by Tim Froberg
Entrepreneur Learned Key Skills in First Job
Successful entrepreneurs and business leaders seldom start at the top.
Many smart, determined individuals like Lori Muller make Himalayan-like climbs after launching working careers at low-level positions.
Muller learned game-changing skills in her first job that helped her reach career heights she never imagined.
The Oshkosh native has done it all in real estate. She sold houses as an agent, led company teams, owned multiple branches, wrote books, served as a public speaker and worked as a top corporate leader.
Muller has handled the latter role so expertly that her name has appeared on lists including the Swanepoel Top 40 women executives in real estate and Swanepoel’s Power 200 top real estate executives. Swanepoel annually ranks the most powerful and influential executives in the residential real estate brokerage industry.
Muller was also a HousingWire Vanguard winner (for outstanding leadership in the housing industry), an RISMedia Achiever (for excellence in the real estate industry) and a Broker of the Year recipient for the Central U.S. Region.
But the roots to her accomplished professional career go back to her first job as a door-to-door salesperson for the Hy-Pro Chemical Company. She sold a cleaning chemical for eight years. Pounding on doors to make a sale wasn’t an easy gig, but Muller learned how to handle rejection, read a prospective customer, and basically sell.
“It was literally knocking on doors,” recalled Muller. “I was 19 years old, away from home, and it was the generation of no cell phones. I couldn’t just call home if I needed anything. It was an interesting experience.
“What it taught me was that I could only rely on myself. I learned that if someone says, ‘no,’ it’s not a personal rejection. Another important learning lesson was that the first 15 seconds of meeting someone are the most important.”
Muller also learned how to rely on her observational skills. Prior to knocking on a door, she would scan the environment around her – much like a detective – and use whatever clues she could collect to assist her in the sale.
“When I was walking up to doors, I would look for different things I could clean because I was selling cleaner, right? said Muller. “I would look for things like: Is there oil in the driveway? Is their brass kick plate dirty? Are their windows dirty? Does the patio furniture have mold on it? Do they have kids? If the garage door was open, do they play golf?
“I would try and pick up all those little things, so I could go to the door and be a solutionist. I would find a solution to their problem.”
Muller turned what could be perceived as a nothing job into a school of knowledge and a money maker.
“When people ask me where I went to college, I always say the ‘School of Hard Knocks,” said Muller with a laugh. “People say, ‘Gosh, that was a tough gig.’ It was, but I was making a real good living because I was good at it.”
That simple yet complex first job led to a distinguished career in the real estate industry that has spanned more than 20 years. Muller used the experience to land a sales job for Bemis Packaging in Oshkosh, then joined Coldwell Banker: The Real Estate Group where she served five years as a realtor and team leader. In 2007, she became a broker and owner of an Exit Elite Realty branch in Appleton – the first established in Wisconsin – and grew that to include two more area operations.
Corporate roles with a large international company followed and Muller kept raising her game by serving on various boards and committees. She has been a past president of the Women’s Council of Realtors Wisconsin and has served on different committees of the National Association of Realtors, including the Realtors Political Action Committee.
“I didn’t actually get into real estate until I was 33 and wish I would have gotten into it sooner,” said Muller, a 1988 Oshkosh West graduate. “The reason I got into real estate was because there were people who nudged me and said, ‘Hey, you would be great at real estate.’
“I was working in corporate America and in a corporate-structured environment, but I wanted to get back into that entrepreneurial environment. It was the nudge of people believing in me before I even thought about it. I immersed myself in the day-to-day grind of how people buy and sell houses. That gave me a deep appreciation of the power of relationships and the importance of earning profits.”
Muller’s mantra throughout her real estate career could be summarized in three words: listen, learn, and share.
“I think the reason I’ve been successful in this career and have taken it to different levels is really just being authentic,” Muller said. “I have honed my skills, always tried to learn more and never believed I was the smartest person in the room.
“I’m always investing in myself so I can invest in others and give back. Not letting fear stop me has also been key because fear is temporary, but regret is forever. I never want to have any regrets.”
Muller knows how to communicate her knowledge of real estate. She is a John Maxwell-certified mentor, trainer, and coach and has been a featured speaker at many real estate conferences for the past several years, including the National Association of Realtors, the Women’s Council of Realtors and brokers and agents across the country.
“I talk a lot in the realm of females in leadership positions and not just in the real estate industry,” she said. “I try to deliver the message of knocking out the imposter syndrome and having the confidence in yourself to know ‘Hey, I got this and I have this group behind me supporting me.’
“I want to leave the room in a better position than when I got into it. I try to pour all my passion of real estate into it and leave it all on the stage.”
Muller is also an author. She wrote a book, “Born to Sell: From Zero to Hero: Building Skills for Success” that was released in January. The book focuses on the mindset, habits and tools that drive sales results. It is broken down into 16 chapters, examining matters such as core values, personal branding, sales mastery, mindset shifts, accountability, time management, and self-discovery. The paperback can be purchased on Amazon. “Born to Sell” is the first of a series of books that Muller is writing.
“I actually started writing it about seven years ago and had never finished it,” said Muller. “People have joked with me over the years saying that I was born to be in sales. But no, I wasn’t born to be in sales. I learned a lot of different traits over the years and took what I’ve learned and created this blueprint for everyone in sales – whether you’re new or a seasoned professional. I’ve broken it down into real-world strategies, mindset shifts, and skill-building techniques I was able to draw from my decades of experience.
“That includes one of the toughest sales environments there is – door-to-door sales – and everything in the real-estate industry from running a team to owning multiple brokerages to seeing the big umbrella of the industry as a national leader. I took all of that and kind of wrapped a bow around it.”
What is Muller’s take on what is currently happening in the real estate industry?
“I think the industry is going through a major transformation with the recent class-action lawsuits that have sparked conversations about transparency and agents being able to articulate their value – and how we as professionals communicate our role during the transaction to show our values,” Muller said.
“We’re navigating a challenging market. The landscape has low inventory and with interest rates hovering around 7 percent, that’s created more cautious buying. It’s really slowed the pace of sales in many regions and in the country as a whole. We own a home in Florida and I’m really seeing that shift in Florida, Texas, and California.
“We haven’t quite seen any big changes here yet in the Midwest, but there are more homes on the market, the days on the market are increasing and you’re not seeing the multiple offers. It’s really starting to change. You’re seeing that inventory increase and the conditions shifting to favor buyers. It’s not a buyer’s market yet, but it’s also not ultra-competitive – that frenzy we’ve seen since basically the pandemic.”
When she’s not dealing with real estate matters, Muller enjoys golfing, gardening and outdoor activities with her family. She and her husband, Greg, are Black Creek residents. They have three children: Dakota, a Tampa, Fla resident; Brody, 15, an avid golfer and hockey player who attends Appleton East, and Brooklyn, 13, who attends Xavier Middle School.
This article was originally published in the July 2025 issue of Appleton Monthly Magazine.
