by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Mary Anne Eldreth doesn’t like to be bored.
That is evident in the fact that she currently has three jobs — one as a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Walter Williams in Mandarin, the second as sales and marketing contact person for Seal-All Insulation and a third as a part-time dental hygienist.
Interesting mix, huh?
“The combination of my careers expands my opportunity to meet new people and new challenges and to learn a lot along the way,” said Eldreth.
Eldreth has been a dental hygienist for the past 30 years and her contact with real estate literally sat in front of her — Pam Bingemann of Bingemann Realty Sales and Donna Delegal of Re/Max Real Estate Specialist are patients of hers. After years of talking with them, she decided that she might want to get into real estate herself and last year she got her license.
“When I got licensed, Pam [who was with Arvida Realty at the time], said, ‘Come talk to me,’” said Eldreth. “I actually got hired on by Arvida’s Jacksonville Golf and Country Club office and within weeks it became Coldwell Banker.”
Carole Sinoff, broker of the Mandarin Coldwell Banker office, is also a patient, so Eldreth heard about an opening there and decided to go to work in that office.
At the same time, she talked with Rick Renstrom, the owner of Seal-All who she has known for many years. He asked her to help him market his company.
“I went and talked with him and he has taught me so much about the building industry,” said Eldreth. “He is extremely knowledgeable about all of it. So, I said OK, let’s see what I can do. My job is just to meet people and inform them. As I inform them, they inform me.”
Eldreth learned that architectural firms and builders are concerned with reducing sound levels within their buildings and that Seal-All can help.
“An issue that will be important to architect is what kind of sound volume the building will have,” she said. “The tenants don’t want to hear the person next door.
“The insulation product does have a value with reducing sound. So, many of our architects and builders are not only looking at us from what people think of insulation which is conserving energy, but they are looking at it from the sound aspect as well.”
Eldreth balances the three jobs easily. She cut back her hours at the dental office to delve into her two additional careers.
“I’m a high-energy type person and I work seven days a week,” said Eldreth, who has been married for 32 years and has one daughter. “I am down to two days a week at the dental office. I’m an early morning person and am highly organized. I set a priority list and I make sure that I have the priorities taken care of. Sometimes you don’t get everything done because something comes in and sort of alters the day for you, so I try to keep track of where I’ve been.”
All three of her jobs intertwine because they each deal with people. She may meet a patient at her dentist office that is building a house and may need Seal-All or she may tell someone about Seal-All and get a potential real estate client.
“I know what role I’m playing. When I’m a Realtor, if someone asks me aspects that have to do with the health of their home, I will share with them what’s available,” said Eldreth. “I’ve had a couple of customers who have bought a new home and I shared with them the value of Seal-All in their bonus rooms.
“Any time you are providing a service for someone it entails a lot of aspects. Part of that service is giving that customer a lot of information so they can go home and make a good decision. So, I provide them as much information as I can from information on Seal-All to information on getting their carpets cleaned.”
As the sales and marketing person for Seal-All, she sets up meetings at Realtor, builder, mechanical engineer and architect offices. Renstrom comes in and does a presentation.
“I now have a better appreciation of what goes into a home,” she said. “Helping my customers understand that many times the cosmetics of a home is how a home is judged, but the health of the home so many times is not taken into consideration, but it should be. Of course I’m partial to insulation because I’ve learned a lot, but insulation is one building product that is the mainstay for the health of the building. If it is insulated right, then it is ventilated right.”
Eldreth has never been one to sit around or to only have one agenda each day. Even during her 30 years as a dental hygienist, she branched out into other areas of dentistry to keep her life diverse.
“I’ve done sales for a dental instrument company, educational presentations for the Sonicare toothbrush company, been the keynote speaker for the Dental Hygiene Graduation Program at Tallhassee Community College and have been on staff at the University of Florida for a dental research study. I also have two dental patents in my name,” she said. “I’m one of these people that like changes and challenges. So, even though I have been a hygienist for that long, I haven’t been only on the clinical side.”
Eldreth said that dentistry has been a great profession for her, but it is a very demanding.
“You are working on a time schedule and people have needs that have to be met,” she said. “And you can’t always know exactly what those needs are even if you have allowed an hour of time for them. When you are in the office, you are in the office. You have to be there. You can’t just say ‘I don’t feel well’ because it’s not just not doing your job you have maybe eight people depending on you showing up.”