Episode 245 - Amy Karol, The A-Team with Coldwell Banker

Our guest today is part of a husband and wife duo who are relatively new to the industry but have already reached great success since starting. Joining us is Amy Karol, of Coldwell Banker in St Petersburg, Florida. Amy and her husband Adam, are a full-time husband and wife real estate agent team who go by the A-team.

In this episode, join Amy and I as we discuss just how she and her husband landed in real estate, some advice for running a great business, and pet food donations in memory of a furry friend. Listen in to hear how Amy and Adam Karol, two Long Islanders, managed to make it down to Florida!

Top Takeaways:

Amy Karol’s Advice for New Agents:
- Amy offers a few great pieces of advice to new agents. The most important part of the information she provides is to find mentors who have different strengths that can help you along your real estate journey. It is essential to find people who are willing to help you out and watch you grow.
- Amy also shares that in the beginning, it’s easy to get caught in the growth aspect of learning, attending webinars, and taking classes. Education helps you grow and should always be something to strive for, but you also have to be doing things that will help you to uncover new leads and ultimately generating business.

“You know when you get your license, they don’t teach you in that first-class how to start a business or how to actually do anything that you need to do.” – Amy Karol [21:12]

“You’re not taught how to start your business. You’re not taught how to do real estate. You feel like you have to learn everything. In one respect, that’s what’s so easy about us being the A-team. Adam is doing some things, and I’m doing other things, so I do have time to focus.”

-Amy Karol [26:34]

Episode Highlights:

[00:27] Intro

[00:43] Meet Amy Karol – One Half of The A-Team

[01:37] Growing up in Long Island

[05:20] What Amy misses most about Long Island

[06:27] What Amy wanted to be at 15

[07:43] Attending Quinnipiac University

[10:45] Working in Behavioral Intervention Services

[13:06] An Unlikely Love Story

[17:23] Teaching at St. Petersburg College

[19:29] Amy and Adam’s start in real estate

[22:36] Who impacted Amy’s growth and continued connections

[24:18] Starting from scratch and fighting the doubts

[26:00] Amy’s social media influence

[28:03] Bindi’s Buddies pet food donations

[33:02] Not mixing business with donation work

[34:58] Amy’s advice for new agents

[37:06] Connect with Amy Karole

[37:35] Closing Thoughts

[38:07] Outro

Episode Notes:

Joining us today is Amy Karol, a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker Real Estate, and part of a husband and wife real estate duo called the A-team. In this episode, Amy Karol shares how she got started in real estate with her husband, Adam. Amy recounts her story on how she landed in Tampa, Florida, doing real estate and her work running Bindi’s Buddies pet food donations in memory of her late furry friend.

Originally from Long Island, New York, Amy Karol reminisces about some of the things she misses from where she grew up. Friends and family, the beaches, the food, and even the accents. Amy growing up, didn’t know what she wanted to be and admits she still really doesn’t know. Amy shares that no matter what age she is, she has always wanted to be a writer, never thinking it would be her profession but something she wanted to do someday. Amy also shares her love for animals. She thought briefly about working as a veterinarian or pet psychologist but didn’t materialize into what she was expecting it to be today.

Amy ended up attending Quinnipiac University, graduating with a degree in English. Still not knowing what she wanted to be, Amy contemplated the idea of becoming an English professor, so she decided to attend graduate school at Dowling College to receive a Masters in Reading and Special Education. After graduate school, she took a job in home-based behavioral intervention services for children between birth and six who had autism.

Eventually, getting together with her now-husband, Amy continued her career in special education while her husband was a lender. They moved to Florida in 2007, where she applied to St. Petersburg College to supervise student teaching placements but instead got a position as a reading and writing teacher. After receiving her tenure at the college, she realized that was not what she wanted to do.

At this point, Amy and Adam Karol decided to go into real estate as a team and get their licenses and have now been a successful team for nearly two years. Amy’s husband, Adam, handles the negotiations, sales, and numbers aspect of the deals while Amy does all of the social media and marketing. Amy shares that it was hard beginning this journey as she had just received a faculty position at her college, which was a guaranteed paycheck, health benefits, and having a lot of time off. In real estate, there are no breaks, and Amy’s husband and she are now trying to find the balance between being a real estate duo and life.

Amy says that her passion and love for animals had shown up differently in her life when she created a community surrounded by the passing of her beloved dog Bindi. Amy decided after her dog’s passing to host a pet food drive in her honor, where she was about to raise almost a thousand pounds of food in between her campus and neighborhood donations. Every month, this was such a big hit that she picks up regular contributions for the Senior Pet Connection at the Human Society, which helps homebound and low-income senior citizens get pet food delivered. A few months back, with worries of pet food shortages during quarantine, Amy’s neighbors were able to raise over a thousand pounds of food in one month! She has now donated over 13,000 pounds of food in honor of her corgi, Bindi!

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