Linda Arenson – Realtor and Investor   Personal Name: Linda Arenson (55) newbegin@fairpoint.net Education:  2 yrs college Family: Husband Doug, 3 children Dustin, Kim, Melinda (6 grandchildren) Business: Licensed Realtor, Real Estate Investor Hobbies: Lunch w/ friends, walking, hiking, reading, grandkids (in sports) How it started:   Linda and Doug married at the age of 20 and her career began working in the county prosecutor’s office and raising foster kids.  Her opportunity as an entrepreneur came through Genie (a branch of Avon).  Linda met the Lord through her work.  A friend invited her to a women’s aglow breakfast where she responded to an alter call for prayer and got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit the same morning.  Linda has also worked in furniture sales with two companies.  Her first exposure to Multi-level marketing was through Shaklee (nutrition and health products).  She intended to earn some extra money and did so well she was able to quit her job.  Linda earned two bonus cars and she and Doug were able to take several free trips through the company.  For ten years people were often in her home and the Lord brought many ministry opportunities through her contacts.  Although Linda is not a pressuring or aggressive sales personality, Doug was uncomfortable with MLM and had always encouraged Linda to try real estate.  She began March 1 in 2003 and sold $2M in her first 10 months.  Although real estate takes a lot of energy, Linda loves it and finds it energizing.  She is moving more toward investment property and she and Doug want to buy real estate themselves as a personal investment.    Personal Passion:  Linda is a pastoral personality with a mercy gifting.  She’s distinctly prophetic and the Lord uses her in intercession.  She is currently enjoying blessing family and friends with good real estate deals. Linda has always been a gambler and a risk taker (more so than Doug, although he is very supportive of her career and ministry).  She is challenged to do difficult things and enjoys overcoming obstacles.  As a King, one of her distinctive, life-long passions is simply making money.  She enjoys giving to missions and wants to provide seed money to start new businesses in the Philippines.    Linda’s real estate office is a mirror of her life.  They talk openly about the Lord at work, have a regular prayer meeting in the broker’s office once a week, and routinely pray for one another and the clients they serve.  Her work around the city brings her in contact with many people and many opportunities to minister (which she’s very good at… a prophetic, intercessory, evangelist all wrapped in a polite, caring personality).  Linda recommended “Doing Business God’s Way” by Dennis Peacock.   Personal Benefit:  Linda has found the freedom to be exactly what God intended her to be.  She has a sense of accomplishment and the satisfaction of knowing she’s obeying God’s call on her life.  Her spiritual antenna is always alert to the needs in people around her and she’s been blessed by the Lord to be able to minister to those needs spiritually and financially.   Value to others:  Other people are blessed from a practical standpoint by the real estate opportunities Linda unearths.  She loves helping first time home owners find their dream house and get started in life.   Business Potential (upside):   The upside of real estate is includes the monetary success as well as the exposure to many good investment opportunities.  Linda schedule includes lots of hours but has the flexibility to take time off for vacations and mission trips.  Linda sold $2M in real estate in her first 10 months and has a goal to double that in the second year and again in the third year.  Real estate has no real upper limit on income.   Complexities, failures (downside):  Real estate can involve long hours and week end work with occasional stretches that pay no returns. Real estate can be competitive in a negative way (cut throat), although Linda’s office is not that way.   Vision for the Kingdom:  Linda and Doug got involved in mission trips to the Philippines about 6 years ago and their passion is to help the natives start business.  Their goal is provide seed money for those start-ups and have it paid back interest free to support more start-ups.  Pilipino women that Linda has met are very entrepreneurial (women are called Filipinia there).  Doug is currently research the details of an import/export business for Philippine products.  Linda’s family goal is to leave an inheritance for her children and grandchildren.   Impact from Releasing Kings:  Releasing Kings confirmed and affirmed that Linda is doing what God called her to do.  In the past, she carried a fear that her desire to make money was a carnal ambition instead of a gift from God.  The Book gave her a freedom to fulfill her destiny and released her spirit.  Linda has purchased the book as a gift for others that are obviously Kings but still hindered by a belief that they can only serve God by being in full-time ministry inside a church.