From Dental Chair to Deal Maker: How Brenda Young Rebuilt a Career at 51 and Became a Top Producer

Shane Kilby (Sweet Home Alabama) and co-host Duane Murphy (Appleton, WI) sit down with Brenda Young, a lifelong Appleton resident who traded 33 years in dentistry for a brand-new real estate career at age 51 and never looked back. 

Brenda opens up about burning the boats, building confidence, and the power of spousal buy-in. 

She shares how training, admin leverage, and relentless service helped her go from two closings in ten months to multi-million-dollar annual production (no team, no buyers’ agents, no personal assistant).

You’ll hear the unglamorous early days, the “estimated taxes” lesson, why community events matter, and how humility + consistency can outpace flash. 

If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s too late to start or how to scale without losing your soul this one’s for you.

What we cover:

• Leaving a stable 9–5 for a commission-only career—with a plan
• The role of spouse/family buy-in during the first 2–3 grind years
• Training vs. “figure it out”: how structure at Expert Real Estate Partners changed everything
• Letting go of paperwork (hello, admin team) to win back life and pipeline
• Confidence as a learned skill: from “meek and shy” to assertive professional
• Why humble, grateful marketing still attracts clients and referrals

Connect with Brenda:

📱 920-422-1234

🔎 Facebook: Brenda Young (Appleton, WI)

Call to Action: If this episode helped you, smash subscribe, drop a 5-star review, and share it with someone who needs that “it’s not too late” nudge. 

Want to be a guest or refer one? Reach out we’d love to hear your story.

🎙 Thank You for Tuning in to the R.E.A.L. Real Estate Agent Life Podcast!

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Transcript

Shane Kilby (00:01.102)
All right, today we are live or we will we're live currently this is probably not going to be live when you guys are consuming it. However, today we are with none other than the real estate agent life podcast. My name is Shane Kilby from sweet home, Alabama. I have my co-host here. Mr. Dwayne Murphy from where

Duane Murphy (00:23.214)
Wisconsin

Shane Kilby (00:25.242)
Wisconsin my brother from another mother can't you tell the accent we sound I didn't like identical twins separated birth and His Yankee twang so Midwestern twang. I'm sorry. Let my dad grip So let me but but we have a very special guest today She is a rock star out in that Appleton market as well And so who do we have with us the way the way who we have with us today?

Duane Murphy (00:31.964)
been working on my twang

Duane Murphy (00:50.386)
All right, so somebody I know that I know very well, but I do have a little punch list and I have the flashlight on today because it's a little dark in here. So case everyone's wondering where I'm going, but today we have Brenda Young. She's a lifelong Appleton resident with deep roots in the community. And after a successful 33 years in the dental field, she transitioned into real estate and she's now been a real estate agent for the last eight years.

Shane Kilby (01:00.622)
Menu Picker

Brenda Young (01:14.597)
Mm-hmm.

Duane Murphy (01:19.334)
helping clients navigate the home buying and selling process with care and confidence. Known for a strong work ethic, attention to detail and genuine passion for people, considers real estate the most rewarding career she's ever had. Now that, that's the written script part of it. There is so much more than just that, because there's no way that that just summarizes you and everything you bring to the table in real estate for your

for the people that work with you, your clients, partners, everything like that. So let's just jump right into it, right off the bat. We had mentioned that you had a past career in dental field. So walk us prior to your transition to real estate. What was your backstory? And then from that backstory, what made you kind of want to get into real estate?

Brenda Young (02:13.169)
So, yes, I have a back story. Actually, so when I was 19, I was actually a dental assistant in the children's dental office for eight years. And then at 28, with a two-year-old son, I decided to go back to school for dental hygiene. And my husband, Pat, I've been married almost 39 years. He...

He supported me and we made it ends meet. worked 70 hours a week making ends meet. had a two year old, we had a mortgage. I went to school full time for dental hygiene. was, if somebody gave me a crystal ball on how stressful it would have been, I don't know if I would have had the courage to do it, but I did it. Then I graduated, started working in Neenah as a dental hygienist. I worked there.

only office I worked at as a hygienist for 24 years. And then after, you know, 33 years, was a great career. It was a wonderful career. I met a lot of great people. Many of my patients are now my friends and actually many of my patients are my clients too. So it's been kind of cool that people still remember me. So yeah, I took the leap.

Being in dentistry that long, again, it was great, but there was a level of burnout, right? So I was kind of dabbling. I helped one of my friends sell her house for sale by owner. I helped another friend find a house. I was always scrolling on Zillow looking at houses and my friend said to me, you know, why don't you look into real estate? Because I was getting a little burnt out in dental hygiene, the dental field.

So one of a dental hygienist in our office said to me, friend, why don't you meet my friend Penny? And I met with Penny, a realtor in the valley. We sat there for two and a half hours talking. to this day, she's still my very good friend. She was my mentor. And I thought, OK, I'm going to take that test. I'm just going to see where this takes me. And Pat was like,

Brenda Young (04:35.025)
go for it, here we go again, right? At age 28, now I'm 51 and okay, now I'm gonna do this, go for it. You he always encouraged me, never discouraged me. So I took the test, I crammed for the test in three weeks, took the test, it was hard, it was really hard. I was like, wow. I walked out, they said, well, you passed. And I was like, I passed? And I was kind of surprised. And I said, is it too early for a beer?

That's why I said to the lady and...

Shane Kilby (05:06.766)
fourth shot.

Duane Murphy (05:09.01)
You're gonna be awesome in real estate

Brenda Young (05:11.909)
Yeah, so then I went back. Krista, she was the one, the hygienist, she filled in for me that day so I could go and take the test and I went back to the office and she looked up, she was working on somebody's teeth and she looked up and I just gave her a thumbs up and then it kind of took off from there. I did both jobs for one year and then I had to decide, I really, I didn't have a closing.

I had two closings after 10 months in the industry. So I was in the industry for 10 months and my first closing happened. And I was like, geez, I don't know if this is for me. And I kind of dabbled. I got to make a choice here. And then I started getting a little busy burning the candle at both ends. My dad kept saying to me, Bren, you need to, he called me Bubsy. Okay, I'll just say Bubsy.

Bubsy, you need to quit that dental hygiene job. I can tell you love real estate. Every time I'd go in to visit my mom and dad, he'd see, so did you sell a house today? That was his word all the time. Did you sell a house today? So then my dad, he passed away unexpectedly seven years ago. And at the funeral, one of his friends said to me, hey, are you that?

Are you the daughter that's the hygienist and realtor? I said, I am. And he said, your dad always talks about you. he said, he always wanted you to quit that dental hygiene job. So that's the story. June 27th, he died. July 27th, I left the dental field. I had to make a choice and I found Dwayne. So, okay, so to back up here.

I wasn't happy at the company I was with. And I met Brandy, a realtor and expert at a home inspection. I had the buyer, she had the listing. And we talked for quite a long time and I really liked her vibe. I'm a country girl, more down to earth, casual person. So I contacted Dwayne.

Duane Murphy (07:31.538)
you

Brenda Young (07:34.592)
And we talked, right, Dwayne? This is a really funny. We talked. Yep. And then I.

Duane Murphy (07:36.466)
We did we did for a decent amount of time and then and then what happened

Shane Kilby (07:43.968)
Yeah, Dwankin be a talker. Like Dwankin. We probably all three have that in common.

Brenda Young (07:47.534)
And then I them down. yeah, yeah. Then I told them, I think I'm gonna stay at the company I'm with.

Duane Murphy (07:50.908)
Yes.

Duane Murphy (07:55.718)
She snubbed me.

Shane Kilby (07:57.6)
It happens. It happens.

Duane Murphy (07:58.567)
She snobbed me, I'm like, like come to Xpert, can help you be a great fit. We have some programs and some different things that can help get your career going. And then she was like, no.

Brenda Young (08:14.286)
Yeah. So then two weeks later, I called him and I said, can I still come to your company? And he was up in a tree stand. Do you remember that?

Shane Kilby (08:14.424)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it happens to get coffee.

Duane Murphy (08:29.082)
Yes!

Brenda Young (08:31.012)
He answered his phone up in a tree stand. And he said that was like in November. Well, yeah, you'd be up in a tree stand in

Duane Murphy (08:34.482)
you

Duane Murphy (08:39.794)
That was in November, yep, tree sand.

Brenda Young (08:42.8)
So I had a couple, I had I think a transaction or two that I wanted to close prior to coming there. So I did that. And then I, in February, I joined expert and then it just, you know, Dwayne really paved the way for me, giving me lots of opportunities because I wasn't a very busy realtor. I mean, I was ready to stay in my hygiene job. I was very close to doing that.

Shane Kilby (08:56.183)
Okay.

Duane Murphy (09:12.53)
can remember some of our early conversations in our old office and having those and you questioning out loud, like, don't know if this is like, should I be a realtor? Should I keep doing this? Like, I don't know if I made for this. you had a couple of difficult transactions right in a row. Like some of those transactions and everyone listening.

Shane Kilby (09:22.919)
Okay

Brenda Young (09:28.655)
Yep.

Duane Murphy (09:38.663)
that's a real estate agent mortgage or whatever. I mean, you have those some of those transactions that like will just come up and just smoke it right in the gut. And everything goes wrong and everyone's blaming you because you're the real estate agent. So it's ultimately your fault, even if it isn't. I can remember you had a few of those right in a row and we had a few few chats.

Brenda Young (09:47.962)
Mm-hmm.

Brenda Young (10:03.473)
I remember one listing, the first listing I had, I remember I didn't put, and Dwayne, I don't know if you remember this, I didn't put, it wasn't selling, okay? And I didn't put garage access to the basement. And Dwayne kind of yelled at me, kind of scolded me for that, and I was like, I looked at him a deer in headlights, that's when I wasn't as assertive as I am today.

Shane Kilby (10:33.095)
Big skin, big skin.

Brenda Young (10:34.0)
But I and he pressed, he clicked on the magnifying glass and I was like, what is that for the listing? I, so when I was at my first office, I did not get the training. Okay. Huge difference when I went to expert, total huge difference. I learned so much there that, you know, I credit a lot to joining expert because I literally, I don't know if I'd be in real estate. So.

Shane Kilby (10:51.758)
Thank

Shane Kilby (11:04.215)
Yeah.

Brenda Young (11:04.26)
I'm loyal to expert in Dwayne.

Shane Kilby (11:06.796)
Well, mean training, training goes, mean, training is, training is everything in real estate. mean, you know, and I think we've, we all took that test. think the most of us that like, no, passed that. We're the ones who passed it and the ones like, think I passed it. They didn't pass it. And it's a, but from that point forward, that's where the real, you know, make or break training comes into play. think that's a lot of where.

You know, the statistic is 87 % of agents from when they leave that, you know, testing center, 87 out of a hundred are out of the business in three years. And I think that training like you got with Dwayne and XBUR has a, as a huge impact on that. But it also, it also has the, the agent themselves have to embrace the training, have to seek the training and then, and then implement it. Cause you got those are like, I don't have time for training. I've spent all this time studying, learning and testing and

Duane Murphy (11:51.046)
Yes. Yes.

Shane Kilby (12:03.278)
I gotta go make some money. All right, so they fall in their face because they don't have any training and they're running around as a liability. Then you've got the agents go, oh, I'm gonna train, I'm gonna learn everything before I, cause I don't want to go out there and make a mistake and they get, you know, analyzation, paralyzation, but it's the ones in the middle like yourself that take it and implement it. Right.

Brenda Young (12:24.419)
Yeah, we would have meetings at our meetings. We had meetings every, I think it was Wednesday when we were at the new old building. gosh, and you had to go to those meetings. He expected you at those meetings. And I remember saying to, I think it was Brandy, because Brandy and Adam were the two realtors that I got to know first. And I remember saying, you guys, I'm so overwhelmed. I have no idea what he's talking about.

Duane Murphy (12:31.122)
Mm-hmm.

Brenda Young (12:53.965)
I said, are all the meetings like this? I was so overwhelmed when I got there, but I just took it day by day. And I was in the office a lot and listening to other people. And I'd go to all my home inspections and ask a lot of questions, follow that home inspector around. And I was like, if I want to do this, I just left 33 years of the dental field. I mean, I barely remember. I got in my car on July 27.

drove away. I remember going home, but I was like, what in the world did I just do? So, um.

Shane Kilby (13:31.214)
So I do want to ask you on that particular topic because I'm sitting and thinking like, mean, Dwayne knows this and this is in other leaders and stuff in this industry. We're having these conversations with agents every day. Some are with our companies, some are not about burning the boat. Burning the boats, the Tony Robbins quote, the Tony Robbins mentality, mindsets like you can't

have a foot on each boat because they're going to float apart and then you're not going to win any of the one of them. And then burning the boats and going all in. But that's a lot easier said than done. It's still hard for me for agents every month come to me and go, I feel like I could do more if I wasn't stretched thin because of my other job. it's difficult for me to look them in the eyes and go burn the boats.

Brenda Young (14:31.417)
Mm-hmm.

Shane Kilby (14:31.456)
Right. I still tell them that but I'm like, you know burn the boats But you you need to have some type of financial plan like like not 30 days worth the rations Like you need to have six months worth the plan, you know in place then burn the boats didn't go all in so 33 years like Even though you had a spouse that was going the extra mile, right? You didn't want their lifestyle to change Did you have any regrets when you

jumps you up when you burn the boats and you left that 33 year career. Were you scared? Were you nervous?

Brenda Young (15:05.347)
Gosh, yeah, I was nervous. my gosh, yes. You know, especially working in the same dental office for 24 years, I knew I couldn't go back there because they hired somebody to replace me. You know, I left all of my patients. I had over 200 patients, regular patients. That was probably the hardest part. So that was very difficult for me to leave because they became my friends, right?

But do I have any regrets? No, no, I don't. Taking that leap was huge for me and Pat, you know, not having a regular paycheck. know, dental hygienists, make fine money, they make good money. giving, yeah, right? So giving that regular paycheck up, knowing that, hey, there's sometimes, there's some months I may not get a paycheck, right?

Shane Kilby (15:51.457)
And they should.

sure.

Brenda Young (16:04.144)
But we were, know, Pat was ready for me to do that. I don't, you know, if he didn't support me like he did, I don't know if I would have had the courage to do it, but he was pretty confident. Brenda, you got this, so.

Duane Murphy (16:20.562)
Yeah, the spostal support's pretty, I mean, the spostal support with anybody in real estate is completely underrated. I mean, it is one of the most important things that you have to almost have that in order to be successful because you went from essentially a nine to five, an eight to five, Monday through Friday, maybe a Saturday, you know, it depends on the dental practice, but.

Brenda Young (16:29.752)
Okay.

Duane Murphy (16:48.306)
but typically again fairly set hours for the most part to all of a sudden into full blown once you committed and left the dental field all of a sudden full blown into real estate, nights, weekends, open houses, a completely different lifestyle of employment that was nothing like the past one that was stable and

And you knew what was to be expected every day to where all of sudden every day was different with a wide brain. And I tell you what, in that beginning years, I mean, you do now as well, but I mean, you took every opportunity available in front of you and grabbed and ran. And cause we talked on how it was a numbers game and, know, and you got to build your pipeline and you just got to get the experience. You just got to go and grind and, and like none other for those first couple of years you were in the industry.

You do the same thing now, you just do it in a different way than you did back when you were starting. But kudos to Pat for believing in you and giving you the opportunity and then supporting you in that pursuit. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't have that support on the backside and it is crucial.

Brenda Young (17:55.097)
Mm-hmm.

Shane Kilby (18:09.774)
Well, know, we teach pre-license and that is something that we drill home in orientation. know, it's like that first night is like, if you do not have that spouse support now, you need to go home tonight after this class and you need to sit down at the table and not just have that spouse support, but you need to have that family buy-in because, know, the first...

You know three years two to three years in this business is a grind and you don't you don't we don't I mean We don't get let's let's be honest. We don't get paid for 80 percent of stuff that we do Right. We get paid to close deals and Spouses if they don't if they're not on that same team. They're like wait We're not there's no supper like and it's not that this spouse that's what it's about but it's like

Brenda Young (18:43.31)
.

Brenda Young (18:53.525)
Exactly.

Shane Kilby (19:06.924)
What they're really saying is like, we don't have that family connection. We don't have that sit down or whatever that routine looks like. We don't have that. And you're not getting paid, right? We've all seen it. We've seen it's like agents are headed down the track of success. They're doing all the things and they get derailed because that one key aspect, they didn't have a buy-in at the beginning from everybody in that household that this is gonna be a grind.

Brenda Young (19:17.07)
Right. Yep.

Shane Kilby (19:36.778)
We're gonna make some sacrifices, but on the other side of that, we're gonna get those sacrifices back. Now, although we all know that we're not promised tomorrow, we have to lean into that putting that best foot forward. Like my business partner, like her girls are grown up now. I mean, I say grown, they're almost 20. But there was a point in time in that season where they were smaller and we were building this company.

And she looked at the girls and she said, look, I need everybody's buy-in. This is about to be a tough long season. And on the other side of that season, we're gonna take this big trip to Jackson Hole. We're going all in and we're not gonna pull out all the stops. But between here and there, it's gonna be a hard uphill grind. And from that point forward though, every time mom's phone would ring, when she is cooking, say, hey mom, grab that phone, grab that phone, grab that phone. So spousal buy-in is huge, huge, huge, huge.

Let me ask you this question. So we talked about the journey into real estate. we had some mile markers there and some milestones there, some fear that we overcame and some hurdles there and some momentous success in between. What do you think has been your greatest success thus far in business?

Brenda Young (20:32.514)
Mm-hmm.

Brenda Young (20:57.696)
So, you know, I tend to be a realtor that tends to lay low. don't like to advertise what I have going, this, that, and the other thing. I never dreamed though of, I never dreamed I would do the amount of sales that I've been doing. Never, if somebody told me Brenda, you're gonna sell, I think I was close to 15 million last year.

Brenda, you're gonna sell 15 million this year. I would have looked at them like they were crazy. So just being successful in real estate is my success story. I still have to pinch myself because it's like, is this really real? You described it as a grind. don't look at it as a grind. It's actually.

kind of fun and challenging. And that's what I like. You don't get bored. You know, dental hygiene, you're cleaning people's teeth, teeth after teeth, mouth after mouth, right? You don't get bored. There is, they say a realtor can write a book, I wish I would have started writing a book of everything that happens. Because, you know, everything every day is a new something new happens. So it's it was never considered a grind to me. But yet my

Duane Murphy (22:01.554)
Okay.

Brenda Young (22:26.114)
biggest, that's my biggest success is just succeeding as a real.

Duane Murphy (22:31.216)
Yeah. And just to add on to that, are very, you are oftentimes very humble with the amount of business you do. You shy away from like, hey, do we need to tell everybody like that I'm doing that well? Or hey, don't want to, I don't, know, like, yeah, I'm happy to be the number one agent or one of the top agents. But, know, like, do you have to put it all over the boards, all over the office? Do you have to put these social posts? Because you're very humble and,

Brenda Young (22:55.862)
Yeah, I do. I do say that.

Duane Murphy (23:00.974)
And the way you lead and you lead others way more than you ever realize is through your actions and modeling the behavior and doing what you need to do and others see that and then they want to rise to your level and they want to create business like you have. mean, just a quick little shout out because I had run a couple of stats. I put them off our screens so far this year. And again,

Brenda Young (23:10.627)
Mm-hmm.

Duane Murphy (23:28.806)
You say it's not a grind. It's what you do. It's what you love to do. And it's just part of it. same bit. You've had 176 personal home showings that you've done so far this year. You've closed 36 units, probably not counting the couple you're going to close today or tomorrow. You've closed over 12 million dollars already this year in a market with an average price of about three and a quarter just for our listeners, because there's some markets where.

they're at 400, 500, 700,000 and they're like, oh, okay, well like 12 million. It's like we're 325, right? And it's not even September, it's not even September 1st yet. And oh, by the way, let's fill this out there for all the listeners. Brenda, how many, how many buyers agents do you have helping you sell 15 million plus real estate a year? None. How many? So no buyers agents, you don't have a team.

Shane Kilby (24:07.395)
Lotta unit.

Brenda Young (24:20.331)
None. None.

Duane Murphy (24:25.896)
Do you have a personal assistant?

Brenda Young (24:26.069)
No, no team. So, you know, the admin team at expert though, I don't know if I could do this without them, to be honest. I mean, our admin team at expert, I remember I was the last one that got on board with having admin do my documents into dot loop and stuff. I was like, no, I'm doing this myself.

Duane Murphy (24:48.644)
You were the last one standing in the Alamo going, I am never giving up my files. I am not doing it. I like to do it all myself. I can do it all. And I'm like, just imagine how much more time you could spend on a pontoon boat if you just let a little bit of it go.

Brenda Young (25:04.589)
Yeah, and then I did, I did. So that has helped me too though. So I have to give credit to them too for helping me.

Duane Murphy (25:10.93)
Yeah, they are. I would agree with you. They're an amazing team that supports all the agents. But again, just to give you some praise and some love on what you've accomplished and what you do. And most agents couldn't imagine doing half of that. And continue to nurture their pipeline, continue to prospect daily, continue to do what you do. so that's...

Shane Kilby (25:19.342)
you

Duane Murphy (25:39.89)
Just a pile on your success because I know you would never say it but but kudos kiddos kudos to that

Brenda Young (25:43.724)
No.

Shane Kilby (25:47.81)
Well, there's a difference between being humble and showing gratitude and making those statements to the world. And then the egotistical, flashy, posts and marketing tactics. It's good to share your success with the world in a humble way. Yes. And people who show gratitude.

Duane Murphy (26:12.358)
People want to be with winners. I mean, right? want to, yeah, they want to be with a successful agent. If you're listening or selling your home, you want to be successful. If you're an agent looking to join a company, you want to be with successful agents. So there is, you know, there is, there is some of that to that, but, but, but kudos. So on the flip side of that, with, with, you know, with great success, sometimes there's some failure. What would you deem as?

Brenda Young (26:25.963)
Yep.

Shane Kilby (26:33.262)
Ahem.

Duane Murphy (26:41.222)
possibly your biggest failure so far in business.

Brenda Young (26:46.445)
my gosh. Not realizing I had to pay estimated taxes on my earnings my first year at expert. Yikes. I remember my accountant calling me and said, Brenda, do you realize you need to pay taxes? I said, yes, I realize that. I didn't realize it would be as much as he told me. But I knew I had to pay taxes on it, of course. I'm not an idiot.

Yeah, so he got me on track with all of that. But as far as like biggest failure, I was joking about that. But as far as my biggest failure, really, I haven't had like a traumatic, huge like, my gosh, I can't believe this happened failure. You you have failures throughout real estate transactions that don't get to the closing table, things like that. But anything like real specific significant.

I guess I'm fortunate in that way.

Unless Dwayne, you can think of a failure that somehow I failed. I don't know.

Duane Murphy (27:55.891)
I honestly can't. mean one of those things is that you've always done really well. You're good at reflecting at it. You're good at venting on it.

Brenda Young (28:08.462)
I was just gonna say, if I have anything to say, sometimes I get a little emotional and I'll just, if I'm frustrated, Dwayne knows I'm frustrated.

Shane Kilby (28:21.314)
That's good. He needs to know.

Duane Murphy (28:21.36)
Yeah. But at the same time, also shows how deeply you care for your clients. that's reflected in the client events when all of a there's a line of 20 people and you're like, are they not getting their pumpkin pie? Are they not getting their pizza? Like what's going on with these 20 people standing in line? Why is there people standing in line? Of course, you look all the way to the beginning of the line and there's Brenda.

Shane Kilby (28:31.118)
you

Shane Kilby (28:35.918)
Thank you.

Brenda Young (28:51.319)
You know what? my gosh.

Duane Murphy (28:51.726)
It's just a line of people. mean, we'll have we'll have 100 hundreds of people at this event all day long. And there's always a line. You always know, you you look and it's like, OK, you know, who's going to be in front of that line. And and that's.

Brenda Young (29:05.109)
It's like a wedding. My cheeks are sore from smiling and talking all day because there's so many people that come.

Duane Murphy (29:10.834)
That's a testament to testament to so now Brenda throughout life and and this could be in life and or business it could be One in the same who's been your greatest influence?

Shane Kilby (29:15.886)
Absolutely.

Brenda Young (29:27.789)
Actually, my dad, my dad. So my dad was a farm boy. Grew up on a farm, so did my mom in Orbondale. It's just a little, little place, I don't know, maybe 1200 people, Orbondale. And he moved, so my dad took a leap and left the farming, got married, left farming, built his own house in Appleton, got a job at a mill, okay. Six kids, I'm the youngest of six.

Shane Kilby (29:36.974)
you

Brenda Young (29:57.581)
I always say my parents kept trying till they got it right. That's what I say. That's what I say because they would always say, the baby of the family. I'm like, no, I'm just the one that mom and dad just kept trying till they got it right. So dad built our house that we grew up in. 1961, he built his own house, knew how to do everything, worked two jobs. Mom stayed at home until I went to school.

Shane Kilby (30:01.486)
you

Brenda Young (30:26.548)
So dad worked two jobs. He was the hardest working man I know. And I'm sincere when I say that. So, you know, he was my hurrah guy. Come on, bubsy, go, go, go. You know, when I went back to dental hygiene school, mom was like, just be a dental assistant. I was like, you know, I'm 28 years old. I want to improve myself.

Shane Kilby (30:39.25)
you

Brenda Young (30:56.49)
years of working at least. So, and dad was like, just do it, just do it. And then like I said, dad was the reason upon his death was why I decided, hey, I'm gonna make this hard choice. And a month after his death, I became a full-time realtor. is, my dad was the hardest working man I know. The second one is my husband, Pat.

He's a hard worker. doesn't, you he just does what he does. People say, what do you do, He's very, he's very well respected in the industry. He's in the label company and label industry. He just quietly does his stuff. And if I need his support, like I said, he works 70 hours a week. And I'm not kidding shift work. When I was 20.

Shane Kilby (31:50.339)
The quiet heroes, the quiet heroes, no one ever knows about, but they're out there doing the thing.

Brenda Young (31:53.322)
Yeah, yeah. That's exactly what he does. So those two are the two most influential people in my life. I've been really lucky, actually. Yeah, I don't have too much to complain about.

Shane Kilby (32:07.182)
and that's all.

Well, you can see the genuine, humble, the gratitude, and that's a unique value. It's very unique value. And the world needs more of it. The world needs more of it. before we started recording, we talked about some of the public groups in the social media world.

Brenda Young (32:26.155)
Yes.

Shane Kilby (32:37.986)
where we have to spend some time and it's like, this is no lie. I someone message me last night, it was an agent and I could read it verbatim but I remember it verbatim and they said, I love your content, I don't know how you keep it together in those groups. I said, there's a side of me that wants to respond the way that the

Individual wants to be wants me to respond but I'm like, you know what? what we do is very special and Those people couldn't do it or they would be doing it, right and More agents need to to deliver that same message

Brenda Young (33:12.63)
Mm-hmm.

Shane Kilby (33:26.9)
into those spaces like that, right? Instead of being so quiet and passive and it's not to be aggressive, just, you know, our industry works very hard and a lot of supporting industries eat off of our plate. I'm not saying they couldn't eat without us. I'm saying they would be on a much strenuous fasting diet without us, let's put it that way. So thank you for having that.

Brenda Young (33:36.926)
Mm-hmm, yes, agree.

Shane Kilby (33:56.758)
That solid, just that great spirit, that just that humble spirit. like every question that we ask, mean, some guests, there's a lot of similarities and in some guests, those questions are completely different, right? And I've just, every listener, every viewer that captures this episode is going to appreciate that because

With our podcast, our goal is to connect agents, connect industry experts and industry amateurs. guess the difference is one's getting paid, one's not, right? The amateurs. And so that thought process brings me to this question. Because we do hope that a lot of up and comers or newcomers or I'm considering jumping into the business or even just buyers, so just the general population,

Looking back at the younger you, right? When you first started on this path, what would you do different or what's something that you wish you would have known when you started this journey?

Brenda Young (34:58.422)
Yeah. boy.

Brenda Young (35:09.984)
So you're gonna probably, Dwayne, you're probably gonna have a hard time believing this, but I was growing up, I was a very meek, shy little girl.

And even into my 20s, early 30s, 40s, I let people walk all over me because I wanted everybody to like me, right? You always want everybody to like you. And as I got older, I got wiser. I was, not that I, how do I want to put this? I don't want to sound like a snob, but.

You know, I don't really, I don't like everybody. Everybody's not gonna like me. I have a lot more confidence than I did back then. So looking back, I wished I would have had more confidence and was a little more assertive than I am now. I'm assertive in a good way, okay? I am an agent that...

I think I'm pretty easy to work with, but I want to get the job done too, right? So, yeah, now I'm just a more confident individual than I was back then. luckily, our boys, we have two boys, 34 and 29. And I asked them, how did you boys get so wise at such a young age? Because I was not like that.

You know, and they say we paved the way, but I was not like that growing up, so.

Shane Kilby (36:55.094)
Yeah, thanks for go ahead. Good one

Duane Murphy (36:55.657)
I was going say, you modeled, again, going back to modeling, I you modeled that behavior as you matured, as you grew, as you grew more out of your shell and more into the person who you truly are. You're right, they got to see that. And I think that without a doubt paved that path for them to know that it's okay to walk that path.

Brenda Young (37:22.892)
Mm hmm.

Duane Murphy (37:23.33)
And that's huge. Children just don't learn it on their own. They just don't learn it on their own.

Brenda Young (37:32.993)
Yeah.

Shane Kilby (37:33.134)
And confidence is a huge impact in this profession. And it takes confidence. And it doesn't matter how long you've been in the business. There's going to be days you feel like, man, what am I doing? How am I missing the mark? And so it's human nature for that confidence to take a dip.

And I see a lot of beautiful, brilliant people come into the business. And a lot of times that is the number one hinge. That's the tiny hinge. The way we've heard it, that tiny hinge is big doors. That's that one hinge, that one Achilles heel. And a lot of times, my focus is to help those people overcome that confidence issue. And the biggest thing that scares them the most is doing something like we're doing here with the video.

Duane Murphy (38:14.706)
Enough. Stung big doors.

Shane Kilby (38:31.788)
And I always tell them, I'm like, look, you are the beautiful person that you think you are, but you've got to stop overthinking it. You've got to get out of your own way. And whatever scares you the most, whether that is talking to a complete stranger about real estate or if it's shooting video or content or whatever, I said, that's what you got to run to, right? You got to run to that. So thank you for sharing because you know,

People that know you locally and the folks that go back and search and connect with you, they'll be like, I cannot believe that she does all these units, all this production, and she says that she didn't have any confidence coming in. Or when she was little, it's like she's this little shop, know, passive little girl that, you know, let people walk over. And maybe that's because you're a baby. You're the baby in the family. So, but it probably also instilled that fight in you too.

Brenda Young (39:21.899)
could be.

Shane Kilby (39:27.788)
Right now fighting you too. And so this is thanks for sharing it because other individuals who see this someone someone's gonna see this like That's me. Like she's she's me like I can do this because

Brenda Young (39:27.989)
Mm-hmm.

Duane Murphy (39:39.782)
What, adding onto that, and that's a great point and something that's been sitting in my head and since you gave a little bit of your backstory and I did a, tried to hack through a introduction.

of someone that I respect. 33 years. Cause you threw out some dates and some numbers. I was like, be careful with ages or whatever. But you threw out-

Brenda Young (40:09.014)
Well, I'm going to be 60 in October and I'm proud of it. It'll be a difficult 60.

Duane Murphy (40:11.942)
going to be 60 in October. so let's, let's unpack a little bit of again. I just don't want the listeners. I don't want the Google juice or anything to miss the fact that you put 33 years into a previous career and profession of again, serving people, helping people, and then transitioned into a career in real estate at 51. So

Shane Kilby (40:29.292)
you

Brenda Young (40:34.784)
Yes.

Duane Murphy (40:38.808)
There are people that are thinking, Hey, I would love to get into real estate. I, I, I'm not happy where I'm at. I, maybe I need a different challenge. I want to do something else. And they're at different stages of their life. They may be in their thirties and maybe in their forties, their fifties, possibly even their sixties and above. don't care what the age, but,

Brenda Young (40:58.666)
Mm-hmm.

Duane Murphy (41:05.08)
Is it too late for somebody who wants to get into real estate to make that switch and change if they're dedicated and committed to doing it?

Brenda Young (41:12.715)
So I knew right where you were going with this question. So when I was thinking of leaving the dental field, I did have one of my friends say, yeah, but gosh, you're already 51. I was like, but I have 14. At 65, you collect social security, right? I have no plans on retiring at 65, by the way. But that's 14 more years.

of my life I have to work. And if I'm burnt out at my present job, 14 years, that's a long time. That's a really long time to stay at something that you're just, you you don't want to step out of your comfort zone. So do I want to be, I wasn't miserable, but do I want to just keep doing what I'm doing for 14 more years? I didn't. You have to take the leap.

Shane Kilby (41:57.262)
from.

Brenda Young (42:10.623)
You gotta find courage and take the leap. So.

Shane Kilby (42:14.254)
Yeah, because what it was, Colonel Sanders with KFC, the secret recipe at like 65. Like that's when he started with the secret recipes. I'm like, crazy.

Brenda Young (42:22.557)
Duane Murphy (42:23.474)
So many different companies and great things that we all know were started in what would be considered the last quadrant of life. Not to be morbid, right? But we're all going to die sooner or later. But it was started after they were 50, after they were 60. I just didn't want the listeners to miss that of transitioning from a

Shane Kilby (42:34.764)
Right.

Shane Kilby (42:49.922)
Good point, good point.

Duane Murphy (42:52.878)
a very set, solid career and profession into starting a whole new one. I didn't start in real estate until my late 30s. So again, you can start in real estate at any time. And if you commit yourself, dedicate yourself, become a sponge and a student of the game, you can excel and render your living proof of that.

Shane Kilby (43:20.938)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Brenda Young (43:21.215)
Well, thank you. Well, Dwayne, to be honest, another influential person, and Dwayne, I'm not just like stroking you, is Dwayne. mean, to be honest, I wouldn't be where I am today without making that transition to expert. I mean, I'm not just saying that either. wish it's, I probably wouldn't be a realtor today, seriously. So, yeah.

Duane Murphy (43:50.29)
I appreciate that. You had it. We just had to pull it out of you. You had it. We just had to help you.

Shane Kilby (43:51.404)
That's awesome. I mean, listen, you know...

Shane Kilby (43:58.166)
Support is huge though. I mean like like, you know at the end of the day that the support you have around you and the administrative side the training side and and and just that that the words of wisdom like okay to let it go let that let the let the documentation let the TC the transactional side of things let that go like let it go and

If you do nothing with that time, but give it back to yourself or your family or friends or hobbies or charities or whatever, right? And it, without those key people around you to drive that home without that implementation, you, could be burnt out, right? It just, cause you, there's only 24 hours in a day and there's certain things, certain aspects of this industry that we absolutely would do for free.

Brenda Young (44:30.462)
Mm.

Shane Kilby (44:52.792)
We don't do but we would we would do it for free And but it's if there's also things in this that we do in this industry that that you know There are the things that that will push us out will burn us out. We'll be like, you know what? I'm just I'm done. I'm done So that's awesome. You guys have that kind of relationship and you have that kind of support and they provide that kind of support for you That's huge huge huge huge You know agents a lot of times are always like You know split split split split split and it's like

Brenda Young (45:07.722)
Mm-hmm.

Shane Kilby (45:21.996)
You know, like, you know, do you know what you need? Do you have what you need? Do you know what you're going to need? You know, what's tomorrow's goal? What's your vision? What's your, you know, what's your plan in one, three, five years? Like, so it's good you guys have that. So Brenda, I know you got a crazy schedule today. I can only imagine what the number of units that you've already closed and the amount of production you've already closed so far this year. How could everybody reach out to you?

Because everybody's, know, we know that the listeners and viewers connect different ways with different, different successful real estate professionals that we bring on the show. But how can they connect with you, follow you and get closer to Brenda and her world?

Brenda Young (46:05.771)
Well, I'll give out my cell number because it's public record anyways, right? Look up Brenda Young, you'll find my cell number. I have the best cell number, 920-422-1234. That's my, yep.

Shane Kilby (46:19.086)
There you go. One more time, give it to him one more time, one more time.

Duane Murphy (46:20.902)
Easy to remember.

Brenda Young (46:23.05)
920-422-1234.

Shane Kilby (46:28.98)
It's no more transparent than that, ladies and gentlemen. There's no more transparency than that. She's not hiding behind her number. She's called me. Call me for referrals. Call me for insight. Just call me. And there's my number. And I'm assuming that you text as well.

Brenda Young (46:36.519)
No.

Brenda Young (46:43.678)
Yes.

Brenda Young (46:47.133)
sure. Yep.

Shane Kilby (46:49.152)
any social handles. Facebook.

Brenda Young (46:52.074)
I'm on Facebook, yep, Brenda Young. It's just Brenda Young. You'll find it.

Shane Kilby (46:53.198)
Okay, cool. Okay. Easy to find. You guys connect with her.

Duane Murphy (46:59.09)
Got the name locked down early, so boom.

Brenda Young (47:01.822)
Yeah. Yep.

Shane Kilby (47:02.958)
She is a wealth of knowledge. She's humble. She's a giver, right? She's very successful. She's just like you, me. She gets up each day. She has struggles and strifes and she comes home with a win, right? She has that support around her at home and at work. So if you guys want insight, know, connect with her. There it is, open book. So.

Brenda Young (47:25.162)
Yes.

Duane Murphy (47:27.484)
Shane, is it that our subscribers and or someone listening to the show needs to do at the, they're listening to this and they're like, my gosh, like this was so helpful. What do need to do?

Shane Kilby (47:34.085)
Well

Shane Kilby (47:38.606)
The show is always our favorite part, but I think our second favorite part is the wrap up because we get to say Google juice and we get to say if you like the episode, please smash that like button, smash that subscribe button, share this bad boy with friends, family, loved ones, whether they like real estate or not, get the word out there, right? And if you would please so kindly give us a five star review.

Duane Murphy (47:46.63)
Real Good News.

Shane Kilby (48:06.51)
On whatever platform you're listening to or consuming this episode on because it is good for what Dwayne?

Duane Murphy (48:12.922)
It's gonna give us Google juice.

Shane Kilby (48:15.393)
And we like that Google juice good It makes us all the way up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so we do have a really good time with this But if any of you listeners saw value or hurt or listen to value in this and took some value away from it where that that's what it's all about and if you would Connect with someone that you think would be a value on the show We would love to connect with them and sit down and have a conversation with them and get them on the show as well Maybe that's you

Brenda Young (48:16.693)
We like Google juice, yeah?

Duane Murphy (48:18.298)
We love Guga Juice!

Shane Kilby (48:42.092)
Maybe that's you, so if so, please reach out to us. We are human just like you are. We started in the beginning just like everybody did in this industry, and we would love to hear from you and connect the dots and put you on the show. Dwayne, what else we got?

Duane Murphy (48:54.716)
Yes, Boy, I think that might be it for today, other than telling everybody goodbye and peace out.

Brenda Young (49:04.616)
And thanks for having me. It's been a pleasure.

Shane Kilby (49:04.654)
All right. Absolutely. Thank you, Ms. Brenda.

Duane Murphy (49:06.845)
Thank you, Ms. Brenda, for joining us. And Shane is always being the co-host with the most. Like that? Please.

Shane Kilby (49:13.752)
See you guys, take care.

Brenda Young (49:16.459)
Bye.