R.E.A.L. Real Estate Agent Life Podcast
🎙️ Welcome to the R.E.A.L. Real Estate Agent Life Podcast, hosted by Shane Kilby & Duane Murphy ! Each week, we bring you actionable tips, expert insights, and inspiring stories to help real estate professionals thrive. From lead generation and marketing to negotiation and mindset, we cover it all. Perfect for agents looking to grow, learn, and succeed. New episodes drop every week —don’t miss out! Subscribe, share, and join the conversation. Let’s elevate your real estate game!
R.E.A.L. Real Estate Agent Life Podcast
Building A Lean Real Estate Team
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
One minute you’re joking about Wisconsin weather, the next you’re staring at a blueprint for a real estate career that quietly stacked 2,200 transactions and more than $622M in sales.
We’re joined by Amber Hummer, a high producing agent and team leader who’s built a strong digital presence, a tight selling crew, and a business that runs on clear standards rather than flashy props.
Amber shares how real estate didn’t start as a grand plan it “fell in her lap” and grew through mentorship, repetition, and an obsession with learning on appointments.
We talk real estate team building the honest way: why she hired a buyer’s agent before an admin, how she learned to hire slow and fire fast, and what it takes to keep a small team operating like a SEAL unit instead of a bloated battalion.
If you’re trying to scale transactions without losing client experience, you’ll hear practical, field tested leadership.
We also get real about the internal game: self doubt, limiting beliefs, and the exhausting “what if” loop that can stall even the most capable agents.
Then we push into modern leverage, including AI in real estate and how tools like ChatGPT can help a visionary turn ideas into processes, while also creating new pressure on integrators who have to execute.
Finally, Amber offers grounded advice for new agents choosing a team, plus what she wants her kids and clients to remember most.
Subscribe for more conversations with proven operators, share this with a team leader who needs it, and leave a five star review so more agents can find the show.
What’s one belief or bottleneck you’re ready to drop this week?
🎙 Thank You for Tuning in to the R.E.A.L. Real Estate Agent Life Podcast!
We appreciate you joining us for another powerful episode where we dive deep into the world of real estate, mindset, and business growth. If you found value in this conversation, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your network!
👉 Never Miss an Episode!
🎧 Listen on your favorite platform:
📍 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r-e-a-l-real-estate-agent-life-podcast/id1790088933
📍 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2LAAYbtPUqYJdTVl83hZXS?si=bf6691d7eccf4688
📍 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@R.E.A.L.RealEstateAgentLif-l6z
📲 Stay Connected & Join the Conversation!
🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shane.kilby
🔹 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shanekilby/
🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanekilby/
💡 Want to be a guest on the show?
If y...
Welcome And Meet Amber
SPEAKER_01Welcome to another episode of Real Estate Agent Life. My name is Shane Kilby, and that's my co-host Dwayne Murphy. Just to mess with the AI today. And uh, I tell you what, we're super excited. As you know, we connect you with some of the top mover and shakers across the United States. And uh, we actually have somebody slightly kind of in my backyard a little bit. Well, at least in the same great state of Wisconsin, the greatest state there is in the entire United States, because it's two boats to one today. So uh go Wisconsin. There we go. And uh before I ramble too much longer about how awesome Wisconsin is, Mr. Shane Kobe, who do we have today? Well, you guys do have culverts, so you have finally delivered culverts here.
SPEAKER_04So we uh we love culverts, so thank you for culverts. You can keep that astronomically Antarctica cold weather that you have. We're good in the in the mid-30s, we're comfortable there. But no, today we have uh special uh guest, we have a great friend, and it's it's interesting because we've got really probably 12, 14 years we've been in the same circle running with the same individuals uh because we share some technology stack that we've all three been using over the last several years. So today we have Amber Allen Hummer, right? We had to make sure that I got that correct before I butchered it up. We did not want to crash and burn her uh her name. So she's been in the business though for over 22 years. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, about 22 years.
SPEAKER_0422 years. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_05Started when I was 12.
SPEAKER_04Started when you were 12. Hey, you know what? You gotta start somewhere. You gotta start somewhere. Myself and Dwayne, we did not age that gratefully, or especially Dwayne. I still have my hair, but you know, that's another conversation for another day. Um, she has uh had the pleasure and success of closing over$622 million in career sales. Is that accurate?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, about a little over 2,200 transactions.
SPEAKER_04Wow, that is amazing. That is amazing. She's built a great uh team that is has a uh an amazingly strong digital presence. She has figured out a way to manage manage it all and keep it well balanced as much as possible with three beautiful and amazing kids, and we're just excited to take you guys on a journey on what it's like to be a successful agent with the Humber team. How are you?
SPEAKER_05I'm good. How are you?
How Real Estate Found Her
SPEAKER_04Doing outstanding, doing outstanding. Listen to you guys talk about the cold weather. We're we are 72 today, so that is we're enjoying that great weather. But I did see that you mentioned something about the uh the sinuses and stuff like that. It is brutal in this part of the country. But Amber, tell us so so before we get too too far off um down the rabbit hole, as Dwayne and myself can do from time to time, give us a little backstory. So we got 22 years in the business, yeah, 622 million in sales, over 2,000 transactions. Where did this all start?
Building A Team Backwards
SPEAKER_05Uh, that's a loaded question. Um, it kind of real estate actually just fell in my lap. Um, I went to school for a couple different things, started to go to school for a few different career paths that I wasn't sure on with commercial art, nursing, paramedic. Um, and then real estate happened, and the godfather of real estate in this area, Ron Stoddard, he was 70, 71 or 72 when I started with him. And he had brought me on to uh open houses, do some computer work. I think I failed high school computer class. I mean, I didn't even know how to type. But he brought me on, and um, within a couple months, I had sold my first property. And at that point in time, as you guys probably know, or uh 2004, it was press hard. You have three copies. And you know, someone got a yellow copy, someone got a white copy, and someone got a pink copy. So it was very, Ron was very horse and carriage with real estate, and I was younger learning the new technology at that time. So I would just go on every appointment with him and learn. Sometimes I have to, you know, kind of kick him under the table and be like, Ron, you gotta talk, like, you know. And so we it was a very odd, um, the two of us were together a lot, and you know, people thought he was my grandpa, and it was just it was it was a good fit though. And as time went on, Ron and his wife would go down to the villages in Florida and I would take over the business, and then they'd have me working with their clients, and I just got busier and busier. And at about year five, I um I was with do we say companies here? I was with Remax for 20 years. Um, and Ron had started the Remax franchise in the area, but he had sold it off. And so we were then under, you know, another umbrella. I stayed with Remax up until about two years ago and just kind of had started building my team during that time. I I do everything apparently backwards from what coaches tell you to do. Um, you know, they always say, bring on an admin first, bring on, and then bring on, I brought on a buyer's agent first. I'm like, I don't need an admin, I need more transactions. Um, so I brought on the first buyer's agent. I was always backwards to this day. I was watching something the other day. I'm like, no, that's backwards. It works, but that's backwards from what I do. I was talking to my coach about that. I'm like, everything's backwards, but it works for me. Um, so I just started building my team and don't feel like I had a ton of structure. I did work with different coaches throughout my career. I'm a very high D. Um, and I think I've learned what that means over time to be better. Because back in the day, a D was very different for me, I think, than what it is now. But I just started structuring things the way that I felt worked and started building processes that I would train my, you know, new team members on. This is what works for me. It may not work for you, but come on every appointment with me and learn. Take part of what I do and change it to what works for you, or you know, say it in a different way, because I am a pretty direct person with appointments. And it just kind of grew, grew from there. More team members hiring wrong admins, bringing right ones on, you know, learning that how important that is to fire fast and hire slow. And now here I am today. Right now, I have um there's only seven of us selling right now, and two of two of my team members are very new. Um, and then we have a marketing person, and I have a full-time admin um that's been with me just for about four months, and she's she's amazing. And that one took a long time to find, and I'm very happy it was a slow process. But I'm here now and yeah.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say when you say only seven, I mean I tell you what, I mean, I've seen some SEAL teams. Yeah, right. So I I mean I've seen SEAL teams literally go out and just destroy the number of transactions and the amount of business and client satisfaction, all those things around a battalion of agents all day long. So I mean, uh when you're looking at right, do you become a battalion and you have more agents than you keep track of, or do you become a SEAL team and just run lean and mean and and take names?
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01There's no right or wrong path. I mean, they both they both ultimately work. It's just a it's a matter of choice of which one you want to be.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and I think I've I think I've struggled with that over time too. And talking with my coach now, you know, well, we need this many people to do this many transactions to for everybody to get this much income. And I've never really had more than I think seven. I think the biggest my team has ever been was eleven with two admins. Um, but there's always just kind of a few powerhouse agents. And I've had agents come to me and say, I've had a guy on my team for 12 years now, um, not super active. He refers in and he would come to me year after year. He'd do five to eight transactions. He's like, Amber, I I know I'm not the right fit for your team, or transactional. I'm like, I won't say names, but I'm like, you're amazing. Like you you bring something to the team, and that's what's important to me. Um, you don't have to sell 20 or 30 homes a year to be a productive team member. It's the positivity and it's what the value that you bring to the team that's super important to me.
Selling Without The Laptop
SPEAKER_04Yeah, what does um John say a couple ways says a lot that that that just lands at the right place at the right time? But you know, two things having this conversation comes to mind that he often references and it's ready, fire, aim. And so I'm the same way. Like you know, there wasn't in my market, there was any like like teams were sacrilegious, no. Assistants were sacrilegious, it's like no. And so I ended up having to open a brokerage, which I did not want to do at that particular time because I didn't want to do a lot of coddling and babysitting. Of course, the the the vision changed naturally. But you know, he also you know talks a lot about modeling and demonstrating. And a team of seven or or six or sixteen, like it's a whole lot easier for team leaders, operators to get everyone on the same page when they're modeling and demonstrating day in and day out, you know, what they're asking these agents to do, right? It's very difficult. I have been through that shredder many times. It's very difficult to take passion and drive and transfer that to an agent and go, this is all of the things that we can do if you do your piece. They fear and overwhelm, right? It's like I have to see that demonstration of that. If you'll show me, if you'll if you'll demonstrate it for me, I'm off to the races, off to the races. So when you, you know, you you kind of tiptoed into real estate, was it that you know, it most of the time it's that first transaction or two, and it's like, okay, this is uh I can get used to this. This can be this can be my jam. So was it just premeditated, like I want to, I think I want to be in real estate, or was it a you know a point in time where the switch just flipped and you go, I think I'm gonna go all into this?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think that when I started my first couple years, I had told my team leader at that time, I said, you know, I can't, I can't not have a check coming in or I have to work another job. And so he was paying me kind of to do administrative stuff as well. And I think it was about the second year was when I was contemplating, do I go to school for nursing? Should I have a I don't have a college degree? And I used to be afraid to say that. And then I'd have so many conversations with younger agents or people that just seem like totally lost on what they want to do. I'm like, you don't need, and I'm not not telling anyone not to go to college kids if they're listening. But um I'll say it.
SPEAKER_01I yeah, I'm like I I have no fear of saying that I'm sorry, that piece of paper on the wall does not define your success.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I worked at McDonald's.
SPEAKER_01And and partially I'm biased because I don't have one.
SPEAKER_05So Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I've I've made it through life quite a ways. Yeah, so far.
SPEAKER_05I've done every job under the sun and they've all taught me, you know, different things. But I think at about two years, and I the end of that second year, I don't know how many transactions I've done at that time, not a ton, but you know, enough to to have the checks coming in and to feel good. But I was like, I think I'm just gonna roll with it and and keep going. And I knew by year five when I had more leads coming in than what I could handle, I was like, I can do this, I can make, you know, whatever that dollar amount was at that time and be super happy. And then um, so I think it was probably about year five where I was really like, I'm really happy with my decision. I know that I made the right decision. And even at year three, you start getting some of those, you know, repeat or referrals, I would say, but it's probably about year five when I finally was like, okay, I got this. Now what do I do? How do I um I think I was always told, you know, get your presentation together, get a laptop. I didn't have a laptop until honestly just a couple of years ago. Like, I don't use a laptop. I do now sitting at my island here or there, because if my fiance's cooking dinner, I feel like I should at least be present on the butt. I uh I never had a laptop. And so I remember one of my old uh brokers, he was like, What do you what do you go into an appointment with? What do you or a coach? And I'm like, I talk. And they're like, and sometimes I talk too much. So hopefully I don't talk too much today. But I I talk, I'm like, I have a conversation. I never took an iPad or I never took a laptop or I never had I always had laminated sheets in the presentation, but I never pulled them out. Like I had the idea and liked it, but I ended up just talking the whole time. Um, and so I realized I was good at talking, and then I just became a stronger negotiator. And um, I think I'm talking I don't know on what right now, but I just I realized that I was good at it, and that's what I really like doing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so I think that's I mean, I guess I've had a laptop for a long time, but I I never, you know, they're always in the in the in the in the truck, in the car. They're never really bring them out, you know. It's the do the study, do the research, you know, the presentation, you know the spill, the script, and it's just you know, each individual client or or potential client's unique situation. So you once you study that, it's all about the person, the the human element.
SPEAKER_02That's a good thing. It's jobs.
SPEAKER_01The first time I tried dragging my uh laptop in because Chain loves my laptop, it it didn't fit through the front door of the house. And uh I was like, okay, like I'm already sweating because I'm trying to drag this laptop that's a size of a NASA notebook, and I'm like, okay, this just no because they make they make they make desktops smaller than your laptop.
SPEAKER_04That's that's wow.
SPEAKER_05Uh uh. Nice.
Self Doubt And Big Goals
SPEAKER_04But um so so let's but let's take it in different directions, Amber. So what would you say your your biggest success in business so far has been?
SPEAKER_05I think building the team and building it the way that I like, and I'm still working on that. Like I um biggest success, I mean, I really have overcome a lot of just struggles and self-doubt. And which sounds crazy because I've said that to a few people before, and they're like, I would never picture you to and I just I always had self-doubt. I was never I was afraid to do something or an idea that I had was wrong. And I have a ton of ideas and I'm horrible at implementing, so I really have to like take one limb off the tree at the time and break it down to 20 pieces. Like that's how my brain works, or I can't figure it out. But I I think that that's probably as strange as that sounds, that's probably like my biggest is I really had to overcome some of my limiting beliefs, like big time.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think that's uh that that that is a big I don't think it's a uh so much a big struggle, but as a as something a major that we have to do a lot in our organization is figure out ways to help agents remove that limiting belief. You have these conversations and it's like what do you want your income to be in this business? And it's always a hundred thousand dollars. That's like, well, what's the high most money you've ever made in, you know, in your career path this point thus far? It's like, you know, 38 or or 48 or 52 or something like that, 55. It's like, okay, you know, so do you really believe that you can make a hundred thousand dollars? Do you know what that looks like? You know, how would that impact your life and and the trajectory of your life? And it's like, well, you you dig deep enough to realize like they don't really expect to make that. They just it's a hope. So it's like, yeah, it it we always we're always challenging them because we've been through it, right? I mean, even at fixing to be 52 years old, it's like I still find myself with limiting beliefs. That's why it costs a great deal of investment to be in the rooms like the three of us, you know, partake in uh often, but that's the that's to keep us from falling back into that same spot where we were previously around the same individuals with that limiting belief and mindset.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and sometimes too, as you had stated with being a visionary mind and having lots of ideas, it's the categorizing and getting those like putting those ideas in order. Which ones do I tackle first, which ones do I do first? And then most high-d visionary types are horrible. I could come up with a few other terms, but are horrible at integration. Yeah and the follow-through on it.
SPEAKER_02Right?
SPEAKER_01It's like, okay, I got it started, like okay, go. Like, I don't want to I don't want to be glued to it all the way to the final end of it before I start another thing because I've already got ten more started.
SPEAKER_05I just like to have the idea and say, Okay, here it is. Go. Tell me when you're done.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I just you know, that's that is a high D visionary mindset. Is it is I would almost say in affliction.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because it it just truly is, and and you're we have three of them on camera today that are that exact same way. And it's like, okay, like here it is. I kind of told you what you need to do and whatever. Like you figure out how to get it there because I had the idea.
Visionaries Integrators And AI Speed
SPEAKER_04Well, you have to be really careful too now because you know, the greatest piece of leverage in my lifetime, and especially in real estate and as being a visionary is AI. And it's because now your integrators, they needed their own pace to implement what your thoughts and ideas were before. And now your thoughts and ideas, your visions come more they come more often, and AI can can lay it down to the pieces and parts and where they fit and how they fit and and whether they will work, whether they won't work, and it's you mean so you can find yourself putting much putting much too much pressure on those integrators around you to the point where you like you can burn them out, you know, push them beyond their limitations. Great point.
SPEAKER_01They I'd never because I haven't thought about that way, on the on the visionary ID. I mean, no matter how fast you go, no matter how fast your thoughts are, no matter right, just we're all there. Chat GPT is keeping up. Whereas no one else ever has. ChatGPT is, and then it's throwing out more stuff, which is making you want to get even more stuff accomplished and done. And it's like, and then that's a great point on how okay, those integrators you surround yourself with aren't at Chat GPT speed. They're not at your speed because they're just wired a little different, not necessarily slow, it's just they're integrators. They they have to follow the process, they have to follow the steps.
SPEAKER_04So you gotta create a process for the vision, you know, and you know, and so the thing if we if I myself oftentimes is when you bring an idea to integrators, to the the people around you that are help putting those pieces of the puzzle together, oftentimes in the past it would it might get a shelf life, it might get dust on it. Maybe they're working on it, maybe they're not. But now, as the visionary, it's like, okay, well, you know, three days later, three weeks later, the idea hits your your mind again when you're driving down the road, when you're sitting waiting for your plane to take off. And it's like, well, let me just go back to chat and see where we should be. And chat pulls that thought back up and that thread and that conversation you like, and then you bring this back to your people. It's like, oh, well, we didn't know that this was a real idea. So it's kind of collecting dust. So it's it is uh I have uh had to really be careful not to overwhelm everybody around me, you know, because when they slow down, I'm like, okay, well, I just created you a custom GPT for this, so now I will help you move faster. You don't have to worry about being lost in the weeds or wondering what I'm thinking. I put all my thoughts in that custom GPT, so it's there with you. You can move faster.
Losing Mojo Then Trusting Instincts
SPEAKER_01This is why my text messages have greatly diminished is Shane talks to his chat bot more than he talks to me, because I used to be the chat bot that he ran everything off and every idea, and I would get the most random text at midnight, one o'clock, three o'clock in the morning, four o'clock in the morning, hey bro, I can't sleep. I got this great idea. Now I don't get any of that stuff because chat GPT is stealing all my love. I still love you, baby. I still love you. There's always the flip side of the coin. Right? There's that other side. What would you say is one of the one of the larger challenges or maybe one even a a failure if you look would like a loss that that you had to power through and get to the other side of.
SPEAKER_05Um I mean, I think that kind of going back to, and I was gonna say it before, is kind of going back to um my success with overcoming doubts. I think when I look at a failure, you know, in interviews they always say like turn a negative into a pot, like put that I'm really slow, but I'm OCD, you know, that because I'm gonna kind of do that, but is the uh is like following my instincts. So that is something that I did not do that I always wanted to do, that I am 100% doing right now. In the last year, last six months, yesterday, today, every day I just feel I lost my mojo with real estate about ten years ago. And I was like, uh, I'm doing it to do it. And I've like recently just gotten that drive back so intensely that I am like, I just turned forty six on Monday. I always said I was gonna retire at forty five. That didn't happen. But to follow my follow my instincts, um I think was a failure that I didn't do that I have now said I've been able to turn that to a success, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it definitely does.
SPEAKER_05And and Ron that I started with years ago, I I don't remember what it was back then. And he had said um something cost money, you know, it was my second year around spending money. And he's like, Amber, no risk, no reward. And I was just like, that's true. And something else in my real estate career had happened. And it was always uh, what if, what if, what if, and one day I'm just like, what if? Like, what if? What if the market crashes? What if I have a bad year? What if I have an amazing year? You know, all what if I get a team member? What if my admin leaves? Like, and I just had to quit because it was in my head, what if? And I kept thinking of the negatives, and I think now it's the it's the positives, like whatever negative it is, it truly I believe is happening for a reason, as cliche as that sounds, that I'm just trying to take anything that happens and turn it into a positive.
Mentors Family And Leadership Lessons
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I think that, you know, kind of circling back to these rooms, these small rooms, the price tags are a little greater. You know, you're weeding out the the folks that are just looking for something to network about or just to hang out at. And it's like think by seeing some of these massive operations like Tony Hansen and some of these guys, it's like, I mean, I when we have the thought about what about the what if the market does this, what if the market does that, and and these guys are running, what is he, two, twenty two thousand five hundred, three thousand transactions a year and they're building 50 homes and like you know, and and we've had the same conversation with Tony, and Tony's like, what do you say? I had like two million dollars uh out, and uh the bank's like, hey, we're gonna need to you know come back and say, What are you talking about? I don't have two million dollars land. Like, you're gonna have to wait. But being faced with those type of phone calls, we never look at that when we're growing and expanding. We don't ever think about, well, what if the investor, the bank picks up the call, the phone and says, hey, we're gonna call this note dude. Like, uh-oh, what do you mean call it note dude? I think by being with those people, we know that like everything's temporary and the market shifts 24-7, the rates go up and down, and at the end of the day, our business is driven around life life-changing moments. Yes, everyone buys the extra home and the the vacation home and the the the home for the kid when they go to college, so they don't have to pay for dorms or what have you. But at the end of the day, like real estate never stops. I mean, we're buying retail or buying wholesale or anywhere in between. Yes, there are times we have to we have to get our hands dirty and get in the trenches and get out of those ivory towers and and just grind. But we've all been in this business 20 plus years, and it's like, has there ever really been a moment where we couldn't go out and create transactions? Never, never. Some easier than others. So let me ask you this, Amber. So, so all of us have uh, and you may have already disclosed that in your original mentor, but we've all got that person, that athlete, that grandparent, that parent, that influential person that we feel is move the needle, move the lever the most in our life personally and professionally. Who would you say that that was in Amber's life?
SPEAKER_05Man, I've thought about that a lot. Um, of course, I've had a bunch of coaches and big company names that everybody knows. And um man, I'm like, who's gonna hear this? Listening. Can I say two?
SPEAKER_02Sure, you absolutely can't. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So my uh my godfather, I spent a lot of time with him um up in Baroqua, Wisconsin, out in the you know, driftless far. And I actually I I got in trouble a lot as a kid. And uh my parents would send me there, but it was hundreds of acres. And my my uh let's see, they sent me there because I had to do work.
SPEAKER_01Well, work was I was gonna say, do you have to do rock picking and bailing hay?
SPEAKER_05Riding horses, packing picnics, and like going up in the hills with my with my uncle. Like, you know, they thought that I was going there to to do labor and I was feeding the koi fish in the pond. And, you know, and so I was like, okay, I'll get in trouble and and go there for a couple weeks. This is heaven. But I also went with him and he ran his own gutter business. And, you know, I was I was eight years old and I'd go on, you know, gutter appointments with them and um go to a cheese factory. Like I was doing all this, just watching him and his work ethic um was amazing. And they also took care of a gentleman that had some handicaps for for 45 years. So I always thought it was their son until, you know, until I didn't for for 40 years. I mean, I found out literally five years ago that they took care of this guy. But um I think the last few years, my oldest daughter. Um, so I have a 19-year-old son that's doing an apprenticeship to become an electrician, but also has his real estate license, and a daughter that's a junior and and a third grade daughter as well. But my junior has taught me a lot the last few years and our relationship. I I say like I don't know how I was blessed swear to on my life with these three kids. Like I was the worst kid. And I look at one of my, you know, if some other family members aren't as blessed, but she's just she sees things in a completely different way and how she learned to be the person that she is. And maybe I don't give myself enough credit for her, but she just how she reads people and the lack of argument and the way that she just understands and the the friend that she is and the leader that she is, then you know, broke up with somebody because mom, someone's not supposed to talk to you in that way. Absolutely not. There, you know, like she, and I just think that I've learned so much from her, and she doesn't give opinions, and you just I don't know. I think you learn a lot from your kids. So she does definitely make me strive to be a better mom and business owner and team leader every day, especially. I kind of feel like the grandma at my office now, which just sounds horrible. I don't know if either of you are grandmas, but I'm like used to be the the young one, and now I have you know an 18-year-old and a 22-year-old as team members, and they come in and I'm like I'm like the mom to all of these people right now. It's crazy. So I don't know. My team teaches me very well too on just how to just take a step back and that how everybody's different.
SPEAKER_03No, that's that's that's that's beautiful. That is, I think that's the first uh guest that's that's ever uh framed it like that.
Advice For New Agents Today
SPEAKER_04No, it's it's one thing that we all know is some there's there's been impact and there's and it's a hard question. We get we get to ask it. But we know it's a hard question because there's there's oftentimes many of these people who have made a lasting impact on each one of us. Yes, we've got it people in the last few years, like whether it's it's John or you know, or you know, or any of these other guys and gals we we work around, but but we know that there's many of these people that we can all name. Um we're just always looking for that that one that you know happens to happens to be in that spotlight at that moment and not take anything away from anyone else. Let's look back twenty twenty years, twenty-two years. And there is another individual, looks like you, walks like you, talks like you, and she is headed down the same path. The amber today, what would you could you give insight to that individual coming down that pathway that you wish you would have known then that you know now?
SPEAKER_05I think to dream bigger. That I mean, I think that I never set my goals in any way, not just transactional or dollar, just for who I am, is to just to dream bigger. And there's there's always more out there. Like keep keep keep adding on to your dream, add, add I'm repeating myself, but I think dream bigger is probably the biggest thing and follow through, follow your instinct.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, never be never be limited by limited beliefs.
SPEAKER_05Yes, absolutely. So I tell my team all the time, like that I mean, we always say what if you're common quotes, if you're comfortable, you're not you're not growing, but I always say comfort is the enemy of growth, and if you're always comfortable, you're probably just standing still. So continue to grow. Right. Continue being uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_03Well think about it.
SPEAKER_01No, I'm always growing. Yeah. So with the advice that you that you gave yourself, flip that just a little bit, to uh let's let's go to modern times right now. Uh in the day and age we're in uh with real estate, what advice would you give to someone who is looking to get their real estate license or was was going to get into the real estate business today? Other than join Amber's team. What we we're gonna take away that we're gonna take the away the slam dunk answer.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. I would say um 100% I think to start with a team. But I am, you know, I've been doing it for a while, so I'm sure that there's a lot of you know entrepreneurials out there. Um, but I think starting with a team and interviewing multiple teams in in your area because I don't feel that it's always about, like I said earlier, about we can guarantee that you do, you know, this many transactions or a hundred thousand a year or whatever it is, because of course anybody can as long as they follow a playbook. But I think is is knowing who your team leader is um and knowing or feeling that that's gonna be the best relationship for you in the future is really feeling out who is that team leader, is it you know, what what are you looking for? And there's not a wrong answer with it. It's just you're gonna mesh with a team leader or team better than another. So I think do your due due diligence and meet with multiple team members, team leaders.
SPEAKER_03I like it. I like it. Good insight, very good insight.
SPEAKER_04You gotta have that connection, you gotta, you know, you may it may look great from the outside, but the the culture that may not be that that fit, you know, it may not be that chemistry.
SPEAKER_05I won't tell my son to go meet with other people, but maybe I should. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03Might might do him some well, you never know.
SPEAKER_05You might see how a good you know mom is.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, most often it does, it does wait it it usually works in that uh in that fashion.
SPEAKER_04It uh lets agents know how how I I mean we all gotta work. I mean then and I'm sure that working around us all three can have its highlights and you can probably have its uh downside too.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03But you gotta connect, you gotta it's got the chemistry's gotta be there for the environment to to work and succeed day in and day out.
SPEAKER_04Dwayne, it's that question. The the question. Yeah in the throat question.
SPEAKER_01Oh that's it's all good. It's all good. It won't hurt. Maybe.
SPEAKER_05But I'm afraid.
SPEAKER_01So uh we all I always reference it as we all there's a clock ticket for all of us. Amen. We don't know uh we don't know how much time's on that clock, um, but there is a time, right? Hopefully it's a long, long ways for all of us on this call and everybody listening. Um ultimately when that clock stops, how do you want how do you want to be remembered?
SPEAKER_05I think it's most important for me to one is how my kids remember me. That's the most important thing to me. I'd like to be the the hard ass and say I don't care what other people think. Um, but I also want people just to that I was always willing to help, that I was there, that I always listened, that I tried the best that I could is probably the most important thing to me.
SPEAKER_04Very good. Very good. Amber, a lot of folks are going to want to connect with you and follow you closer and make contact with you. So what is the best ways for those people to get in touch with you or to stay uh close to you?
SPEAKER_05I would probably say my Facebook account. Do I drop a telephone number out loud? I don't know. What do most people say?
SPEAKER_03Many, many guests do. I mean, it's you know probably Facebook.
SPEAKER_05Um Amber Alan Hummer. Alan's my maiden name. I really don't go by that. It's just been on Facebook since the creation of time. So Amber Hummer, you know, H-U-E, it's on there. Feel free to connect or DM me, and I'm always happy to connect and share or listen and give any advice if I can.
SPEAKER_02Fantastic. Fantastic.
SPEAKER_04Well, Dwayne, it's about that time. I know Amber's got a full schedule, and I know that you probably got some sheet rock to hang.
SPEAKER_01Um, and finish. Oh, that was a personal dig right there. I have you know that I have not hung a sheet of drywall in a week. In probably a year, just saying. That's good. That's good. Now I did go and drop off some drywall mud last night. But I did was drop it off. You don't you don't need me doing the work.
SPEAKER_03You know what? None of us are too good to do any aspect of what we do each day, and that's the beautiful part of what we do and the people that we are. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01So at this point, uh, we want to say thank you to all of our listeners. It's uh all of you that make this possible. It continues to uh fill our fill our buckets by being um a resource for you and bringing guests from all over the United States, sometimes right in our own backyard, and uh introducing you to those that can can help you get from here to there. So don't be afraid to reach out to our guests. They they're on these types of podcasts for the same reason as we are. We want to be able to help you no matter if you are a brand new agent looking to get in the business and join a team or a brokerage or whatever it may be, or if you're an experienced agent that's been doing this forever and you just need a little bit of help, maybe a guidance, maybe a sounding board that isn't Chat GPT, Shane Kobe, right? Reach out to us. We'd love to talk with you at this point as well. If you haven't already done so, there's somewhere wherever you're listening, there's a subscribe button. If you could push that, that'd be really awesome. Just push push the subscribe button. And then there's also another thing that's really cool on all these different podcast syndicators, right? It's called a Google review, right? You can rate five stars. Please give us a five star review. Just gonna throw it out there, five stars, right? And uh, because he gives us this really, really cool thing that everybody loves to get. And Shane, what is that? That's the Google juice. Oh man, I tell you what, we could use a big old glass of Google juice and you make it happen. So I tell you what, from all of us here at real estate agent life, we love you. Thank you for tuning in and uh peace. We'll see you next week.
SPEAKER_05Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for joining us on this episode of the R E O L Podcast. Don't forget to connect with us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for more exclusive content. And welcome to join the next episode.