June 29, 2025 • 16 mins
What happens when you decide to pursue your dream career at age 50? Amanda Blalock's compelling story proves that reinvention is possible at any stage of life.
Amanda shares her remarkable journey from dabbling in real estate-adjacent roles to becoming a successful realtor and property manager with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Fredericksburg. "I had always dabbled in working for builders and things real estate and always had that little bug and interest," she reveals, "but it wasn't until my life sort of took a turn... that I decided it was now or never." Her message resonates powerfully: "I really promote it is never too late to reinvent yourself and it is never too late to step out into those dreams that you've always thought of."
Throughout our conversation, Amanda tackles the misconceptions surrounding real estate professionals and property managers, emphasizing how she builds trust through radical honesty and exceptional service. This approach has earned her clients worldwide, including military personnel stationed abroad who entrust their properties to her care. "If I take your house, I'm going to treat it like my own," she promises.
Beyond her professional insights, Amanda shares wisdom for aspiring entrepreneurs about breaking through what she calls the "terror barrier"—that uncomfortable space between comfort and growth. "Comfort zones are where dreams go to die," she warns. Her advice? Seek guidance only from those who have achieved what you're pursuing, embrace failure as part of the journey, and remember that "when you push through [the terror barrier], that's where the magic is."
Curious about reinventing yourself professionally or interested in working with a realtor who truly puts clients first? Connect with Amanda Blalock through social media or by calling 540-273-0393.
Amanda Blalock
Margoupis Real Estate Team
Brokered by Berkshire Hathaway Penfed Realty
(540) 273-0393
Amanda@CDSells.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
, the place where localbusinesses and neighbors come
together.
Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to another episode of the
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast.
I'm excited to introduce you toa fantastic neighbor today.
Amanda Blalock is a realtor andproperty manager with Berkshire
Hathaway Home Services inFredericksburg and member of the
Margoupas team.
Amanda, welcome to the podcast.
(00:33):
Oh, thank you so much forhaving me.
I'm glad to be here.
Awesome.
Well, I'm excited to dive inand learn all about you.
So let's start off by sharingwith the listeners a little bit
about your business.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Of course I am, as you said, amanda Blalock and I'm
a realtor with BerkshireHathaway and I'm part of the
Margoupas team and, as aseparate entity, I also head up
the Madison Property ManagementCompany, where I am a property
manager as well.
I'm sort of an all-encompassedanything real estate and I do a
lot of work with investors, helpthem find properties and
(01:08):
identify those and things likethat, licensed in the state of
Virginia and Maryland.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Wow that's impressive .
So how did you get into this?
Tell us your backstory.
Tell us how you became arealtor.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I certainly will, and I actually enjoy telling this
backstory in hopes of inspiringespecially the women group,
because this is something I gotinto is what I would call a
second career in life.
Later in life I had alwaysdabbled in working for builders
and things real estate andalways had that little bug and
interest.
But it wasn't until my lifesort of took a turn you know I
(01:43):
was middle-aged at this pointthat I decided it was now or
never.
And I really promote it isnever too late to reinvent
yourself and it is never toolate to step out into those
dreams that you've alwaysthought of.
And this is kind of that for me.
I think we always have thingswe think oh, I wish I had done
this, that's too late now.
I'll just refuse to have thatmindset.
So when I was pushing 50 yearsold, I decided to make it
(02:06):
official and to be able to dothe level of real estate I was
wanting to do and I dreamed ofdoing.
I was going to have to go,secure licensure and many things
, and that's exactly what I did.
I kind of honed my skillsbecause there was a lot of work
you did without a license forbuilders and property management
, but then I decided to take itto another level and to go on my
own and I honed my skills forthe past, you know five or six
(02:28):
years.
And then last year I steppedout and really made it official
and branded myself as AmandaBlalock Realtor and it was
probably the best decision I'veever made.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
That's amazing.
Congratulations, thank you, andyes, that is inspiring, and I
mean, you can begin again anyday and I just love that so much
.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yes, yes, I wish, I wish we could just really get
that embedded, especially intowomen that may have been, you
know, at home for a few years,caring for children, or in a
different career they weren'thappy in, and they always had
that dream, and sometimes it iswhen you know it's in your 40s
sometimes, or 50s when you go.
You know what it's my time.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yep, it's time to be happy.
Think about yourself a littlebit.
Do what you really want to do.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
We're natural nurturers so it's hard for us to
because it almost feels selfishto us.
But when you learn that it'snot selfish, because your best
version of yourself is the bestversion for your family around
you and your friends.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I love that.
I love that so much.
Thank you for sharing that.
So tell me, do you find thatthere are any myths or
misconceptions around realestate?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Oh yeah, and this is a proven one.
Studies show that for somereason, the lack of trust in
real estate is sort of anoverlying blanket for real
estate agents and it's a shamebecause I am honesty, I think
sometimes in this world, justbeing brutally honest with
(04:03):
people, even if it's not thenews they want to hear, or if it
is the news they want to hear,just be brutally honest and be
available and I think dispellingthe myth that you can't trust
us or we don't work hard orwe're not giving our all some
may be warranted in particularsituations, but I would hope
that I'm able to change thatthrough my clients and when they
(04:23):
speak about the service with methey can say she was always
there for us and we trusted herand she never led us down the
wrong path, but mainly it'sservice after the sale.
So I would like to dispel thatand I do think that's a
misconception.
And on my property managementside I think the misconceptions
are even worse.
Property managers are usuallynot popular and I get told a lot
(04:46):
and I think I must have thisthing where I'll do jobs nobody
else likes.
No one wants to be a propertymanager, but that's just not
true.
I found myself really enjoyingit because it really is dealing
with someone's one of theirlargest investments and in some
cases I'm working for aninvestor who buys homes as their
wealth, building their wealthand to be a part of that and to
(05:08):
help them build their portfoliosis exciting, because a lot of
my owners are abroad.
So in that property managersare known for they don't check
your house if your house will berun down and again, I'm sure
there's instances like that.
But I know that my owners andmy investors would say opposite
and it's not a brag, it just isIf I take your house, I'm going
(05:29):
to treat it like my own.
So that's another myth thatproperty managers should just
kind of mean.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, thank you for being the model of what realtors
and property managers should bein being trustworthy and honest
and upfront.
You have clients overseas.
I mean that takes a lot oftrust.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah Well, as you know, we're in a very military
driven area and a lot of themare abroad in their work.
And then I have one that justhappens to live abroad and buys,
you know, his real estateinvestments in the States.
So you will have all of them.
It does take a lot of trustbecause they are single-handedly
handing everything over to you.
We just took one at Madison.
(06:11):
Just a wonderful man had servedhis country but his home was
Ghana and he wanted to go backand his properties here have to
be cared for because he's notquite ready to sell.
And it's an honor that someonethinks of you, that they trust
you like that.
So we build a good rapport andthey're interesting people.
I love to hear their storiesand it brings me joy to give
(06:33):
them the comfort that they canlet this part of it go and go
live the rest of their life.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I can tell you really enjoy it.
I do.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I'm determined I will not.
You really enjoy it, I do, Ireally.
I you know.
I'm determined I will not do ajob.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I don't love, I just won't.
I got one life, so I'm going togo ahead and do things I enjoy
doing.
That's amazing.
Okay, so you enjoy your job.
So tell me, what do you dooutside of work, what do you do
for fun?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Well, my, I have twins that are 17 and they're
rising seniors at Riverb end andthey're both in sports.
So I really do enjoy all theirsports activities.
So that's probably my most funactivity.
And then travel.
I find that travel it's notjust about getting to do
something fun.
That's my reset and that's howbecause I do have a stressful
side of my job and that's myreset it broadens my horizons.
(07:18):
I love just feeling anotherculture outside our country and
then coming back all charged upand ready to go.
But I'd say my little guiltypleasure.
I went to my first concert, Ithink, when I was 13 or 14, and
I never stopped going.
I love music.
If it's live music, I don'tcare what genre it is, I will go
to anything, I just love livemusic.
So I have a couple of concertsalways on the books.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
So fun I love that I love that.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So what do you wish the listeners knew about your
business that when you come tomy business and if you're if you
hire me to whether you're aninvestor that needs to identify
properties for rental potential,or if you're a someone who
needs to sell your home thatyou've loved for years, or you
are buying your first home oryou're buying another home that
(08:07):
I'm going to treat it just asthough you are my family and it
also.
We don't have to necessarily seeeye to eye on everything.
My job is to listen to you andyour needs, and I think in this
world I wish I could tell peoplethat I'm going to stick with
you.
My work ethic is there, butI've learned that it's really
your actions that speak.
(08:27):
You can say anything you want,but they want you to act for
them and I will be there for youwhen the service is done.
One of my biggest pet peeves iswhen I hire somebody and then
you can't find them when it'sover, and I just couldn't treat
somebody like that, and I thinkwhat goes around comes around,
and so no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, I love that, I love that.
I love the values that you'rebringing into your business.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That's amazing simple place I grew up, but they
(09:15):
remind you every day that lifereally is pretty simple.
Just be honest, be good andtreat people like you would want
to be treated, and so my kids.
These old sayings are stillaround for a reason they're
powerful.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
They're powerful.
I love that.
I love that.
So you mentioned you've livedhere since 2003.
So what do you love most aboutliving in the Fredericksburg
area?
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
So I've definitely made this my home.
I really didn't have a homeafter I left Mississippi, where
I was born and raised, and Iended up running for office here
and was on the school board for10 years and after that
experience I knew that I hadfound my forever and it wasn't
because of you know, I lovedwhat I did on my days as a
(09:55):
public official in Spotsylvania,but really what I learned is
who we are as a community hereand, at the end of the day,
every community has theirproblems, but I would put
Spotsylvania, fredericksburg,next to anyone.
The people are kind and theycare.
They really do.
I was able to be involved intons and tons of different
groups around the community andand involved with the school
(10:18):
system and the, the localgovernment, and I was just
always impressed at how, at theend of the day, people are
really good at heart.
I mean, they really are we.
I think we get too caught up inthe hustle and bustle and the
bad things are the news, butreally right now, if I had to,
you know, call a neighbor orsomething.
They're going to be here.
This community has been good tome, so my loyalty is back to
(10:42):
them.
I'm going to be good to themtoo.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I love that.
I love your community focus.
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
That's a great community.
But, we're and we're growing.
I mean we have we're fancy nowlike we have all the restaurants
.
We have good things to do.
So you know when people comefrom out of town we have
multiple things to do.
I feel like you know it's a lotof fun now.
So we have really I've evenwatched this town even from 2003
, grow to something that isunrecognizable from when I first
moved here in a good way, evenbetter so our downtown is
(11:11):
vibrant again, and our schoolsare top notch and there's a lot
of good things in our community,and so you know anybody who's
thinking of moving here.
I would strongly encourage it.
It's a wonderful place to live.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I agree.
I've been here since 98 and thefact that you're saying all of
that and you're a realtor makesit perfect.
Yeah, it's a great place.
People moving in town yes, yes,absolutely Awesome.
(11:47):
So what advice would you givenew whether it's a new realtor
or a new entrepreneur who'sthinking about maybe switching
careers, like you did, orstarting a new business?
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Oh my gosh, don't listen to anyone who tries to
say negative things about it,and only talk to people who are
in the position you want to be,or working towards that position
, or already have had success,because it's very hard.
It's not that they're wrong,but it's very hard to get solid,
sound advice from someone whohasn't been down the path you're
going.
And so I learned years ago andit took me, you know, to get a
(12:15):
little bit older in life, in mylate 30s and 40s to learn that
when I really wanted to dosomething or take a different
avenue or a different trajectoryin life, I found people who
were already successful at thatand they sort of modeled what I
would like to be in that area,Whether it was when I was
running for school board, Iremember at that point I
(12:35):
remember being told I was tooyoung and at the time I was 36
and the twins were actually justabout to be born and I was
asked by a fellow person runningfor supervisor and I was
running for school board.
He said how are you going to doit with twins?
And I said well, does anybodyever ask you how you do it with
your two boys?
It's, don't let anyone stop youIf I listen to people going.
(12:57):
Don't put yourself out there.
You know it's hard.
It's a brutal world.
It is, and I'm made for it, andthe brutality that comes.
Or if somebody judges a vote Ihad made or something I had done
, at the end of the day, if thevote was made for the betterment
and as the whole of thecommunity and the students, you
were okay and I could sleep atnight.
So never let anyone who hasn'tbeen where you're going or
(13:20):
trying to do what you're doinggive you advice.
And secondly, don't get intothe standards of well, you're
too old to do this.
You're too young to do thisBecause I feel like I've been on
both sides of that, because Icould see where people go.
Well, by the time you're pushing50, why are you then really
leveling up your real estatecareer?
Because it was time for that.
I think our life is meant to bein seasons I really do and what
(13:44):
works for everybody isdifferent.
There are people who will stayin the same career for 40 years
and that works for them and theyfound their happiness there.
But if you're thatentrepreneurial spirit like I am
, and you're always needingchange and you're always wanting
to go and level up and bebetter and better.
Don't listen to anyone holdingyou back.
And another thing is thatfailure is your friend Every
(14:05):
time someone fails.
I've seen so many people startsomething, they fail and they
just sort of back off and goaway from it because failure
feels bad at the time.
And it does sort of back offand go away from it because
failure feels bad at the time,and it does.
Failure feels bad to me.
You get disappointed and it isa time that you kind of want to
sort of pull back from yourdream.
But that's the time you workharder.
(14:26):
I mean that is the time you'refind one person that is very
successful today that you couldwalk up to and they're going to
tell you I failed 10 timesbefore I had one win.
And they will fail over andover and over.
It's staying with it, and thatcomforts, as comfort zones, are
where dreams go to die.
So if you're a, dreamer andentrepreneur, you've got to
break that terror barrier,because when you go to step out
(14:49):
of it, you start tellingyourself well, I do, I'm doing
fine here, I meet my bills, thefamily's happy, I don't have to
move, everything's good.
Because right outside that isthe place you're in is so
unknown, and so people will stopand they call that the tear
barrier.
And the people that really wantto go and stop will always wish
they had pushed through it,because I'm going to tell you,
when you push through it, that'swhere the magic is.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Really good advice.
Thank you for that so much goldin that.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah, it has helped me.
It certainly has helped me.
If the listeners want toconnect with you, learn more
from you or work with you.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
where can they find you?
Well, amanda Blalock Realtor.
I have social medias.
I have Instagram Amanda BlalockRealtor.
I have Facebook Amanda BlalockRealtor.
My cell phone is alwaysavailable.
I have a work phone, but Iprefer to use my cell.
I'm open to text and it's540-273-0393.
You can email me at Amanda atMPM, madison Property Management
(15:54):
, vacom, or Amanda at CD Sales,like Cat David Sells dot com.
Both of those will get to meand are pretty easy to find.
I keep myself very active insocial media, always sharing
things and always sharing sortof a little bit of my world.
I feel like you've got to betransparent in some way to be to
(16:16):
be able to you know.
Really you've got to share whoyou are for someone to really
begin to build that trust withyou in a business.
So I'm out there on socialmedia, not hard to find.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Awesome.
Amanda.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the podcast today and
sharing so much wisdom with us.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, thank you for having me.
I enjoyed it very much.
I appreciate that, thanks.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg
Neighbors Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go tofxbgneighborspodcast.
com.
That's fxbgneighborspodcast.
com, or call 540-534-4618.
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
, the place where localbusinesses and neighbors come
together.
Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome back to another episode of the
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast.
I'm excited to introduce you toa fantastic neighbor today.
Amanda Blalock is a realtor andproperty manager with Berkshire
Hathaway Home Services inFredericksburg and member of the
Margoupas team.
Amanda, welcome to the podcast.
(00:33):
Oh, thank you so much forhaving me.
I'm glad to be here.
Awesome.
Well, I'm excited to dive inand learn all about you.
So let's start off by sharingwith the listeners a little bit
about your business.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Of course I am, as you said, amanda Blalock and I'm
a realtor with BerkshireHathaway and I'm part of the
Margoupas team and, as aseparate entity, I also head up
the Madison Property ManagementCompany, where I am a property
manager as well.
I'm sort of an all-encompassedanything real estate and I do a
lot of work with investors, helpthem find properties and
(01:08):
identify those and things likethat, licensed in the state of
Virginia and Maryland.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Wow that's impressive .
So how did you get into this?
Tell us your backstory.
Tell us how you became arealtor.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I certainly will, and I actually enjoy telling this
backstory in hopes of inspiringespecially the women group,
because this is something I gotinto is what I would call a
second career in life.
Later in life I had alwaysdabbled in working for builders
and things real estate andalways had that little bug and
interest.
But it wasn't until my lifesort of took a turn you know I
(01:43):
was middle-aged at this pointthat I decided it was now or
never.
And I really promote it isnever too late to reinvent
yourself and it is never toolate to step out into those
dreams that you've alwaysthought of.
And this is kind of that for me.
I think we always have thingswe think oh, I wish I had done
this, that's too late now.
I'll just refuse to have thatmindset.
So when I was pushing 50 yearsold, I decided to make it
(02:06):
official and to be able to dothe level of real estate I was
wanting to do and I dreamed ofdoing.
I was going to have to go,secure licensure and many things
, and that's exactly what I did.
I kind of honed my skillsbecause there was a lot of work
you did without a license forbuilders and property management
, but then I decided to take itto another level and to go on my
own and I honed my skills forthe past, you know five or six
(02:28):
years.
And then last year I steppedout and really made it official
and branded myself as AmandaBlalock Realtor and it was
probably the best decision I'veever made.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
That's amazing.
Congratulations, thank you, andyes, that is inspiring, and I
mean, you can begin again anyday and I just love that so much
.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Yes, yes, I wish, I wish we could just really get
that embedded, especially intowomen that may have been, you
know, at home for a few years,caring for children, or in a
different career they weren'thappy in, and they always had
that dream, and sometimes it iswhen you know it's in your 40s
sometimes, or 50s when you go.
You know what it's my time.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yep, it's time to be happy.
Think about yourself a littlebit.
Do what you really want to do.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
We're natural nurturers so it's hard for us to
because it almost feels selfishto us.
But when you learn that it'snot selfish, because your best
version of yourself is the bestversion for your family around
you and your friends.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I love that.
I love that so much.
Thank you for sharing that.
So tell me, do you find thatthere are any myths or
misconceptions around realestate?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Oh yeah, and this is a proven one.
Studies show that for somereason, the lack of trust in
real estate is sort of anoverlying blanket for real
estate agents and it's a shamebecause I am honesty, I think
sometimes in this world, justbeing brutally honest with
(04:03):
people, even if it's not thenews they want to hear, or if it
is the news they want to hear,just be brutally honest and be
available and I think dispellingthe myth that you can't trust
us or we don't work hard orwe're not giving our all some
may be warranted in particularsituations, but I would hope
that I'm able to change thatthrough my clients and when they
(04:23):
speak about the service with methey can say she was always
there for us and we trusted herand she never led us down the
wrong path, but mainly it'sservice after the sale.
So I would like to dispel thatand I do think that's a
misconception.
And on my property managementside I think the misconceptions
are even worse.
Property managers are usuallynot popular and I get told a lot
(04:46):
and I think I must have thisthing where I'll do jobs nobody
else likes.
No one wants to be a propertymanager, but that's just not
true.
I found myself really enjoyingit because it really is dealing
with someone's one of theirlargest investments and in some
cases I'm working for aninvestor who buys homes as their
wealth, building their wealthand to be a part of that and to
(05:08):
help them build their portfoliosis exciting, because a lot of
my owners are abroad.
So in that property managersare known for they don't check
your house if your house will berun down and again, I'm sure
there's instances like that.
But I know that my owners andmy investors would say opposite
and it's not a brag, it just isIf I take your house, I'm going
(05:29):
to treat it like my own.
So that's another myth thatproperty managers should just
kind of mean.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, thank you for being the model of what realtors
and property managers should bein being trustworthy and honest
and upfront.
You have clients overseas.
I mean that takes a lot oftrust.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah Well, as you know, we're in a very military
driven area and a lot of themare abroad in their work.
And then I have one that justhappens to live abroad and buys,
you know, his real estateinvestments in the States.
So you will have all of them.
It does take a lot of trustbecause they are single-handedly
handing everything over to you.
We just took one at Madison.
(06:11):
Just a wonderful man had servedhis country but his home was
Ghana and he wanted to go backand his properties here have to
be cared for because he's notquite ready to sell.
And it's an honor that someonethinks of you, that they trust
you like that.
So we build a good rapport andthey're interesting people.
I love to hear their storiesand it brings me joy to give
(06:33):
them the comfort that they canlet this part of it go and go
live the rest of their life.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I can tell you really enjoy it.
I do.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I'm determined I will not.
You really enjoy it, I do, Ireally.
I you know.
I'm determined I will not do ajob.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I don't love, I just won't.
I got one life, so I'm going togo ahead and do things I enjoy
doing.
That's amazing.
Okay, so you enjoy your job.
So tell me, what do you dooutside of work, what do you do
for fun?
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Well, my, I have twins that are 17 and they're
rising seniors at Riverb end andthey're both in sports.
So I really do enjoy all theirsports activities.
So that's probably my most funactivity.
And then travel.
I find that travel it's notjust about getting to do
something fun.
That's my reset and that's howbecause I do have a stressful
side of my job and that's myreset it broadens my horizons.
(07:18):
I love just feeling anotherculture outside our country and
then coming back all charged upand ready to go.
But I'd say my little guiltypleasure.
I went to my first concert, Ithink, when I was 13 or 14, and
I never stopped going.
I love music.
If it's live music, I don'tcare what genre it is, I will go
to anything, I just love livemusic.
So I have a couple of concertsalways on the books.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
So fun I love that I love that.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So what do you wish the listeners knew about your
business that when you come tomy business and if you're if you
hire me to whether you're aninvestor that needs to identify
properties for rental potential,or if you're a someone who
needs to sell your home thatyou've loved for years, or you
are buying your first home oryou're buying another home that
(08:07):
I'm going to treat it just asthough you are my family and it
also.
We don't have to necessarily seeeye to eye on everything.
My job is to listen to you andyour needs, and I think in this
world I wish I could tell peoplethat I'm going to stick with
you.
My work ethic is there, butI've learned that it's really
your actions that speak.
(08:27):
You can say anything you want,but they want you to act for
them and I will be there for youwhen the service is done.
One of my biggest pet peeves iswhen I hire somebody and then
you can't find them when it'sover, and I just couldn't treat
somebody like that, and I thinkwhat goes around comes around,
and so no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, I love that, I love that.
I love the values that you'rebringing into your business.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That's amazing simple place I grew up, but they
(09:15):
remind you every day that lifereally is pretty simple.
Just be honest, be good andtreat people like you would want
to be treated, and so my kids.
These old sayings are stillaround for a reason they're
powerful.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
They're powerful.
I love that.
I love that.
So you mentioned you've livedhere since 2003.
So what do you love most aboutliving in the Fredericksburg
area?
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
So I've definitely made this my home.
I really didn't have a homeafter I left Mississippi, where
I was born and raised, and Iended up running for office here
and was on the school board for10 years and after that
experience I knew that I hadfound my forever and it wasn't
because of you know, I lovedwhat I did on my days as a
(09:55):
public official in Spotsylvania,but really what I learned is
who we are as a community hereand, at the end of the day,
every community has theirproblems, but I would put
Spotsylvania, fredericksburg,next to anyone.
The people are kind and theycare.
They really do.
I was able to be involved intons and tons of different
groups around the community andand involved with the school
(10:18):
system and the, the localgovernment, and I was just
always impressed at how, at theend of the day, people are
really good at heart.
I mean, they really are we.
I think we get too caught up inthe hustle and bustle and the
bad things are the news, butreally right now, if I had to,
you know, call a neighbor orsomething.
They're going to be here.
This community has been good tome, so my loyalty is back to
(10:42):
them.
I'm going to be good to themtoo.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I love that.
I love your community focus.
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
That's a great community.
But, we're and we're growing.
I mean we have we're fancy nowlike we have all the restaurants
.
We have good things to do.
So you know when people comefrom out of town we have
multiple things to do.
I feel like you know it's a lotof fun now.
So we have really I've evenwatched this town even from 2003
, grow to something that isunrecognizable from when I first
moved here in a good way, evenbetter so our downtown is
(11:11):
vibrant again, and our schoolsare top notch and there's a lot
of good things in our community,and so you know anybody who's
thinking of moving here.
I would strongly encourage it.
It's a wonderful place to live.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Absolutely, absolutely.
I agree.
I've been here since 98 and thefact that you're saying all of
that and you're a realtor makesit perfect.
Yeah, it's a great place.
People moving in town yes, yes,absolutely Awesome.
(11:47):
So what advice would you givenew whether it's a new realtor
or a new entrepreneur who'sthinking about maybe switching
careers, like you did, orstarting a new business?
What advice would you give them?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Oh my gosh, don't listen to anyone who tries to
say negative things about it,and only talk to people who are
in the position you want to be,or working towards that position
, or already have had success,because it's very hard.
It's not that they're wrong,but it's very hard to get solid,
sound advice from someone whohasn't been down the path you're
going.
And so I learned years ago andit took me, you know, to get a
(12:15):
little bit older in life, in mylate 30s and 40s to learn that
when I really wanted to dosomething or take a different
avenue or a different trajectoryin life, I found people who
were already successful at thatand they sort of modeled what I
would like to be in that area,Whether it was when I was
running for school board, Iremember at that point I
(12:35):
remember being told I was tooyoung and at the time I was 36
and the twins were actually justabout to be born and I was
asked by a fellow person runningfor supervisor and I was
running for school board.
He said how are you going to doit with twins?
And I said well, does anybodyever ask you how you do it with
your two boys?
It's, don't let anyone stop youIf I listen to people going.
(12:57):
Don't put yourself out there.
You know it's hard.
It's a brutal world.
It is, and I'm made for it, andthe brutality that comes.
Or if somebody judges a vote Ihad made or something I had done
, at the end of the day, if thevote was made for the betterment
and as the whole of thecommunity and the students, you
were okay and I could sleep atnight.
So never let anyone who hasn'tbeen where you're going or
(13:20):
trying to do what you're doinggive you advice.
And secondly, don't get intothe standards of well, you're
too old to do this.
You're too young to do thisBecause I feel like I've been on
both sides of that, because Icould see where people go.
Well, by the time you're pushing50, why are you then really
leveling up your real estatecareer?
Because it was time for that.
I think our life is meant to bein seasons I really do and what
(13:44):
works for everybody isdifferent.
There are people who will stayin the same career for 40 years
and that works for them and theyfound their happiness there.
But if you're thatentrepreneurial spirit like I am
, and you're always needingchange and you're always wanting
to go and level up and bebetter and better.
Don't listen to anyone holdingyou back.
And another thing is thatfailure is your friend Every
(14:05):
time someone fails.
I've seen so many people startsomething, they fail and they
just sort of back off and goaway from it because failure
feels bad at the time.
And it does sort of back offand go away from it because
failure feels bad at the time,and it does.
Failure feels bad to me.
You get disappointed and it isa time that you kind of want to
sort of pull back from yourdream.
But that's the time you workharder.
(14:26):
I mean that is the time you'refind one person that is very
successful today that you couldwalk up to and they're going to
tell you I failed 10 timesbefore I had one win.
And they will fail over andover and over.
It's staying with it, and thatcomforts, as comfort zones, are
where dreams go to die.
So if you're a, dreamer andentrepreneur, you've got to
break that terror barrier,because when you go to step out
(14:49):
of it, you start tellingyourself well, I do, I'm doing
fine here, I meet my bills, thefamily's happy, I don't have to
move, everything's good.
Because right outside that isthe place you're in is so
unknown, and so people will stopand they call that the tear
barrier.
And the people that really wantto go and stop will always wish
they had pushed through it,because I'm going to tell you,
when you push through it, that'swhere the magic is.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Really good advice.
Thank you for that so much goldin that.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah, it has helped me.
It certainly has helped me.
If the listeners want toconnect with you, learn more
from you or work with you.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
where can they find you?
Well, amanda Blalock Realtor.
I have social medias.
I have Instagram Amanda BlalockRealtor.
I have Facebook Amanda BlalockRealtor.
My cell phone is alwaysavailable.
I have a work phone, but Iprefer to use my cell.
I'm open to text and it's540-273-0393.
You can email me at Amanda atMPM, madison Property Management
(15:54):
, vacom, or Amanda at CD Sales,like Cat David Sells dot com.
Both of those will get to meand are pretty easy to find.
I keep myself very active insocial media, always sharing
things and always sharing sortof a little bit of my world.
I feel like you've got to betransparent in some way to be to
(16:16):
be able to you know.
Really you've got to share whoyou are for someone to really
begin to build that trust withyou in a business.
So I'm out there on socialmedia, not hard to find.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Awesome.
Amanda.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the podcast today and
sharing so much wisdom with us.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, thank you for having me.
I enjoyed it very much.
I appreciate that, thanks.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg
Neighbors Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go tofxbgneighborspodcast.
com.
That's fxbgneighborspodcast.
com, or call 540-534-4618.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.