years ago, the successful business woman moved from Kiama to Sydney. A series of traumatic events and a mid-life evaluation prompted her to take stock of her life and make some changes, including writing a book, Unread Pages: The Silent Struggles Behind Every Success. 

The book is a raw account of her struggles, including losing both her parents, surviving financial ruin and two divorces, battling an eating disorder, undergoing spinal surgery and helping bring a stalker to justice, “which was pretty scary”.

It is little wonder then that the self-confessed workaholic needed some time out from the daily grind of 15 hour days, seven days a week.

“I went overseas, did solo road trips, I laid on the beach and I basically hid away from the world,” she laughs. But the break proved life-changing and reminded her how much she missed Kiama and the real estate industry. “It wasn’t the place that was the problem, it was the place I was in. By giving myself some space I was able to get clarity around where I wanted to be and it’s definitely here in Kiama. Sometimes you need to move away from something to really appreciate it.”

Marnie had been working ridiculous hours “her whole adult life,” buying her first real estate agency at 27 while nursing a newborn. She juggled running a business and raising two young children for the next five years until her marriage broke down. When she decided to sell the business, the transaction went pear shaped and ended up in court. Marnie was being sued for damages and came out of the process “hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt from having to fight the claim”.

“I lost everything,” she says. “Financially as well as physically, as my health deteriorated.”

Marnie put her company, named after her daughters, into voluntary administration. But she couldn’t bring herself to declare bankruptcy or liquidate her business.  

“I’m a fighter, I didn’t want to take the easy way out,” she says. “I decided to get back into it and pay every cent back. At the time, I had $1.76 to my name, that's how bad it was. I was sitting in the park and I couldn't even buy my girls an ice cream. It took me about five years to pay off the debt, but I did it.” 

Around the same time, Marnie’s beloved father passed away suddenly, at just 58 years old. Her dad was her inspiration to find the strength to rebuild her career and her life. Despite vowing to never open another business or franchise again, she did both in 2009, “starting from scratch”. 

Over the next several years she won a raft of awards, including business person of the year, most outstanding real estate agency, number one agent of the year, and business of the year. Marnie successfully “clawed herself out” of both debt and despair.

“You only fail if you give up,” she says. “Failure has been the catalyst for the biggest successes in my life. If you want something bad enough you find a way. A lot of it is about mindset, you just have to be willing to do the hard yards.”

Resilience is the underlying theme for Marnie’s book, a project she began working on after taking a career break from the real estate industry and moving away from Kiama in 2019.

“For the last few years I haven’t done much at all,” she says. Not much at all for Marnie includes writing her book, industry coaching and business mentoring, guest appearances on business podcasts and, most recently, developing a performance-based app for the real estate industry.

“Writing the book was cathartic and very emotional,” says Marnie. “Revisiting all the things I’ve been through was hard, but the book gave me the opportunity to breathe, reflect and think.”

Marnie recently signed on with Belle Property and is back home in Kiama, her “happy place”.

Marnie will launch her book at Belle Property Berry on August 8 at 6pm. 

All are welcome for book sales and signings.