Amy Spence: Touch the Dream Every Day
Over ten years ago, Amy Spence became the Justin Landis Group's very first expansion partner, a role that didn't really have a definition yet on either side. Today she's one of Bolst's four brokers, spending most of her time helping new and newer agents get their business off the ground the right way.
From Individual Agent to Broker
Amy started as an individual agent before becoming JLG's first expansion partner. What sold her wasn't a script or a system, it was values alignment: she was never expected to door knock or cold call, just to have conversations and build relationships, the same approach the show is built around today. Years of selling houses and mentoring new agents as junior partner led her to a realization: her heart was more centered on helping other people grow their business than on continuing to grow her own. That pulled her toward getting her broker's license, even before Bolst had an actual role for her to fill. She waited, believing in the vision, until the role existed.
Real Estate Is a Humbling Business
Amy's core message to new agents is simple: it's okay to ask questions. She tells people directly that she wants them to ask, even losing her voice some weeks from answering so many. That openness is deliberate, she'd rather field the question upfront than watch someone learn a hard lesson the expensive way.
Why Training Comes Before Leads
Amy sees a consistent pattern among agents who struggled to gain traction elsewhere: they chased leads before they knew how to actually have a real estate conversation. Bolst requires a structured training program, Elevate and Advance, precisely because leads without conversation skills just produce discouragement. The goal is a real career pathway, starting with training, then optionally growing into the lead share program or a team, with guidance at each step rather than agents figuring it out entirely alone.
What the First 90 Days Should Actually Look Like
Amy's first rule for a new agent: get the word out, and don't be shy about it. She's candid that she struggled with this herself, coming from another career and keeping that job for a year as a safety net because she wasn't sure real estate would work out. Her own first 90 days consisted of telling a few people she'd gotten her license and hoping for the best, a strategy she's quick to say does not work. What she recommends instead: go through structured training with a group of people learning at the same time, which effectively becomes a new agent's first team, paired with a real plan for outreach rather than a vague hope.
Recovering Quickly From Mistakes
Mistakes are inevitable starting out, and Amy's advice is to focus less on avoiding them entirely and more on recovering quickly. That's easier with people around you, which is why Bolst maintains an open door policy across all four of its brokers, who genuinely prefer agents call too much rather than too little.
Team or Solo? How to Actually Decide
Rather than pushing every new agent toward a team, Amy generally recommends starting as an individual agent, completing initial training, and spending time getting to know how different teams at Bolst actually operate before choosing a path. Team structures typically require a full time commitment, which isn't right for everyone, especially agents still holding another job while they get their business going. Amy points to an agent who kept his job as a firefighter while building a strong business through Bolst's flexible training format, in-person meetings just once a week for an hour and a half, with the rest available on demand.
The Pro Case for Joining a Team Early
For agents who are ready, Amy is clear about the upside of a team: full service support, signs, lockboxes, and the infrastructure that would otherwise be a significant upfront expense, plus ongoing mentorship that builds directly on what agents already learned in Elevate and Advance.
Touch the Dream Every Day
Amy's closing advice starts simply: don't quit. She's seen countless agents who nearly walked away right before their business took off. Her practical follow-up is what she calls touching the dream every day, since motivation in real estate builds slowly and rarely delivers quick wins. That might mean a single social media post, or reaching out to five people for coffee next week, small, consistent actions that keep someone in motion even on days when full scale activity isn't possible.
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Justin Landis is the founder of Justin Landis Group and Bolst, two of Atlanta's leading real estate companies. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three daughters and has been selling Atlanta real estate since 2008.
