Amy Powell: Overcoming Adversity

Tracy Hayes  0:00  

Hey, welcome back to The Real Estate excellence podcast. Actually, I'll start that over again. I'm not going to change the video because I haven't turned on the this recording right here.

Tracy Hayes  0:12  

Hey, welcome back to The Real Estate excellence podcast with your host, Tracy Hayes, another amazing story from an agent producing at a high level. She most recently spoke at the California Association of Realtors event. Woman up. She has been an agent for nearly 17 years. When she asked me why I was inviting her on the show, I said, One, you're a top producer. Two, you have a story. Because you don't get invited to a conference like that unless you have an inspirational story. Let's welcome this determined, inspirational woman who has overcome great adversity in her life and now stepping out thriving. Amy Powell of Ingle and Volkers, welcome to the show. Hi, Tracy. Thank you for having me. Thank you. I stole that.

Amy Powell  0:55  

The Stepping out thriving that was somewhere in, I think was in the woman up advertisement there. That's kind of like the theme of the comments, yeah, well, that was the panel that I spoke on. Okay, yeah.

Tracy Hayes  1:08  

Let's, I want to start off a little bit there. I normally start where you from, but we'll get there in a moment, because I think the kind of give a background, a foundation to our discussion today, and in your story, inspirational. And, you know, right up from, you know, what's got you and, you know, obviously, we'll talk about real estate and what's what you're doing there to keep your

Tracy Hayes  1:29  

production high. But tell us a little bit about, you know, woman up, what was, what's, what was that panel? What was the goal of that panel? 

Amy Powell  1:38  

What were they trying to express who else was on the panel, okay, woman up is a national organization. It started with the California Association of Realtors. So this is a conference, and there were people from all over the country. It's to support women in business and leadership. And I was invited to speak on a panel. And the topic of the panel was overcoming adversity and stepping into thriving. And I was on the panel with two other people, and so we were interviewed, and basically, you know, talked about our background and what what the adversity was that we had to overcome, kind of what happened, what it was like, and where we are now. So just give us an idea of a couple the other people in the panels what was kind of their backgrounds. One lady was had owned several brokerages, and a little bit closer to you, there you go. That's good. One of the ladies owned brokerages and had been in business at a very high level luxury homes, and made a ton of money and had some, you know, things that went wrong in her business and no fault of her own, but basically had to start over. And then the other lady had a difficult upbringing and dropped out of school, I think, in, you know, middle school to take care of her family. And I think she's the pressure treasurer of the association. So it was just a few women that seemed to have good stories, right? You know, like really had some challenges to overcome. I can only imagine, you know, just in conversation that we've had, I saw a little clip of your show, there was probably some tears in this crowd, I can imagine they were bringing out some emotions and some people tears and cheers, yeah, yeah.

Tracy Hayes  3:27  

So, I mean, what an honor, though, to I mean, I can imagine, I mean, they're probably 1000s in that audience there and get that kind of exposure. Because I can imagine the California Board of Realtors is pretty large, and they're going to draw draw in for an event like that. So let's step back. Let's go back to my normal routine. Okay, where are you from? Originally?

Speaker 1  3:50  

 I'm from Atlanta, Georgia. I was born in Atlanta. My dad got a transfer to Houston when I was a child, so I moved to Houston. Grew up there. Then in my early 20s, I moved to New York City. I worked at Bloomingdale's on 59th Street. I did make up for a few years, and then I moved back to Atlanta as an adult, I started, actually, I was in property management at 18. Oh, wow. So I did that, so I had a little bit of background there, and then working for a family friend or something. No, I worked. I worked I worked for a property management company at 18. Well, I mean, I started working at 13, so I had plenty of job experience by the time I was 18. So I left New York City, moved to Atlanta, got married, had three babies. I worked for national home builders. I worked for Pulte Homes and DR Horton homes for a few years, and then I did not see that on the LinkedIn. Was that prior? Is this just prior to 2005 this was in late, mid, mid 90s? Yeah,

Tracy Hayes  4:52  

you're linked in. Then go back for Yeah, we are, you are probably just a little bit, just a year or two younger than I am. So, so, yeah, so I had, we.

Amy Powell  5:00  

We moved to Jacksonville, Florida at the end of 2004

Amy Powell  5:03  

and I had three little ones under the age of five, and I wasn't quite ready to go back to work, but I had to go back to work. And I got my real estate license in in Jacksonville. I didn't know anybody. I didn't know my way around. And I started working for a company, and at that time, like, the market was hot and people were making money. So that was not the time to, like, three, 2008, yeah.

Amy Powell  5:28  

So they said, the company I was with said, Amy will give you five newspaper ads per week. You put your picture in there. You can borrow listings, you know, and market those. And we don't know what we don't know. So I was kind of, you know, young and dumb, and this lady said I could borrow her listings. Not only did I borrow her listings, I also took her tagline and put it in the newspapers. I've got my picture, her listings, her tagline, and then she was a little upset. I didn't, you know, I didn't realize what I had done, and I just went out and door knocked at that time. Started getting business that way. Tell us a little because obviously we had a good discussion pre show. I mean, your determination on the door knocking, because I don't think I know there's a lot of agents that might be listening to this, and they've started in the last three or four years, and the fact you would drop off in the neighborhood, and you were determined. And then, I don't know, you didn't know why 23 was the number. I mean, maybe, maybe Michael Jordan was your, I don't know someone was 23 you had to knock on 20 have 23 conversations, conversations I knocked on many more doors than that. Yeah, yes. So

Tracy Hayes  6:37  

role play a little bit like,

Tracy Hayes  6:40  

what would be your what would be that conversation if I answered the door? Yes, Hey, how can I help you? You're standing there. What?

Tracy Hayes  6:46  

What would you? How would you open that?

Amy Powell  6:49  

 Well, it depended on my mood for the day. There was one time a guy opened the door and I told him, You want to sweepstakes. You know, I was Yeah. And, you know, that kind of broke the ice a little bit, but, you know, it was kind of awkward. And when I started doing it, people didn't have all the cameras that they have now. So, and my thought was, I'd rather be rejected by somebody that I don't know than somebody that I do know.

Amy Powell  7:14  

And I just, I would go up to the door and knock on it, and I'd have, you know, my little business cards and a little notepad, and I'd say, Hi, my name is Amy Powell.

Amy Powell  7:23  

You know, I'm a realtor with this company, and I just wanted to see if you might know of anybody that's thinking of me making a move, anybody that's looking to buy or sell. And and I would offer them information and say, Hey, do you want me to stay in touch with you? I can send you some information. Blah, blah, blah. And I started getting calls for listings after that, and it was working. I remember one time I was out with a friend who went door knocking, and we got escorted out of the neighborhood. But, you know, I've never had a problem with, like, hustling, cold calling, you know, kind of like no fear, just do it.

Tracy Hayes  8:00  

Well, we know it's if we know it's Northeast Florida, it's Florida, it's hot.

Amy Powell  8:06  

I mean, I can just imagine my determination be like, how fast can I do this? Right? How fast can I have 23 but you you have 23 conversations, you're going to be out there for a few hours. I was out there for a long time. Yeah, and it was for it was hot, hot.

Tracy Hayes  8:23  

I can only, only imagine, I mean, that kind of determination. So

Amy Powell  8:29  

those people started referring, or maybe they were go, Hey, and I still, it still had your card

Amy Powell  8:35  

and so forth. I'm going to step

Tracy Hayes  8:38  

back a little bit, because we kind of, we kind of jumped for you. Went quickly through your your thing I had on there from your LinkedIn, San Jacinto. Is it San Jacinto College? Yes, also known as Harvard on the highway.

Amy Powell  8:54  

That was a junior college. Okay. Okay, so what were you? What did you just go to college, just to go to college is you kind of have, like, hey, I want to do this. What did you have? What was your Well, I had been working since I was 13, so I had a lot of work experience.

Amy Powell  9:13  

You know, I was never very studious. People would say, Amy's very sweet, but she doesn't apply herself, and,

Amy Powell  9:23  

you know, until she knocks on 23 Yeah, that's 23 conversations. So my my dad gave me $300 to go sign up for college. So I went to the junior college. I think I went for about a semester, and I'm trying to remember what you know. So I was working in property management. Went to and I was working at steak and Ale at night. I got an apartment, and I, you know, I went to college for a little while, but it just wasn't really, you know, for me. So I do not have a college degree, but I have, I'm a self starter. I.

Amy Powell  10:00  

I read, I listen to podcasts, I go to conferences. I, you know, whatever I can do to better myself. I do well. You see, you had a work ethic from an early age. You start, you start working at 13. You talk about working in restaurants. Anyone who works in restaurants. I mean, if you do it for any length of time, you've got to have a work ethic. That is a tough road to hoe there, so to speak, whether you're just waiting tables or bussing tables or all the above washing dishes, that it's a tough business. You have to have a work ethic. When did you start? Because I'm big in the personal development. I think all of us have an aptitude level. Some others are higher than others, and what we make is determined by our aptitude level. You know, the people win the lottery, a lot of times are broke a few years later because they don't understand how to handle that kind of money.

Tracy Hayes  10:59  

And you know, for you over over the time, and we're getting, getting some details of your of your struggles to but to where you're at today. When did you really start like, you know, I really do need to, is that something that came natural to you early, or was there some time in your life and your

Amy Powell  12:31  

The whole

Amy Powell  12:33  

premise on surrounding yourself by five successful people doesn't mean they have to physically be with you. You are engaged in Tony Robbins, or any of John Maxwell's, who I like to read his stuff,

Amy Powell  12:49  

those you're putting them in your circle. They not you may never meet Tony Robbins, but you're listening to everything he says, and you're you're taking it all in. He's now part of your makeup, and that's really what that means, surrounding yourself by five successful people could be some people physically, but it's it. For most people, it is the only way to really do that is whether it's podcast or their videos or their audios, or, you know, their books, obviously, to surround itself, but you said something there now, because I went off on that tangent, made my mind lose the first thing that you in reverse order. Oh, you were talking about being in that party situation or social situation, right? And you're around these people who have a degree, they have a piece of paper, and you compensated by starting to kind of pick up some do some reading, and you will, I think that we could take a survey, and I guarantee the majority are going to say they got through college reading the minimal amount of books, if they even read an entire book, you know, took the Cliff Notes, whatever, and got through college. And the fact that now you're you're around those people, I guarantee there was seven out of 10 of those people were probably like that, that you were surrounding yourself with, and now you're actually reading books, you actually have huge power, because I think that's what it gives you. It gives especially a lot of verbal ammunition, but it gives you inspiration you start, you're probably changing the conversation, because you're starting to talk about what you read. Yeah, and if I can be very honest with you, I think that because of the way I grew up, the resources I had growing up, you know, my background, it was really, it probably originated from a place of insecurity and just trying to be able to hold my own in these situations. And it served me well. But, you know, and I, there were a lot of times.

Amy Powell  15:00  

I just didn't feel like I belonged in a situation because I didn't have a college degree, I didn't come from a family that could provide all of that stuff. So it you innately compensated. I figured it out. Man, yes, you figured it out. What to do, you figured it out. And you just, you know, obviously you can look at hindsight, that's what I see. And then when that story, I'm like, this girl, she grabbed books, and now she now she could carry on a conversation, because you could say, Hey, did you read that recent novel by blah, blah, blah, or, Hey, you know? And they're like, going, I haven't read a book since? Yeah, yeah. It does. It does. I always remember some of the initial interview questions,

Amy Powell  16:18  

time? I went to real estate school, but at that time, you couldn't have a license, because I guess Pulte and dear Horton were not brokers at the time. So if I had a license, it had to be inactive. So I had some knowledge from the course, but I was really a salesperson working for the builders. Yeah, I think, I think different states handle different ways, whether or not you have to be an actual agent if you're working, you know, in the model site, Agent type stuff, but you're working like an agent, so you're in there, you're doing what it takes. Are you getting you're getting a taste. So I'm going to fast forward a little bit to about you're here now in Jacksonville, 2004 or five period

Tracy Hayes  19:31  

Tell us the challenges you had, some of the successes. 

Amy Powell  19:34  

Okay, so, so I moved here in 2004

Amy Powell  29:44  

You know, personally, I like Brene Brown type stuff, as I mentioned, Tony Robbins, trying to think of what else you like.

Amy Powell  31:13  

Let's see. I hired my coach in February of 2016

Amy Powell  35:03  

and then on Valentine's Day, I was served with divorce papers. I had to figure out where I was going to live. I had an ankle bracelet. I'm still selling real estate. I still have three young kids. I'm straight commission, you know, and I'm broke, broke, broken, depressed, scared. I didn't know what was going to happen, and I was dealing with a four year divorce battle I had. I was on probation. I'm working at Coldwell Banker, trying to keep this a secret. And there were a couple people in my life that and thank God, there were some really good people that I am forever grateful for at Coldwell Banker that knew, that knew, and one person in particular met me on a Saturday morning and sat across from me at a table, and I'm crying, you know? And just like my life is ruined, and he looked at me and said, Amy, you know what I see? I see a good person. And he believed in me and he helped me, and that was actually Pete Dalton at Coldwell Banker.

Amy Powell  36:04  

But you know, the following years, I'm on probation. I'm doing community service. I you know, now I've got two mug shots. I'm trying to keep this a secret from all my peers. Nobody knows this, and I still have to sell real estate, so without a car, somebody said, you know, and I this ankle bracelet was $10 a day, and I had to wear that every day, and I had to pay, and it was to detect, you know, it checks your pH balance, and I had to go have it calibrated. And, I mean, it was all this stuff, and it was, it was rough. And I ended up, lady said, call this lady. I think she can help you. And I ended up going to this home, and I started cleaning houses. So for someone who's driving the Mercedes, you know, that's got the diamonds and looking good, you know, showing up as a big real estate agent. Now I'm showing up with a cleaning bucket and an ankle bracelet, and I'm on probation, and I'm scrubbing toilets. And there were a couple realtors. They didn't know why I was doing that, but they gave me work. So I was cleaning for a couple realtors. And then one of the first houses I cleaned was on Roscoe road. It was a beautiful mansion, and I remember going in there and I saw the lady that lived there. And a lot of this, like our ego wants to tell us, our ego can just get in the way. And in my mind, I'm like, I should be hanging out with this lady, not scrubbing her toilets. And there was a REMAX real estate sign in the front yard, so her house was on the market, and I'm cleaning. And I was like, Dear God, I hope there's not a showing while I'm here. And I cleaned for you for a long time.

Amy Powell  37:39  

In February of 2016 I'm living in a little condo in Ponte vras, tiny condo with my girls, and I needed to be close to a Publix. I needed to be close to their schools because I couldn't drive, and my DUIs were pending for two years, so I didn't know what was going to happen.

Amy Powell  37:57  

And I borrowed money to hire a business coach, and I borrowed money to pay my rent, and I did not I'm not somebody that borrows money unless I need it, but I had to learn how to ask for help. I had to get rides for anywhere I wanted to go.

Amy Powell  38:13  

It was tough. And when I had my first call with my business coach, I'm working at Coldwell Banker, I was in the Ponte Vedra office at that time, and when she called me, we were going to have our introductory call, and I walked outside, out into the parking lot so nobody could hear me, and I didn't want the other realtors to know. And she I said, Well, they're gonna gossip anyway, yeah. Well, they can have at it. Now I'm good.

Amy Powell  38:40  

So on our first call, I said, Well, I have a couple of challenges. I don't have a car and I don't have a driver's license. And she was like, Honey, how the hell have you been selling real estate? And I said, Well, you know, I've been been door knocking or whatever. So we worked on my mindset for a good while, and that's when I would get Uber to drop me off. I was cleaning houses so I could pay for Uber so I could sell real estate, and I was buying my clothes at Goodwill, which there's nothing wrong with that, but it wasn't a choice. That's what I had to do, because I had to buy stuff for my kids. So I would get dropped off. I got dropped off in Isle of Palms. I got dropped off in Johns Creek, wherever I could get dropped off. And I would have a bunch of business cards and a little notepad, and I would just go knocking door to door to door, and I'm like, hot and I'm sweaty, and I would not call to get picked up until I met my goal. And I started getting listings. I got $600,000

Amy Powell  39:35  

listing. I mean, I started selling some real estate. And at the time, my coach was with Tom Ferry organization, and she called me and she said, Amy Tom Ferry would like to have you speak on a panel, and they would like for you to talk about the benefits of coaching. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, like me. So I went to Orlando, and it was called sales edge, and I'm sitting.

Amy Powell  43:43  

and the lady, I met with her, and she ended up not listing her place with me at that time, but she held on to my REMAX business card, which I still have. The same cell phone number that was 2006 and she called me in 2017

Amy Powell  43:56  

to come list a property for her. And I went and met with her, and I ran all the comps and did everything, and she said I would consider owner financing, because at my age, I don't want to have to take a lump sum of cash and figure out how to reinvest it. And I'm sitting there and I'm like, maybe I can do this. And I asked her if she would consider it, and she said yes. At the time, my credits not great, still don't have a lot of money like it. It was a miracle. But I gave her all my financials. I was completely honest. I was able to come up with 20% she living there. No, these were her, so she would have a tax ramification, yeah. So, yep. So I bought, I bought a duplex from her. Then I bought another house from her. Now I have, I have a portfolio of real estate that so I am a full time realtor, but I'm also a real estate investor, right? And it is nothing short of a miracle and hard work, you know, like luck and opportunity. And just, I was like, on the way here, I was like, Thank you, God, you know.

Tracy Hayes  45:37  

Byou're inspiring. You're making me go into the deep thought of just myself.

Amy Powell  55:14  

his vision? Is his vision cleared up a little bit or Well, I mean, we were just going to be a small group of Realtors, I think, and now we have about 100 and I think we've got five offices now in just a short period of time. And I remember walking into his office, sitting down across from him, and I'm like, he's 28 years old, and he's doing this, and it's a big deal to move from a bro, you know, I don't like to hop around, so to leave the company I had been with for eight years, to join Corey was a big decision, but I could see and he was, like, motivated and just ambitious. I knew he had something special. And the other thing, you know, I had gone through a divorce and gone through all this, it was almost like it was that was the last piece of the puzzle to have a fresh, new, clean slate. And I shared my heart with him, I shared some of my experiences. And he looked at me, and maybe it was like, damn, she can do that. You know, she might be able to sell a few houses. And he said, I want you to I want you to join us. And it has been the best decision ever. He's a dear friend of mine. I respect him. I love him. He's he there's something magical about him, and he truly cares about people. He cares about his agents. The brand is top notch, and I only have good things to say

Speaker 1  11:17  

honestly, I think that you know, when you're young, hanging out with people they you know. And I remember, after my husband and I bought our first house, we were living in a neighborhood with a lot of other young couples, and the discussion around the barbecue pit was always like, who's your college football team? Where'd you go to college, that kind of thing. I was very insecure about that. On the other hand, I was making phenomenal money for my age with no formal education, working for these home builders, you know, versus my friends in the neighborhood who had tons of student debt and were making a fraction of what I was making. But having to answer that question and being so insecure about not having a formal education, I it might have been a way to overcompensate for that to kind of like, you know, so I just had to do it myself. And I

Tracy Hayes  12:05  

like that. I like that a lot. Go on fish because I say something so,

Speaker 1  12:09  

you know. And we're the sum of the five people that we spend the most time with, right? And I've always liked to, you know, I listened to Tony Robbins. I listened to, there's a guy from Success Magazine, like all these people, and I just would, that's what I do. I still do it.

Tracy Hayes  12:25  

Well, you bring up a couple of good points, and I'm going to go in reverse order that last statement.

Tracy Hayes  15:43  

you know, different jobs, like, hey, what book have you read recently? A lot of people don't ask that anymore, but that that was something, you know, 20 years ago, doing an interview, like, have you read a book recently? And I challenge that person, I say, what book have you read recently? You know, it's, it's, but it does, it does add power, and I think it, I it's part of you now, yeah,

Unknown Speaker  16:04  

I love to learn.

Tracy Hayes  16:07  

So in the mid 90s, you're working for the builder, and I think that was in Atlanta, if I call from you, sorry. Okay, so you have a little taste of real estate at this time. Now, did you had your license?

Speaker 1  16:17  

This

Tracy Hayes  17:00  

you go and get your license. Yes, you choose the first brokerage. What led you to them?

Speaker 1  17:08  

Because my background was working as a site sales agent. I wanted to do site site work, work as a site agent here, and that's when the condos were a really big deal. People were buying a lot of condos, like a couple of them. So I went to a company called lifestyles realtors that was kind of the place to be at that time. And the person that I interviewed with, I told him I wanted to, you know, work in a condo building selling that way. And he said, I need you to go out and get six months of residential real estate experience first. So I don't know if that was the reason, or, you know what it was, but I had three little ones at the time, so by the time I dropped them off at their little pre K and got started, it was basically time to turn around and go pick them up again. So I started selling general real estate. And then after you do that for a few months, you know, I'm starting to, like, get some get some traction, get some things going. But I didn't know what. I didn't know

Tracy Hayes  18:05  

you still working for them, but just on the outside,

Speaker 1  18:07  

yeah, I was working. I was working for lifestyles realtors, but I was selling general real estate.

Tracy Hayes  18:13  

Yeah, yeah. I imagine the, well, I in the 90s. I was in Northern Virginia, and me and my cousin, we work closely. He did the flooring work for a flooring company of the builder where they're upgrading the flooring and so forth. But I noticed, like when the top agents site agents, they always wanted to work in the town home subdivisions, because they were going multiple deals all the time. It was the very new green people. They would put in the, you know, at that time, a 500 $600,000 home in northern and, you know, outside DC is, you know, probably worth two or 3 million today. But that's they put the newbies in there, because they would, if they sold one a month. They're like, but the town owns, they were rolling, oh yeah, all day long, yeah. So I can imagine when you went there and said, Hey, I want to go in that condo. You guys represent. They probably had some other senior agents that probably were like, no, no, we're in there. Yeah. We're we like coming into the comfortable, air conditioned office. We don't like knocking on doors, yeah. So you start rolling here a little bit, right? How did, how? Tell us a little bit about you getting started. I mean, like you said, you're, you're, you're had the you're juggling the kids before and after pre K.

Speaker 1  19:38  

got my license in 2006 you know, still, my kids are like, kindergarten and under, so they're very young. I don't know my way around. I don't have a network. I don't know anybody, and I'm just having to figure it out. So I started with the door knocking, and then I was doing open houses, and then I was getting a few listings. And at the time, the company was like, in Ave. Dale Riverside, and I got stuck in this very low price point. And it, I mean, it was hard. It sucked. Actually, I was stuck in a very low price point. We're a podcast, you could say that. And I just remember, you know, sometimes there was one day I was like, I am not going home until I get a listing, right? And I drove around. I was like, psycho driving around looking for for sale by owners, and I got one. I mean, I was, I was determined, I will say, I was determined. So I got a listing, and then, you know, got another listing. And so it was small, you know, low volume, but I was, I was getting some traction. And as I started to build my business, the 2008 happened, and I wasn't able to do a lot of business, because, really, I was a mom that had to take care of these kids, so that took a lot of time. But when I did work, I worked hard, and then, you know, the market tanked, and it was like the lights got turned off for everybody, and I was so busy trying to serve other people and sitting across the kitchen table from somebody who's like, desperate, you know, sad getting a divorce or losing everything, and all the stuff I was working was short sales, so I didn't have any income coming in. And, you know, financially, it was really difficult. And, you know, I we made a lot of decisions that we just didn't know what we didn't know. So during that time, I'm helping everybody else with their stuff and realize I'm in the same situation. So we did a short sale in our home. I mean, it was just a tough, tough few years. But if I got my start, and it was that difficult, as things started to turn I mean, like, it was so much easier.

Tracy Hayes  21:44  

I mean, you must have been there's, I think, yeah, if you've been in the real estate business long enough, you know now you're coming into a downturn in 2007 Eight, whatever. You know you're rolling in there. There comes some days where you're like, Man, am I doing the right thing? My should I stick with this? I mean, I imagine you reached that point several times. I mean,

Speaker 1  22:10  

I maybe I did, but I love helping people so much that I was, I was doing it because I cared about people and I wanted to help people not pay, you know, and I was married at the time, and we had another source of income, so, you know, it worked out okay, right? But I don't know what other job I would have done, would have

Tracy Hayes  22:35  

done, I mean, because you can help people in a lot of different things, well, that's it. Goes back to you only know what you know, right? Yeah. So you didn't know of something else to do. You were kind of totally focused well.

Speaker 1  22:47  

And again, without having a college degree, and I've always been in sales, what else was I going to do?

Tracy Hayes  22:51  

Right? That could bring in the revenue? I mean, there's a lot of other sales jobs there, but you Yeah, you may have had a lot of sales, but they would only bring you the same amount of money you just had sales that are those short sales could know they could close in a month, or they could close in six months or 12 months, or never close, right? Telling them the bank you're working with. So, so that might have been, actually the good part. You didn't know what you're but not having the college degree, you didn't feel you could get out. You're now into this three or four years, and you don't want to, don't want to throw that part away, so that's interesting. But I also was just thinking about you were talking about your start and how you're out there door knocking. You were determined. You're, you know, the few hours you had of the day where you could when your kids were in daycare and stuff, to get out and actually work. But you were working really hard and focused on it. And you, it's kind of like training. You're you you work and you, you pump in the weights, you're running the miles, and then the actual race, or the actual game, is easier because you work so hard. And what I'm seeing here is, again, a lot of people are reflecting back in just the last couple of years, and everything's been just, you know, falling off the trees. You didn't actually, I mean, yeah, I mean, it was good in 2005 and six, but I was still new. You were

Unknown Speaker  24:14  

new, yeah, I'm learning. I was learning,

Tracy Hayes  24:16  

yeah. So you had that challenge of learning to go that when it got a little tougher, it wasn't, I mean, it was tough, but you were, you were already tough, yeah, plus, obviously, the experiences that we talked about pre show, I mean, just you're growing up and so forth, being tough. I think, actually, gee, that might be a title for this. This one being tough. When I think about that one, somebody

Speaker 1  24:40  

said something about being born with a silver spoon in your mouth and and I said that to my aunt. She was like, Well, Amy, you didn't come from good stock. You came from tough stock. And I was like, I think I was born with a wooden soup in my mouth and it had frickin splinters in it.

Unknown Speaker  24:58  

Yeah. Okay. Yeah,

Tracy Hayes  25:01  

all right, so the first, how long, how did, how long did you stay at lifestyles? Because you've worked for a couple I'm

Speaker 1  25:08  

trying to remember, I think it was like two years or so, and then I went to work for REMAX

Tracy Hayes  25:13  

specialists. Okay, was that so that by 2008 comes around, you're with REMAX? Yeah, I think so. Okay, so one thing I always like to bring up on the show, and I think it's so important for new agents, someone thinking about being an agent, or even an agent who's hit a lid, different brokerages add different values. They have different mindsets. You know, we can go around town and think about the great brokers in whether they're running a Keller Williams team, or, you know, down below here at round table, Realty, they run a different program, and they add different value, and you've got to find the broker that like matches the value with your need, right? So in your experiences Now, switching you, I think it was like three or four different angles. I was

Speaker 1  26:02  

with lifestyles, realtors when I started, and then REMAX specialist for five years, okay, Coldwell Banker for eight years. They were there quite a bit. And I've been with England Volkers for four, four.

Tracy Hayes  26:13  

So your changes, your reasoning for changes was, was it? Is my perception, reality, from the standpoint that the value was just not there at those brokerages, that you saw value somewhere else and needed to move. What was your reason for changing?

Speaker 1  26:33  

Well, I will say this, they're all good companies, and it does boil down to the local leadership and the culture in the local branch, each office that I was at was exactly what I needed at that time, and I'm not one to hop around when I get recruiting calls. The first thing I do is think, am I taking advantage of every opportunity in front of me? Because if I'm not, I have no business moving. I need to stay here and get to work. But I left REMAX specialist to go to cobalt banker. I think Kim Knapp, with Coldwell Banker, called me and recruited me, and I went and talked to her and met with Pete Dalton. And it was just time I felt like they had at the time, it was their marketing and technology was better, so that's why I moved to Coldwell Banker.

Tracy Hayes  27:21  

So, so my perception is a little bit of reality there. There was a value there, because you reached a point in your career, and I think you stated that very well. You're at different stages. If you're a newbie, there are great brokers who can take someone off the street totally green, and get them ramped up. Yeah, and then the is, can they continue? You know, they can only so many can continue in that atmosphere, in my opinion, because, you know, they become a leader. Well, there can only be so many leaders, you know, from that standpoint. And then obviously people talk about their splits and so forth. But how do I, you know, where do you want to go with your business? Because now you have more of an education, what the business is all about. Because I think the more you get educated, the more you're listening podcast, excuse me, going to conventions. It expands your horizon. What real estate is all about, right? And then you then you start going, Well, where do I want to take my business? Do you want to be just a solo agent? Do you want to be a broker, or you want to run a big team, you know, whatever that may be. You, we've talked about some of the challenges that you've that you've had the divorce, raising the kids.

Tracy Hayes  28:33  

The kids are now 1920 23 Yes. So are they out of the house? Yet they're trying to

Speaker 1  28:39  

one at UNF, Yeah, everybody's everybody's out of the house. And, yeah, I'm actually a grandmother now too. Oh my goodness. Okay.

Tracy Hayes  28:52  

You talked about podcast. We talked about events. Is there any one particular person that you follow more than others, or do you bounce around just, you know, for a little while, like I found myself, I'll listen to somebody for a little bit, and then I'll get tired of them, and I'll find another one that'll just keep me going, kind of like jumping brokerages in a little bit, but more in a rapid pace. You might listen to someone for two or three months or 10 episodes, but then I Okay. I've heard enough. Now. I want to go somewhere. Is there anyone do you listen to? Particularly?

Speaker 1  29:22  

Um, I'll listen to some motivational stuff. But I, I hired a business coach a while back, and she's out on her own. Now has her own company, but I listened to a lot of Tom Ferry podcasts as he interviews other agents, because I can learn from the other agents.

Tracy Hayes  29:55  

You like people to kick you in the butt,

Speaker 1  29:57  

yeah, if I want fire and brimstone. I'll listen to Mike ferry. He's like it like that hardcore preacher, you know, get out and do this. But, yeah, I mean, I do that when I'm putting on my makeup and getting ready, and, yeah, it kind of gives me a boost and helps me get my mindset right.

Tracy Hayes  30:17  

You actually brought something up, and we had taught you. We actually had talked about on the phone yesterday morning a little bit, and then when I was doing my questions, I've actually forgot to put it in here, but so I'm glad you brought it up coaching every, I wouldn't say every, most of your top people, because I imagine there are some people out there that have never hired a coach, but maybe they just had an internal coach, you know, broker, or some sort of mentor that was just as good as a coach, because wherever they were at. But how important has that been with with your career? I mean, you know, where were you at when you hired them? Because I know you told me a little bit story about borrowing some money to get Yeah, get the coach, and then where, where?

Speaker 1  31:07  

How does that change your career? It's changed my life, not just my career.

Speaker 1  31:19  

and I never thought I could afford a coach. I I could sell. I knew how to sell. I wasn't afraid of talking to people. You know, I when I'm belly to belly with somebody, and I can connect with somebody. You know, magic happens. But I did not know how to run a business. I mean, you get into real estate like I took the real estate class that teaches you enough, basically, to not walk out the door and say something stupid. But you know, there's so much more to it. You're not just a real estate agent opening doors. You are running a business. So I Yeah, so where was I during that time? Is that where? Yeah. I mean, what?

Tracy Hayes  32:01  

Because sounds like basically where you just started in 2016 because I didn't know the date we were, you just brought up coach the other day, and we're in in talking about it. So you were kind of just once a, you know, going through the most you were surviving. So, because at that point you'd been in in real estate for 1011,

Speaker 1  32:19  

years, yeah. So you know. And if I can say this, you you asked me to be on your podcast a number of times, and I kept saying, Oh, I'm out of town. The timing's not working.

Tracy Hayes  32:33  

I get those all the time, though. I was making

Speaker 1  32:35  

excuses and yes, the other day when you asked me again, and I said, Well, I'm actually going to be in Italy on October 5, can't make it. And then I think I just said, Tracy, I am apprehensive about being on your podcast. I have no problem sharing my story in front of 1000s of people, as long as they're not in Jacksonville, right? And you know, I had a lot of fear about being judged by my peers, and so in 2016 Well, if I can, if I can start, because I'm just going to rip the band aid off, people that know me in business are going to see this, but they don't know, you know, they just know what they see. And in 2011 you know, realtors work hard, and we play hard, and I think sometimes we get complacent, or whatever the case is. But I had some life circumstances that I didn't have the courage to change, and I was just very unhappy with myself, and I basically was, you know, self sabotaging or using poor coping skills, and in 2011 I got a DUI. In 2013 I got a DUI. So I had two DUIs in 18 months, and I found myself sitting in a courtroom wearing an orange jumpsuit with shackles on my ankle, shackles on my wrist, turning around, looking in the back of the courtroom as my poor, sweet in laws, my mother in law is crying, and my father in law is mouthing, telling me to say no contest or whatever it was, and I'm sitting in here going, Holy, how did I get here? Right? I had a lot of shame around that for a long time, and I thought that my life was ruined. And I've been sober since January 25 2013 you know that sometimes the best gifts are wrapped in barbed wire, you know? And that was because I spent my life, trying to be who I thought other people wanted me to be, and trying to fit in and trying to be good enough and trying to be smart enough, and it's just not sustainable, right? You know? So that happened, and when that happened, I was selling real estate, had three kids, got that second DUI. I in January of 2013

Speaker 1  40:00  

I on a stage I'd just been cleaning the day before. I'm wearing a dress from Goodwill. By this time, I have a car with a breathalyzer in it, like this, you know, clunker of a car, and I'm sitting between Jeremy Katie, who was in my office. He had no idea he was brand new, and he sold 70 houses his first year. The guy on the other side of me was making over a million dollars a year. He lived in South Florida and had a yacht and all this stuff. And I'm just the cleaning lady in the middle, you know, barely scraping by, stuff starting to happen. But it wasn't, you know, it was just starting to happen. And when I shared my story, and at that time, I just couldn't say two DUIs, I said one. You know, I still, like, had to make it not so bad, and that helped remove a lot of the power that it had over me. And I looked down in the audience, and I'm like, Oh, my God, do they have allergies? Like, people are tearing up here. And people came up and talked to me afterwards, you know? And so I'm doing all of that, and then I get to a point where still going through the divorce stuff with my kids, I'm living in the little condo, and at two years sober, my attorney called me and let me know that my DUIs, it was supposed to be reduced to a reckless driving and I would get to keep my driver's license, and I just had to keep doing all the things I was doing, and I was doing all the right things. And then he called back and said, Hey, I don't know what happened, but it's you're going to need to be prepared to be sentenced when you go to court. So I went to court. My driver's license was revoked for five years. I had to pay 1000s of dollars two years after. This was, yeah, this must, this was 20, yeah, I'm jumping around 2015 and 2016 I hired the business coach, so 2015 and I had to go check myself into the Duval County Jail and

Speaker 1  41:57  

do that. And, you know, there were consequences, and my license was revoked for five years. I was able to get a hardship license, but I was really like, it was it. I did not know how I was going to make it, and some days I just didn't want to get out of bed. But there was one time I was cleaning a house and I never answered the phone when I was cleaning, but this time, I answered the phone, and it was a past customer that I had shown homes to five years before that, and they were getting my monthly email greetings, and she said, Hey, Amy, do you remember us? You know you were showing us riverfront homes, and there's a house on the ocean that we'd like to buy. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, but then, but then I'm like, what if they want me to drive, and I've got the breathalyzer. So I met them and I sold, sold them a million dollar house, awesome. And eventually my coach was like, Amy, you're making over $100,000 a year now. How much longer are you going to clean houses? And I hadn't even thought about it, but all of these things, just my life kept getting better, and I still had to clean up the mess. I still had to clean up the wreckage, but I was forced to ask for help. I was forced to humble myself. I was forced to dig deep. I couldn't have the, you know, the pretty mask on anymore, like it was. I just had to deal with life, and I ended up getting divorced. I, actually, I had an opportunity to start divorce was that was 2017 okay. And also, you know, I was renting at the time, and and this story, I'll tell you really fast. There was, I went on a listing appointment in 2006 and it was a duplex in Springfield,

Tracy Hayes  45:00  

Know, I'm trying to think of the when hard work. Yeah, what's you know, they they meet, right? You have to, if you're sitting at home and you're waiting for that the lottery to call you to say, hey, you chose the right numbers, which they're never going to do. You actually have to go down and check them. You have to go out and create, and be out there to create the luck. It just doesn't, I mean,

Speaker 1  45:30  

and, and, you know what? If you don't ask, you, the answer is always no. If you don't ask, you don't know,

Tracy Hayes  45:46  

The story is, I mean we, I use the term rags to riches, the other the other day, but literally, you some choices you made. You, you know, as we all have made life choices, I really, truly believe. I've said this on the show before. We as humans, deal with adversity throughout our lives and just at different times. And you, you got punched hard in the stomach, you were down and out, and you refuse to go down. And it goes back to my wife does not like this scene when Rocky, where he's talking to his son, I think it was rocky five or something, okay? And he's talking about life. Life is, I'm going to paraphrase it. Life is tough, and it's going to knock you down to your knees, and it's, it's how it's, you know, are you going to get back up and keep moving forward? And that's what, that's what you did. You are, I mean, that is your scene. I could, I gotta, we gotta figure out how to put that video together. Because what Rocky is telling his son about you were beaten down to your knees. I mean, I could see a lot of people at that point just like, oh, you know, I'm wearing the orange jumpsuit. My life is over. I'm now just going to go clean houses for the rest of my life. You know, that wasn't a, you know, obviously, there's people make it into a big business. There is a demand for that service, but that wasn't your service. You were doing it just to make ends meet. And you just, you got caught up in your that wasn't your dream job or dream situation. And imagine you probably never like thought of, hey, I want to have 15 cleaning crews, and I'm going to that wasn't your inspiration, you You did it to survive. You obviously had the kids at the time that you're trying to, you know, you meet, you made some statements to the other day about, basically, you know, people helped you out that, you know, save face in front of the kids, because you kids are very impressionable. I hope today they have, like the utmost respect for you. I, I can, you know, you know, you don't know which way kids are going to turn, but I hope they you, when they think of you, they're like, I got to be tough, like my mom. And because that, that story, you know, thank God no one died in the story here, that's, that's positive here, yeah, but they're good. You were knocked to your knees. You were there. I mean, there's some people probably may have even, I'd say it probably might have even taken their own life. I mean, you were in that kind of but you refused to be knocked down, and you stood back up. And that made all the difference. I always have to throw my Robert Frost in there, into that story that that is just really thinking about when you're telling that story. Let's shrink that down to time. It's 2022 I mean, when you hit your lowest of your low probably was in when the the and I, and you can correct me, was probably when the the lawyer told you had to come back into the courtroom, and then, you know, you had to check into the jail, right? That was probably at the that could you have gone any lower than that. You know what I mean, as far

Speaker 1  49:15  

as, oh, you can always go lower. Well, I can always go lower, yeah. And I was just thinking, like, I'm really big on mindset, yeah, and like, when I spoke on stage at woman up, I talked about going to Rodeo Drive, and I bought the Louis Vuitton shoes, because if I'm going to step into thriving, I'm going to do it in these damn nice shoes, you know, stuff like that. And having a mindset of abundance. And for me, it's not about the item, it's about the fact that I can do this myself and coming from a place of abundance. But back to when I knew I had to go serve that jail time, and the judge let me pick my date, so I had to coordinate people to watch my kids, like, you know, all this stuff. And. And and they were, they were still pretty young leading up to that. And I haven't watched the show since. I just, I just can't. But I was watching Orange is a new black is the New Black Netflix. And I was watching, God, what's her name, Piper, and that's like prison, and it's reality TV. But I was like, I need to see how she's rolling in there, you know. And I can laugh about it now, but I'll tell you, like trying to do this, all of this, without people knowing. A few people knew. But there were times I was getting stuck. I was getting stuck in neighborhoods. I was stuck at the Coldwell Banker office because I, you know, there was no Uber, you know. And like it.

Tracy Hayes  50:41  

It's, well, there were so many times in your story there where get the camera there. There's so many times in that story, so many people. I mean, if someone's watching you as people knew, they're like, well, when she going to give up? And now that's why I asked you, were there, you know, Were there times you wanted to quit real estate? I imagine there's, there's there. Just that goes through people's minds. Like, you know, well, there's an easier road over here. I could just quit. And it sounds like, like that wasn't, I mean, imagine that thought went through your head at different times, like, how can I avoid because you're, like I said, You're dancing around. You don't want people to know, and you know, you're getting the Uber so many people would have, well, let me just go get the job over here, and I'll just wait tables. No. And in that way, I'm not in front of my my peers at at the at the real estate office, that sort of thing. They would have chose that path. But you didn't you didn't quit, and you kept moving forward, and that, that's what's so amazing. That's why you were on stage. I mean, that's,

Speaker 1  51:48  

I'll tell you what. I love real estate because I love people. I love helping people. I do feel like this is my calling. I'm passionate about it, I'm good at it, and home ownership is so important to me. I My family didn't own a home. We lived in a rental house. And the fact that I own all these rental houses now, like it's, it's hard to even believe, you know, like it's, it's, it's crazy. But the other thing is, you know, and I used to talk to this lady. And every time we talk about something, I'd say, Well, God, this and, you know, and I'm here because of this, and she'd say, Amy, you are so quick to take credit for all the bad stuff, but you don't take credit for the good stuff. You are where you are because of the choices you make. And I can say I am where I am not because anybody, not because something was served up to me on a silver platter. I've had to scrape and work and hustle and humble myself and go through a lot of hardships to get to where I am today. And you know, I'm not going to waste the opportunities. And I feel like, you know, at one time, I was a mess in a dress, and now it's like an address my test has been turned into a testimony,

Tracy Hayes  53:04  

and like, that might be the title this podcast that would catch a lot of think about that.

Speaker 1  53:10  

Yeah. Well, one guy when I was on the Tom Ferry stage, he was like, from Uber rides to Uber riches. I'm not uber rich, but, you know, right? Yeah, and I'll tell you what else being grateful like I, you know, when you have nothing like I'm, you know, getting home and praying My power still on. I'm grateful for everything in my life. Now.

Tracy Hayes  53:37  

You're, you're, the bill comes in, it's paid one of many, yeah, you know that there is a for those have gone through and been at a point where, yeah, you you are, and I can roll through names that have been on this podcast that that told me, you know, they, you know, the living, the check To check. You know, sitting there, you know, balancing their chick. You know that. You know, you see, people still do it today, where everything's done electronically. You can just log in and like, you know, has it all done for you? Where you know they're in there, you know, can I write this check? When's this gonna deposit? Or, you know that? And if you've been there and then, and then you reach a point where you can go to Italy for a couple of weeks. You know, you probably have already paid for everything already. You know, besides what you spend when you go there, the feeling to do that. And obviously, you know, if you can take your kids or someone with you, that that's even better, and just tell the fresh air that blows through you when you you know, having the zero to hero

Tracy Hayes  54:44  

field, yeah, yeah, yeah,

Tracy Hayes  54:46  

we talked so I hear a lot of talk about Corey and angle and Volkers. And change gears here a little bit. So what is his magic sauce? Because I've heard. Numerous agents been on the podcast and not on the podcast. Something about when he they sit down with him and he pitches a vision. Now you've been with him for agent number four. Agent number four, has his pitch changed in is

Tracy Hayes  56:39  

having Well, hasn't been a year yet, so I think it was November last year when I had him on and there his sports background. Some people get it, some people don't, not him, but what they learned from that the you know, having the right coaches when he was younger, understanding what they were trying to do, to to motivate you, to get you to come out of your comfort zone and so forth, you're actually a I don't know, I don't equal is not the bet. You're not a nemesis. You're not an equal. But what you've gone through, the power that you, like you said, when you when you came out and start talking on stage, you were shedding that stuff that was holding you down, and you were throwing it, throwing it to the side, and now you were more powerful. You had worked out so much, carrying this weight of your life, and now that you were able to toss it to the side, you were much more powerful person, yeah, and he is the same way, I think, from that standpoint of his athletic career and the challenges, and obviously, to even just be considered and walk on an NFL field. You know, his career was short, but he got there and there's, you know, you're gonna get struck by you more likely get struck by lightning, be a professional athlete. And he got there and understanding the adversity and be able to look back and understand why those guys told you to do so many push ups. Why they told you to run so much when they told you to run another sprint, and you're like, oh my god, I just don't have it in me. And I think that part of him, he sees in people you saw in yourself, like you said, you kept cleaning houses even though you start, you're pushing six figures in an income. How many people would have done that? Most people would have dished the cleaning thing as soon as they had enough money in their positive in their checking accounts. And I'm okay, I'm done, because, you know, I mean, you kept keeping it humble and the thing, and I think he goes back to his sports and athletic and he humbles, and I don't hang out you. Obviously you know him much more. I only spend an hour with him on the podcast. That's the only time, but that's what I see coming through people that talk about him. Yeah, that's yeah. I sum that all up. Sorry for my rants there. Okay, who have been some, and maybe they might be your coach. Let's just talk about your real 17 years in real estate, who have been some like some key people that were there at the right time to keep you going in real estate and, you know, to get you where you are. Oh, my if we can just call them out,

Speaker 1  59:34  

yeah, let's see. Doreen peeler was with Coldwell Banker, and she supported me during my difficult times and rain. Was one of my managers at cobalt banker, Pete Dalton, Kim Knapp with cobalt banker Pam Henry, obviously my business coach. There was a guy named Philip that was. A colleague in my office, and I shared with him what was going on, and he, you know, he would give me rides and stuff like that. I've had so many people, so many people. And you know, when you see somebody that's like working so hard, trying to trying to do something different, you want to help

Tracy Hayes  1:00:16  

them. That's a that's an excellent point, if I can harp on that, I always like to be inspirational. And I think this is a light, this is a life lesson. We I think most people want to help others, but what, what deters them is when they do give some charity or help to someone and they don't take advantage of it, or, you know, you give them some money and they go buy something stupid, right? And you gave so many people an opportunity, one, you know, it feels good when you're able to share, which I'm sure you do today, share and reach out and help someone, but you you want them to grab your hand and help, allow you to help them. And if they don't grab your hand and go buy something stupid with the money you gave them instead of buying a meal for their kids, you can get discouraged from helping. And I think all these people, I would imagine going back and really talking to him, maybe having you on the podcast and asking, Hey, what about Amy? Is they wanted to give you something because they knew if they spent the they gave you $1 you'd make $2 out of it. And that just made all made the difference for them. You still getting coaching today, or you still same person? Wow, because those are five years, six years.

Speaker 1  1:01:46  

I took a break for a couple years. I Yeah, and we are back together.

Tracy Hayes  1:01:51  

Conversations different, though. Now,

Speaker 1  1:01:54  

she reminds me of when I'm hard on myself. She reminds me of where I was where I am now, because it's really only been since 20 late, 2018 right, that I was free to be able to work and drive and do all the things and, you know, to build the real estate portfolio that I've built, to be in the top 500 agents in Northeast Florida, to be speaking on stages and traveling in or all over is quite incredible, yeah, and I don't take the time to really look at

Tracy Hayes  1:02:27  

that. Well, I was, that was what I wanted to get back before we kind of get off on the surface. You know, when was that last time you had zero in your checking account? Was it 2018 17? I mean, and then, now it's, it's, we're only talking four or five years. And now you, I assume, you own the home you live in. You own multiple other properties. You're not, you're going to Italy for a couple weeks. It can change. And literally, four or five years in our lifetime, I think, after you, after you cross over, about 40, that's like overnight, five years goes by, boom, like that. Or even you have kids, five years goes by like, you know, before the afternoon. And to look at anyone want you want to be inspired, if you're like Heather, who was on here on Monday, she's only 30 years old. She's already got seven years in the business, lot of trial and error, and she's now coming of age for her, if you're you're her podcast, and listening your podcast, it can be done. And if you want to be successful in four or five years, call Amy. She'll, she will put you on the road, or tell you who you need to talk to, if it's not her, right? That's what I see. Yes. All right, now let's talk about real estate specifically, because my next question, there was a lot of mistakes that were choices that you made, you know, whatever that you owned up to. But as far as real estate, if you're talking to another real estate age, you know, new real estate agent, or maybe someone who's hit their lid, you know, they've been doing it three or four years, doesn't, don't know why the business is not growing. What is like one of the your the biggest mistakes in real estate, whether it might have been marketing, what is, what is something you would tell them, Don't do this.

Speaker 1  1:04:21  

Oh, gosh, don't do well, you know,

Tracy Hayes  1:04:26  

or you did it and it was worthless. I would

Amy Powell  1:04:32  

well, I will say, early on, I spent a lot of money on shiny objects. There is no magic pill. You have to pick up the phone, you have to door, you have to lead, generate, somehow figure out what you're good at, what's your magic and do that. You know, for me, it's I don't like the long incubation period of internet leads, because I like to build rapport with people. I like to build relationships. It's hard to do that when you're just texting and sending emails. I'm. People person. And I think for me, getting in front of people, I do well at open houses, I do well networking and just really building relationships. And everybody can be your customer, you know, whether it's a plumber that you have that came over to your house, it's a handyman that you hired, it's the dentist, it's, you know, doesn't matter. And I have to tell you something. This was like, I was like, holy cow, my life has come full circle. I'm working with a police officer right now, and a couple weeks ago, we were sitting across from each other at a table, and she's in her full uniform with, like, you know, her whole deal. And I'm like, I'm selling this lady a house. I'm not sitting in the back of her police car. Life is damn good. But anyway, yeah, just, you know, build relationships. Don't think that there's a magic bullet. Work hard, work smart. You know, you can there are things that you can do. And I think identifying what your strengths are, also educate yourself. That's huge. You know, we're handling the largest transaction that most people will make, and I consider it an honor every time I'm invited into somebody's home, because they are inviting me into their home, their finances, their family, I get to see what's going on behind the scenes, and that's not something to take lightly. I would rather sell less houses, but make an impact in somebody's life and serve them at the highest level,

Tracy Hayes  1:06:25  

you bring up, which I think our industry is now in a gut check time, because this is how you've been doing your business. The shiny object that is a there's so many out there. We get, I mean, because we are in the business, we are you open Facebook, you're going to have an ad for that, another shiny object. Do you want to buy leads? Or do you want this? You know, given, you know, hey, give us money here. Give us money there. And the reality is, you have to, however it is, whether it's you'll have someone dial for you, a virtual dialer to to make the appointments. Is, I utilize a little bit that, because they can sit there and dial a lot more people. Because there's creative things that I do to from social media, there's things that I'm good at. We all have call reluctancy. If you have call reluctancy, find someone to make the dials, because you need to make the dials. Yeah, the dials have to be made. It could be to just to your past clients, just reminding them that you're still there and you're still doing the business. But like you said, you know, creating the relationships, there's no shiny object that's going to create the relationships. You may find a shiny object that creates the initial interaction. I use the podcast for that, but after that, it's now building. You have to, you know, what's the follow up? What are you doing next? And that you've been doing that all along, and I think that's why you're going to plow through, which we, you know, everyone says we're in a recession now, whatever, but it's a downturn in our in our industry, versus what it was a year ago, which was a huge upturn. So, you know, things are changed, but you're going to plow right through it, because you've been doing the foundation all along, the relationship, building, making the calls, door knocking, etc. You mentioned education already, just tip on if you could, how important is it for a new agent to ramp up today and grab whether it's at the Board of Realtors, whether it's at a sponsor event, you know that there's so many places where someone's talking today in real estate, just in Jacksonville, I guarantee we search around. There's a lot of them we don't even know about that, where someone's giving out some expertise. You know, how important is it for them to absorb that and put that into their schedule, to make sure they are educating themselves on the on industry,

Amy Powell  1:08:54  

on the for me, it's it's crucial, because we're being hired as as an advisor as the expert in our field. And if you know how, like, you know, somebody starts like they did, like I did, and they know how to sell, but they don't know how to run a business. Take some classes, you know, take some business classes. And I took the GRI course because it gave me kind of a full picture of real estate, you know, the continuing education. I'm part of many investor groups and Airbnb groups, and I travel to different conferences, and I talk to agents that are, you know, that have what I want, that are doing things at a high level. I've done a lot of, you know, just the stuff that I've learned from my purchasing real estate. I have self directed IRAs. I have a lot of owner finance deals. I've done the burr method, you know, buy something, fix it up, refinance it. So, and all of this has just been in the last, you know, since 2017 2018 right? So you have to be able to bring value in. To a situation and be confident about what you know. You know. How do you set yourself apart from 1000s of other agents? So I, you know, I am an expert in my field. This is not a job. It's my career, and it's my job. You know, it is my responsibility to keep up with what's going on in the market. You

Tracy Hayes  1:10:19  

bring up a good point. About running, you know, the coach, your it's your business, right? Yeah, you're, you're other, you're under whatever brokerage today it's Ingo and Volkers, yeah, they are who you, you know, you shine under and so forth, and where you hopefully pull value, like from Corey and some of the other great agents. But the reality is, you're 1099, you have your own expenses. You got to pay for your own education, right? They're not paying for your you know, unless you know that. I'm sure they provide stuff in the office occasionally. But the reality is, you got to go out and beyond that. They're, they're not going to be able to provide you the education you need if you're in if you're going beyond being you can be a full time part timer. In other words, oh, it's like a hey, I just, I just want to sell a house or two a month, right? That's kind of your, your attitude, and then, which, that turns out to be a house every other month because you set your bar solo and or you want to do X amount of dollars because you want to, you want to sell so many houses because you want this volume, and so you need to make this many calls, and you need to do that. I'm sure your coach went through all that math to figure out, hey, this is what you need to be doing on a daily basis. So you that's your that's your bar that you need to try to reach to every day, to stay on pace, to reach where you want to reach. And part of that is educating you. I'm sure today, I'm listening to you. Anyone comes up to you and starts talking about real estate? You know that I've been doing this, I've you know I've been in mortgages as long as you've been in real estate. Someone asked me a question, even if I don't know the answer, I can not lie to them, but I can give them enough that tells them that I know what I'm talking about. I know where to get the information. You know what? I haven't ran across that. There's so many different loan programs. I know there's something like that exists. Let me go research, because it is a one off product. It's something you know, or you're like, you're talking the Burmese. These are common things that are out there, but very rarely used, right? You've done it. You're part of it. Your confidence, like sweats out of you. You know it's out and around you, and people see that, and obviously why your sales probably continue to increase. Because even just the basic sale of a single family home, you're coming in there with all the confidence that people are attracted to that. So consistency is another common thing. What would you say in your business, whether it's something you've been doing for 17 years, or something you've been doing for the last three or four years, or, you know, we came up that you feel that you do consistently, because it moves the needle and your business,

Amy Powell  1:12:55  

build relationships, make contacts,

Tracy Hayes  1:12:58  

expand on that. So what, does that mean to you?

Amy Powell  1:13:03  

I try to reach out to stay in touch with people that I've done business with. They already like me, know me, and trust me. And I'm going to, you know, Sunday, I'm going to lunch at a past customers house at one o'clock. I'm going to a baby shower at a past customers. I had dinner with two past customers last week, I bought a couple of wedding presents yesterday. I mean, I you know, it's not just a real estate transaction. It is a relationship, and to me, it's such an honor to be part of somebody's life journey. One little side note, during covid, in between snacks, I decided to get my little notary certificate. So I became a notary, and I went to see my hairdresser, and she was like, Hey, aren't you a notary? And I was like, Yeah. And she said, Can you officiate a wedding? So I ended up officiating her wedding. I sat down and we went through their vows, and I talked to them, and I there were probably 100 people on the river at this wedding. And I did, I did it, wow. And then I have another customer. I sold her her first house. You don't advertise that service. I don't, and I officiated her. But it's, it's not about money. It's like, that's how much I care about the people that I'm privileged to be in relationship with, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, just, you know, taking care of people, staying in touch with people, and continuing education, and obviously, you know, you got to work. You got to work.

Tracy Hayes  1:14:30  

Simple, I want you because, because of your consistency, it's risen to the level of, what do they call it? What are they officiating? A wedding. Yeah, that's like, high level, like, oh, most people like, Oh, my God, I don't want I'm not. I can't do that. No, you don't need to do

Amy Powell  1:14:53  

that. No, you do not need to officiate weddings. Please do not.

Tracy Hayes  1:14:57  

You need to keep the basic level. So for you, what is a What are you routinely doing? I mean, is it birthday cards, a call every couple of months? Or what are some basics that you keep

Amy Powell  1:15:13  

their phone calls, visits, dinners, going to people's homes, letting them know that I care.

Tracy Hayes  1:15:20  

Going to people's homes probably didn't for most people. Didn't happen overnight, but you were calling, you know, check, sending a birthday card and whatever, and then ran into him at the grocery store, and they're like, Yeah, you know you ought to come. You know what I'm saying?

Amy Powell  1:15:32  

That thing is, they feel like they owe me, like they're like, We really we're so sorry. We haven't invited you over, we haven't made you dinner. I'm like, they think that they need to give me

Tracy Hayes  1:15:42  

a gift, which is awesome. Yeah, that's very certain. Yeah, that's awesome. Consistency in relationships, I mean, that's the foundation of our business. How important? And because you're with Engel and Volkers, and I know Corey, he talks about and when I interviewed him a year ago, and now you guys have added more locations. They like to have that office where it's an attraction, where you want to bring your family to because you it's impressive, just the way it's laid out and decor. So this question here, I know, I assume, is going to flow through you, and that's showing up, showing up at the office, showing up at the social, showing up at that, that baby shower. I mean, because I guarantee there's going to be talk, there's going to be somebody in that room that doesn't know you, and now you're going to be able to tell them, because what's an easy conversation? What do you do for a living? Right? Right? You know, and that conversation starts, how important is it showing up

Amy Powell  1:16:46  

to me? It's, it's very important. When I am invited to something, I say yes as often as I can, you know, because if you, if you don't, you're not going to get invited anymore. But you know, I like to have good relationships with with the people, the other realtors and my colleagues in my office. So I'm building those relationships. I'm building relationships with people that I do cross sales with. And just, if you say you're going to be there, be there. You know, I'm not in the office every day, but when we have an event, when we have a social event, I try to show up to those as often as I can, and just, you know, be a participant.

Tracy Hayes  1:17:24  

Well, you guys have a lot of, you know, you have to be at a certain level already to go to England. Volkers, there's a lot of smart, intelligent people that are there, and you're it's going to bleed over to you. Yeah, it's all surrounded that's part of the surrounding yourself by five people going to your office, and like being within earshot or interacting with the top agents in your office, that's part of that five people you're surrounding yourself with. It's it's right there. You just got to walk in. We already talked about surrounding yourself with successful people, so I'm not going to beat on that one anymore. All right. This is a, this is your sales pitch, right? This is, this is your reel cut out. Oh, gosh. All right, I'm gonna put the camera just on you. Oh, what makes Amy Powell a unique real estate agent that people should be using her?

Amy Powell  1:18:22  

I'm extremely knowledgeable in my field. I have a lot of life experience and a lot of business experience, because I worked through the downturn of the market, because I've made financial mistakes and gone through all those types of hardships. I know what it's like, and I know how to protect my clients, and I know how to keep them on track. If they tell me what their budget is, I'm going to try to help them stay in their budget, because I know what the flip side of that is. I am persistent, tenacious, gritty, like I will do whatever the hell have to do to get the job done, and do it well and do it with a smile. So if somebody hires me like they're going to get the full package. You know where

Tracy Hayes  1:19:10  

you're telling that story, and I'm thinking about our whole conversation here for the last hour. Some people may be able to relate to this story, but for some reason, it flashed in my mind. If you've ever watched the movie, Band of Brothers the HBO series, where it talks about the Americas for us, first division landed in Normandy and made it all the way to Germany. And there's a scene in the movie, in one of the episodes where the lieutenant the men are told to follow this guy, and he and he's kind of real short in conversation, but he's, he's all, he's a man's man. He's like, you know, six foot plus whatever. He's literally running across. Field, there's machine gun fire and everything coming at him, and he makes it. He actually goes through the Germans, turns around the others and and obviously is fighting from the other side. And that's what, when you were going through that made me that that's you and your real estate. To me, that was the that was the analogy that I could put my you have had all these bullets flying at you for a good part of your good part of your life. You know, a different city when you were young, and, you know, maybe there was a period of time when you were married and had the kids or some peace, but then the then it started again. And you have come through that, and now you are just that much better on the other end,

Amy Powell  1:20:44  

I should be a poet.

Tracy Hayes  1:20:48  

All right, we're gonna wind down here, because we've been going here a good bit, and what a great story. These are my these are my standard questions, what is Amy's favorite thing to do in Northeast Florida when she's not selling real estate.

Amy Powell  1:21:03  

It's so simple. I love to just walk on the beach. Sounds cheesy, but that's where I feel grounded and kind of connected to nature and like I'm present in my body.

Tracy Hayes  1:21:15  

Are you listening to anything? Or did you like to hear the ways

Amy Powell  1:21:19  

sometimes I listen to things, yeah, but then, you know, it just depends. It seems kind of silly if I'm listening to something, because I can hear the sound of the ocean and, like, just take all of that in and shut out the noise. But,

Tracy Hayes  1:21:35  

well, I do believe in Billy Wagner, a guy got his book right here in front of me. He talks about how he gets his routine is 630 in the morning, he goes, he gets the dog, and he goes, and he'll listen to a podcast or an audible book or something for 40 minutes of that hour that he goes out. But there's 20 minutes where he doesn't have turns off the the your pods or whatever, and his allowing his thoughts and things to arrange themselves in his mind, right? And I think people miss that part of that life. We talked some of the greats talk about meditation and so forth, and that's what they're to me. That's what they're doing, yeah. And when you say you want to walk on the beach, that silence or just hearing the waves you are, then you're allowing your mind to catch up to you, yeah, and then put your goals all right. Question I've asked on every one of the 94 podcast, is it more important who you know or what you know and why?

Amy Powell  1:22:40  

Who you know, to me, who you know, can help you connect with what you need to know. And in my world, relationships and treating everybody well is why I think I'm so successful. And I don't just mean like in business, but just I have good relationships, and I value those relationships,

Tracy Hayes  1:23:05  

and in those in some of those people, because you told you had many, you had numerous people that reached out in your time of need because you asked and You were a willing recipient of their a gift or whatever it was. But when you gain confidence too, and people like say, You know what, I gave Amy $1 she returned too. She now, they now are like they now want to, then even share more with you. They want to, you know, hey, whether it's in business or whatever. It's not. You know, I'm breaking it down very simply, but what I'm hearing you say is they wanted, knowing the right people, respecting them, showing them respect when they gave you $1 you return to they just want to pour more into you and show you. And obviously you want your hopefully you're following successful people that are guiding you in the right direction, right 100% I totally agree with that statement that you just made. Amy, it's been a pleasure. Thank you having you on. I think this was, this is this goes down. And one of the top things, hopefully, many, many of the people and they that were at the California comp listen in that see your name out there, or Google your name, and see how you're doing, and hopefully the podcast will go up for them, because I think, I mean, there's a lot of people can relate to your story. We've all been kicked in the teeth sometime and and you have risen above and beyond. And I mean sky's the

Speaker 1  1:24:43  

limit well, and if I can just say I'm so glad that I finally ripped the band aid off, like I'm sitting here now, and I'm really not afraid of who might see this. Where I was, I was shaking when I got here. But if I can say to anybody, it doesn't matter where you can. From it doesn't matter what you've been through. It doesn't matter how bad you think you've screwed up your life. It's an you have every day is

Tracy Hayes  1:25:07  

a new day. I was just about to say the sun rises and it's a new

Speaker 1  1:25:12  

day. If you woke up breathing today, it's a damn good day. Don't waste it. Yes. 100% Thank you. Thank you. You.