I help people rent.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that definitely happens with is the more natural thing when you get started is you are working with a lot of buyers and it's good because it gets you out there and you start to learn your market.

You learn the inventory.

So that's a great way.

It's like, you know, trial by fire.

Not that not all real estate people actually have health care, not all set up retirement funds because they don't really look ahead.

So whenever I'm going off the rail,

I totally agree.

I mean, focus is a huge, a huge thing in, in business.

You know, it is so easy to just have that shiny object syndrome where you're constantly like in real estate, like we're constantly getting pinged with texts and calls and emails related to clients and contracts and, and leads maybe that are coming in, you know? So that, that, It took me, I mean, this is something that I'm still growing in for sure, but it took me a long time to understand like, okay, if I set like time blocks for myself, like with my schedule for the week, you know, because I also cringed with that initially with like discipline.

So it just took me time to realize that by doing that, it's actually creating freedom for Which is ultimately what I think we're all after.

Right.

Right.

And how did you get started initially?

Oh, wow.

So since it is 2026, yes, that has been a long time ago [laughs].

Um, yeah, I had a dream about Riley and Emma, and i- you know, just kind of the, the idea was, like, okay, what would it be like if Riley, as the wizard, starts to fall for the random human girl that he met, and he wants to show her his world, and it's like there's just this natural, like, conflict that, that happens there, like reconciling two opposite worlds.

And from there, I just started brainstorming, and that is how the first book got completed in 2013, which it's been th- a long time ago since then also.

I actually ended up querying agents at that time, and got discouraged, as a lot of writers do, and I put it aside and kind of just got back to life.

Um, I'm, I'm a real estate agent, so you know, life just kind of took over.

Busy doing, doing work, being an adult.

Oh

Was this done intentionally or did this happen through opportunity?

I think that's such a great question because I think often the biggest leaps that we make with ourselves, it is things that kind of happen a little bit by chance and also by a blending of hard work too.

So I think it's a little bit of both.

I always knew that I wanted to build a business and kind of... bring a lot of the different aspects of myself into my business and not just be like this, you know, transactional real estate agent.

I, you know, I wanted to be a real human that has passions and just kind of like shares those with the world around me.

So I think naturally, as I, you know, got into building a business, I found ways to kind of put more of myself into it.

And I found that, you know, I think it's like when you humanize yourself, it does attract like the right people to you.

But what's the demographic makeup of St. Petersburg right now? What's the vibe like? Does it feel like a young town? Does it feel like an old town? Does it feel like it's emerging? What's it feel like?