Welcome to the Sun Leaders Podcast. I’m Whitney Smith, owner attorney at Your Rental Property Attorney plc, a law firm that specializes in real estate law with a primary focus on landlords. I have a deep involvement in the real estate industry, so I am dedicated to exploring the intricate connections between real estate landlord tenant dynamics and affordable housing.

Through effective leadership, I believe we can drive positive change in these sectors. That’s why on this podcast, I spotlight female leaders who are driving progress in real estate or affordable housing communities, leading teams and communities towards improvement. Today, I am so excited to welcome our new guest, Amber.

Amber Boskers. Excuse me. I almost just butchered your name and it was really easy to say.

Amber Boskers, co owner of Kohler House remodeling Company. Amber is a true symbol of resilience in real estate as she has conquered a major health scare. With unwavering determination, her drive for excellence has elevated Kohler House to premier status in the Tampa Bay area, despite the adversities she has once had to face.

During this conversation, we will explore Amber’s inspiring journey and the transformative impact of overcoming adversity in her pursuit of community and construction. Amber, welcome to the show. Thank you very much, Whitney.

I am so happy to be here and I’m looking forward to our conversation. Thank you for coming. I met you during this accountability group that we have in the female Real estate investors group.

Is it investors? I know it’s an iron symbol. It’s recently changed names, but we’ve been in the accountability group for quite a few weeks and you host it. And you are absolutely amazing.

You’re inspiring. And the most important aspect, you come across as very authentic and grounded and genuinely care for all of our issues that we deal with throughout the day. So when you give us a pep talk, I believe you.

And that’s super important when it comes to a leader, is that I. Because it’s very easy for leaders to say one thing and, you know, you think, what does this person know? You know? But you really come off like, I believe what you say to tell me. Like, you say, I can do it, I can do it. And during that group, you had touched on, just very briefly, that you had been going through, that you had a pretty horrible health scare.

Luckily, it was just a scare, right? And nothing terrible came out of it. Maybe more positive, which we’ll hear than the negative, but nonetheless, those types of things can really derail you. I know from my own personal experience.

I have dealt with it before. When I was in law school, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease after like a year and a half of no one knowing what, what was going on. And then also recently I’ve had this last year I opened my firm in July 2023 and since then I’ve been dealing with like debilitating stomach issues and again, nobody really knew what until recently.

So it’s really hard to, especially when you’re in pain, I think when it’s physical to keep your head on straight and still move forward in other aspects in your life. And you touched on that and you seem like such a positive, energetic person that I really wanted you to come on and tell an audience or future leaders or real estate females, you know, your experience and what you went through. Yes.

Firstly, accountability groups completely changed my life. I am where I am today because of the impact and influence of accountability groups and they become your family, they become your friends and they really get to understand what you’re passionate about and who you really are. So I suggest for everyone to find a group that like minded in a passionate or area that you are really invested in and then start, grow, can grow your community.

Um, yeah, I second that. I actually this is the first. You know, back in the day I was like a beachbody coach.

That would have been fun. Yeah, that’s like, you know, before pyramid schemes were like a thing, you know, like the MLM marketing. Like we didn’t know the dangers.

But yeah, I was beachbody coach. That was the only accountability groups that I knew of and they were helpful. Right.

And but this one that we’re in, I really didn’t know the impact it would have on me. I don’t know if it’s because how frequent we meet or how few members we have. I think we only have eight ladies in our group, maybe eight or nine.

But we’ve really gotten to know each other and like even though it’s through zoom, it’s, it just feels like very intimate and like we’ve actually built friendships. So I 1000% agree that it’s, it’s so impactful. Yeah.

And we’re not supposed to be by ourselves and a lot of times health scares happen and you’re suffering along and so it definitely hurts my heart that you’ve been suffering for such a long time. I don’t know if you have a core network or not, but there’s people that want to pour into you to support you along the way. And that was one of the things where I really had to face.

Who do I tell? Who do I talk to about this? Do I involve my Business partner, like, how do you maneuver through that? But I had to just really come to a place on my own and be like, hey, what, what’s. What am I comfortable with? What am I comfortable with divulging and to whom? For me, same. Very similar scenario for me.

I was struggling with not feeling well for like a year. And I had started going through. I have a.

We just happen to have a very amazing holistic doctor. She’s got a practice here in St. Pete. And they’re amazing, amazing team.

What were some of your symptoms? Like what, what started bringing on, like, this is not right. Fatigue, back pain, my complexion, my color changed, low energy. And then I would get sick more often when I was around large groups of people.

And historically I know how I am health wise. Maybe get sick twice a year. I’ve got kids in public school, I will.

I still would only get sick twice a year. And this was just not right. Something wasn’t right.

Yeah. And when you get used to being in a certain state when something starts to change and then stays changed, you know something’s wrong. Yeah.

I tried all of the regular types of waiting it out if it’s viral, you know, more fluids, more vitamin C, more fresh air, trying to get the sleep under control. It’s hard to do when you’ve got teenagers. But nothing seemed to be fixing it.

So I had taken the step to follow up with my doctor. Because I don’t see my doctor very often. They suggested getting a blood panel to see where my body’s at.

Perhaps I was just efficient in certain areas that they can work on and their focus is to get your body in the prime condition so that it helps itself. And they did. We got the panel done and my white blood cell count was low and my lymph nodes were out of range and just weird markers.

Generally speaking, I was healthy. Aside from these three items and this, you know, physician, they take the approach of, okay, we’ll start you on some supplements and some herbs and some vitamins and we’ll watch, we’ll see how your body reacts. We’ll get another panel done in a few months and go from there.

So that’s why it kind of took a long time that. So we should say when, when did it start? It start? It started earlier on in January of last year of January. So January 2023.

Yeah. I wasn’t feeling well and it took a couple months for me to, you know, okay, fine, I’ll go to the doctor. Yeah, right.

So that was like March. Yeah. And then I had Issues throughout the year.

I ended up in the hospital in May. Back pain caused me to pass out. And then I hit my head on the floor, gave myself a concussion in the bathroom.

Wow. You know, the ambulance came and my heart rate wasn’t right, so they became, they thought it was my heart. So they’re going to take you to hospital.

And I was under evaluation. The medical team at the hospital, they were great, but they focused on my heart. Right.

They didn’t focus on the back pain, they didn’t focus on anything else because they’re just the urgent care that’s an urgent situation. So I was released the next day. And then it was follow up with your doctor.

So then we just added more things to follow up with. Now it’s my heart. So we gotta get scans done and.

Okay, we’re gonna take some, some supplements for your heart, cardiovascular. And it was just one thing after the next. So then my things weren’t remedying themselves and so my doctor suggested going in for a CT scan just so you can see what’s going on.

And we did that in November. And I mean, the reason why it took a while is because I’m not sick. Like, I’m not obviously sick.

There’s people that really need these scans, these appointments. So I got in when I could and the results came back and it was deserving of a phone call. It wasn’t like, oh, come to the doctor and we’ll do a follow up appointment.

It was no, right. We found a large mass on your ovary. We found two lesions on your liver and we found a lesion in your pelvic bone.

Right. Super scary. And that’s.

They were very scared. And they said later it was a very ominous situation that they found they had consulted with their team of doctors and they’re like, we’re referring you to the Moffitt Cancer center right away, like, okay, do you have any questions? No. What am I supposed to say right now? I don’t know enough to know what questions to ask.

Right. I’ll be in touch. Get off the phone.

Call my husband. And he was floored. And it had.

It hit him differently because his best friend had passed away from pancreatic cancer very, very suddenly within a year. And so all of a sudden the emotions of that, right, it was fresh, very fresh that came back to him. And plus, we’ve been going through our own family situation and every day is a struggle for my husband.

He always knew that, hey, you know, no matter what happens to me, our girls have their mom. Well, now mom’s not doing well because your husband has gone through his own health issues. My husband’s gone through his own health issues because of a work related accident four years previous.

But he has ongoing issues from traumatic brain injury and internal injuries from the accident that he, he has to overcome every single day. And so anyways, it just really threw a huge, oh, wrench isn’t the right word into our family. And.

But every obstacle is an opportunity for a step up. And that’s what this was going to be. And so this is all of this calamity almost is happening in your personal life and what is your professional life at this point? The professional life was fantastic.

Four days before, my business partner and I had closed on acquiring a residential remodeling business here in Tampa. So as you are suffering because you were, even if it wasn’t constant physical pain, one, you are a mother. You’re dealing with your husband that has, you know, you’re helping to support him through his own difficulties and you’re not feeling right and even just a little bit can be a lot.

But as you’re doing all of that, you are also forming a business plan with a partner and making decisions in order to merge into this business. How, during that year of 2023 were you, did you mention anything to your business partner prior to getting that phone call from your doctor? Actually, no, I did not. Because at that point it wasn’t a urgent issue.

Everyone’s tired, everyone doesn’t feel the best every day. Right. But then, you know, it’s a mindset shift that I had to take.

It’s like, okay, am I going to be tired today or am I going to get my work done? Am I going to work on this partnership? Am I going to make sure that my business, my other businesses are progressing? I don’t have time to just sit and be tired. Yeah, we just don’t. I mean, as moms and as business professionals, entrepreneurs, you just, you can’t, there’s no time for it.

Right. So you do what you can, you know, your limits. Self care was very important.

I made sure that I replenished myself by enjoying the things that I enjoy, like a good cup of coffee, being outside, you know, enjoying the ocean. We live really close to the water, so I would go and see it. I go for walks every day, be outside with my children, do whatever is necessary to recharge.

So then I can focus on those business decisions. I can focus on maintaining my family. I can focus on being the support for my children when they’re going through their teenage ups and downs.

Right. You do what you have to do. And I did not want to give it more thought and more of my energy than necessary.

Right. As a sidebar because you just made me think of something. Um, and we’ll get into the finish of the story because we want to hear the outcome after that phone call.

But do you ever get kind of jaded? Like, what you’re saying is like self care, you know, you do all the things. And I. My boyfriend is amazing at doing all the things. And he’s always encouraged me.

My mindset has never. I’m. I come from a place of no.

Which makes me a great attorney. Right. Also, you know, being a mom, being an attorney, being a girlfriend to a straight white man.

Like, no is the answer. My first answer. Right.

Um, but he’s always telling me he’s calling right now. He’s always telling me, you know, meditate, wake up in the morning, have a moment to yourself, meditate, Write in a gratitude journal, like, all the things. So while you’re going through this and you are practicing those self care techniques, do you ever get jaded? Like, why am I still feeling bad? No, no, no.

Because that is negative energy. So this goes into. I’ve done a lot of research and reading books and listen to podcasts and YouTube channels.

I love opening my mind to different ideas. And the common theme with successful entrepreneurs is energy frequency, the meditation, the self care. But it’s.

But it’s getting the mindset right. And you know, sometimes we’re going to have these negative thoughts that come in. Yeah.

It’s up to us if we’re going to let it plant or not. And I’m ripping that baby out. It’s not welcome.

Those are weeds that I have not. I don’t have time for. Yeah.

And so I don’t let myself get there. And I couldn’t be woe as me. We’ve got a whole society that’s woe as me.

Yes. And I don’t want to be like that. Yeah.

So I intentionally have to not. Because I believe it’s our nature to like. You have to train yourself to be positive.

Train yourself to look at the bright side. Train yourself to think of a medical scare or a failing business or whatever. This divorce as an opportunity to step up into something new and bigger and better.

Right. You just never know. Right.

And that’s what I do. So now there’s going to be lots of things online, lots of things in the, you know, that other people do, but you have to find what works for you. Right.

And it’s the same thing with medicine. It’s the same thing with your, your profession, your hobbies. We are all unique and certain things are going to align with us better than other things.

So out of all the options that we have, pick what works for you. Right. So what works for your boyfriend is.

May not work with you. Right. A full out no could limit you from engaging in the benefits of certain things.

But maybe, you know, do a couple of things that he does or one. Right. Or none.

Find your own. Yeah. So you can find what works for you.

Yeah. The whole meditation thing has been a challenge for me because I don’t sit well. But I know that’s something I have to one day put on my to do list to get better at.

Because I think that is the what is keeping the thoughts. Like you’re saying, don’t let it plant. I let those things plant because I don’t.

In meditation, you just observe the thoughts. You know, you just observe them and know that they’re going away. And I like to grab onto them and cycle them around in my head like millions and millions of times.

You turn it. A book that I found really helpful was Breaking the habit of being yourself. Oh, I’ve heard of this book.

Dr. Joe Dispenza. Dispenza. I’m mispronouncing his last name, so I apologize.

But breaking the Habit of being Yourself. Okay. It was fascinating because it took the scientific approach in addition to the.

Well, he’s a very well renowned and highly educated professional in the space of meditation. And I love hearing the science behind it. Okay.

So I’m gonna put that on my to do list a better way. Cause I was like, you. I’m like, I can’t stop.

I can hear myself think. I can hear my breathing if I’m too quiet, you know, like. And he was able to slow me down.

And I actually practiced it in my living room. I mean, you gotta work for whatever works for you. But the way he explained it was perfect for me.

So now I see things in a different way. Right. Okay, great.

I mean, you can meditate walking, you can meditate. And I would, when I do my walks, sometimes I’d be in a state of prayer for the whole 45 minutes. Or I’d just be praising God or doing affirmations or whatever it is.

But it’s putting your mind in that state that you are in the moment and it frees you from all the other thoughts and voices in your head. And the heaviness it’s just freeing. You’re training your brain and your body to free yourself of the weight.

Right. And then it puts yourself in an optimal state to solve problems, to be creative, to pour into others and heal. Right.

After this, we’ll have to make a dinner date because my boyfriend is going to love you. So how does the story end? So you get this call? I get this call, yes. Well, first.

Oh, I guess first we’re midway through, but I do want to just put out there that my experiences and my medical. Not medical, but my opinions on medical related things are no way affiliated with my business partner or my business. So just laying it out there, the phone call comes in and, you know, like I said, I called my husband.

And then I spent that weekend researching, talking to family members. And then over the span of a few weeks, you know, in between getting into doctor’s appointments and more scans and whatnot, I was accessing my network of people and I know four that were stage four cancer conquerors. And these, I’m assuming they’re women.

Yes, all women. Were they real estate investors, like in your network? Like, where Were they friends of yours? Were they colleagues or they were connected through, like, I was. I’m really heavily involved in like different podcasts and different channels and mastermind groups.

So some were mastermind groups, some are real estate investing groups. Right. And then others was actually my husband’s doctor at the Stella Institute.

Oh, okay. So just different people that we’ve grown with. Right.

And built relationships with. And so I was able to reach out to them and had conversations. I shared a little bit, you know, through LinkedIn or through email, and then had phone calls with them.

And it was just so profound to hear their stories. They were full in it, full on in it. Going through different treatments and coming out.

Right. You know, some of them lost their hair, some of them, you just never know. You just never know.

And so it was just really powerful for me. And I asked them, you know, given what they know, where they’re at in their journey, what would they recommend for somebody first stepping into it? And I really, it was so moving to hear their stories and I took their advice to heart and I made the adjustments. You know, they.

They said that there’s going to be a lot of dark. Darkness. There’s going to be, you know, these diagnosis, and they’re going to talk about, you know, chances of survival and it’s just heavy.

Yeah. When you’re talking about life and death, of course, they suggested finding doctors that align with your values. There’s always a second opinion, a third opinion, a fourth opinion.

Keep finding it, Keep going until you’re comfortable with the practitioner that you want to partner with, because it is a partnership. Another one was, you know, get yourself to church. Right.

So I hadn’t been in a while and she was right. I needed to get in there and so I did. Well, that spiritual alignment, I think, is important for me.

I was raised atheist, so it’s something that’s always been absent in my life until I’m like, basically my boyfriend. But whatever you call it, it is important to have something more than yourself. Yes.

A higher power of some sort. Whatever you make that be. I think it is important to you need.

You always need something that can take you out of yourself. That’s right. And focus your time on.

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And that helps actually process and move through difficult situations. When you’re focusing your attention on God, other people, something else, there’s always bigger than you. There’s, you know, we’re just the speck in the whole big scheme of things.

And I’m, I’d be much better. I feel much better praising God and giving him glory and just worshiping him, praying to him, thanking him for what I have, than thinking about where I’m at or my struggles or my problems. Right.

Goes back to that gratitude journal. Yeah. And, you know, a lot of these conversations just go back to, you know, your frequency.

You’ve got to do what’s right for you. And frequency is an energy. We all have it, and we’re all exchanging it.

And so it was really important for me to take the shift, to really be intentional about my energy, about what fueled me and what filled me up, and focus on doing that. So when the negative stuff happens, when I start. When I would start to get down, I would immediately.

Correct immediately, because I’m like, I don’t have. Because as soon as you give it a little bit of space. Right.

Like Burrows, these negative thoughts will just sit there. So practically, how did you do that? I don’t mean to interrupt, but I am actually interested in this because. And I don’t know if I’ve said this on an episode before, but I once was in therapy, and the woman, the therapist had me wear a rubber band around my wrist.

And anytime I had a negative thought, I snap it. And I. By the end of the first day, I called her, and I’m like, I can’t wear this rubber band because I’m going to. I’m gonna look like I’m trying to commit suicide.

Like, I had, like, welts on my. And but her. This.

It showed me how often I think of a negative thought. Right. And it’s supposed to snap you out of it, but I don’t think my intention was there.

So how practically, what do you do? What are the things that you’ve put in place for yourself? If. If something. A negative thought arises in your head? It’s a.

It’s a pivot. And so, okay, say my dog’s doing something. Okay.

She achieved something. I have a dog. Thank you for my dog.

Right. I’m having a problem with the client. Thank you for my client.

You just change it to a sense of gratitude and thankfulness and that heavy energy, the anger, frustration almost lifts. It’s almost like, immediate type of thing. You know, I have a disagreement with my.

With my child. Well, thank you that I have children. Right.

Thank you that I have an amazing husband. Thank you that I live in a beautiful home in Tampa. Yeah.

Thank you that I have. Have friends that I can call, even though, you know, maybe they were busy, like, oh, I’m frustrated that I have no one to talk to. You know what? Thank you that I have my friends.

Yeah. So instead I’m just going to pray for them. You know, it’s that.

It’s just the pivot. Yeah. And you take a negative and immediately shift it to a positive.

Yeah. That’s how. Yeah.

This is hopefully Christian. That’s my boyfriend. I could just stop calling him my boyfriend.

Christian listens to this one because I’m about to, like, blow him up. But basically, he always said, like, we don’t live in the same place. Right.

He lives in Ybor. I live in Largo. And eventually we’re going to live together, but we don’t.

So I’ll sometimes get irritated, like, put a ring on it, you know, Like, I miss you. And he always says, well, thank goodness we miss each other. Yes.

You know, he’s right. I know. Yeah.

I still want to. So now you can start thanking him. Just thank you for this beautiful ring.

Right. Just thank it ahead of time. Thank you for the beautiful ring.

That’s another thing, too. People think I’m just crazy, but it’s how you look at everything. When there’s a problem, all of a sudden, thank you for the solution.

I don’t know what the solution is, but the solution is out there. So we say thank you ahead of time, and then the solution starts to happen. You become open to resolution.

You become open to the frequency of solving the problems because you’re in a state of gratitude, and that’s one of the highest frequencies. And same with authenticity. Yeah, I love that, you mentioning authenticity.

I’ve always just been real. But I feel it’s better to connect with people being you just. Just be open.

Right. Be open. Some people are going to gravitate towards that openness.

And some people will be threatened by it. Right. Those that are threatened by it will maybe learn that, hey, it’s okay, and it’s safe to be open with people or they will move on to other people.

Right. But you attract what you put out. So I’m being authentic, and I am attracting, like, magnet magnetically.

I’m attracting people who are also authentic. And we can accomplish so much more when you’re actually true to yourself. Right.

I agree with that. And that’s same with healing, you know, all of this. I respected what the diagnosis was.

I gave it its time. And then I got to a point where, okay, I’m done and going back to work. When you’re in the midst of whatever it is you’re doing and now you’re thinking about.

I’m thinking about my clients. I’m thinking about my business. I’m thinking about social media posts for my business.

Okay, I’m pivoting. I’m done. Right.

I’m doing all that you can do, and then you move on to the next thing. Right. So you’ve gotten the call, you’ve reached out to your support network, and thank goodness they could share, you know, they were farther along in the process than they can share positives and negatives with you.

You’ve signed papers for Kohler House at this point? Yes. Have you told your partner at this point? When I first received the call? No, I did not. I waited until the following week.

Week. I had the weekend to do lots of research, and then I did give her a call. We had a one on one meeting every week, and I was like, hey, just letting you know that this has happened.

I got a phone call and were you nervous to tell her that? I mean, a lot was. You were. Do you guys were embarking on a big venture? Yes.

Yes. Was I nervous? I don’t think I was really giving it the respect it needed. Like, this is a really serious diagnosis, but in my head I’m like, I’m not gonna die.

And besides, I have an insurance policy because it’s part of our SBA loan. We had to get additional insurance policies, and I just brushed it off like, oh, don’t worry about it. If I do die, we have an insurance policy, so you’ll be fine.

So I think how I spun it, she just took it and. Okay, you know, she. She shared her care for me and, you know, asked if there’s anything that she could do and.

No, it’s okay. I’ll just keep you posted, you know, but I’m here. No matter what, I’m here.

And we got this. Yeah. So again, it’s just an obstacle is an opportunity.

Right. So you just balance what you have to. You take care of those things that come on your plate, and you do what needs to get done.

Right. And so you started, I guess, a new plan of attack, health wise, which. What did that involve? What were you.

Were you taking your doctor’s advice or you were Googling or. I was doing everything right, so lots of Googling. But I really like going into the case studies, and it’s amazing what’s available online.

You can really get access to any number of hospitals and scientific reports and journals. And so it was really fascinating learning about different things, but I did have to change the algorithm a few times. Right.

So you really have to be intentional about what you’re searching for and be very specific, because the Algorithm will spit out things. Right? Lots of, you know, the first couple pages are typically the junk, and then you gotta dig a little bit to find what you’re looking for. I’m very familiar with the holistic and untraditional methods of medicine.

Or I’m not a. I’m not a physician, obviously, I’m not educated in that, but it’s just my own education. When we decided to have children, that started my research of, okay, what does this look like? Now, I’m responsible for human, other human beings, so I’m going to be very intentional about what they are exposed to.

So when this came up, I just built on that. And there were, you know, products available that were very natural based, but I knew that I’d be more inclined to try those and see what happens than pharmaceuticals. Right.

And then it ended up. It ended up not being cancer. Correct.

So it was a scare. It was a scare, but I made, I accepted it as though it was a real thing. Like.

Right, yeah, we just skipped to the end of the story. But when you get that call, okay, everything’s changing. What do I need to do? All right, I made adjustments with my diet.

I made adjustments with adding supplements. I started taking non traditional things like I’d mentioned. I started taking ivermectin.

Right. I started taking special juices, just a whole gamut. I still have two full bins full of different types of herbs, vitamins, supplements that I would take either every other day or every day, depending on what the product was.

And so I’m maintaining those. Right. And whatever advantage that I could give my body, I was going to do.

So I really, I researched that. Okay. People who have a higher muscle tone are less likely to pass from cancer diagnosis.

So, okay, Having more muscles means. Having more muscle tone means I have a greater likelihood of survival. So, all right, I’m getting myself back into the gym.

You know, I’m drinking water. We got an air purifier. We use grounding sheets.

I. What’s grounding sheets? Grounding sheets are. It’s a fitted sheet that is you. Actually there’s a cord that plugs into the outlet and it keeps a neutral level for frequency.

Oh, okay. So you can sleep in it. We didn’t really notice any difference with that.

But hey, why not? It’s worth a try, right? I’m everything I’m taking, everything is. So I don’t know what particular one thing worked or all of them or maybe who knows? It was the combination of everything that, for me that contributed to me getting the Results that I did. And this was a question that I had listed for.

To go over, but you’ve kind of. I can make the assumption that that was the silver lining, most likely. And I found that in my own journey this.

This year is, you know, I was. I was raised vegan, and then I went back vegan, you know, because you explore as you. As one does.

And then I decided nothing else aligned with my values. And I was. It was affecting.

Actually, it was when I was struggling for Lyme disease. Now I’m thinking about it, and I just didn’t know that I had Lyme disease yet. I just thought I was a mess.

And I’m like, you know, I need to control something and align something with my values. So I went back hardcore vegan. That’s 2017.

So when you get sick and you’re already healthy, to me, like, my, you know, we’ve already discussed, like, my mindset’s kind of like a pothole sometimes or dumpster fire. I thought, well, I’m doing everything, you know, But I did the same thing as you did. Like, I went into the research.

I was never raised on traditional medicine, so it’s not my go to. And I have a. I’m very cynical against traditional medicine, which is unfortunate because my boyfriend’s in a family of doctors, and I do respect them.

I think I have a lot of opinions. I, for one, I think that doctors should cooperate rather than compete. And I think that that’s.

That the way that they’re structured is, you know, a disservice to us because we’re all. We’re connected human beings, right? Our brains are connected to our gut and our, you know, our muscles. Like you said, that puts off energy.

It makes us stronger. It’s connected to our bones. Like, it should all be connected.

But when I got sick this past year, I did the same thing. So already being healthy and implementing even more supplements and research and. But I’m better for it, so.

Exactly. It wasn’t. It’s worth it, you know, it is.

Sometimes it takes this kind of thing to really wake us up to what’s important. And, you know, it was what I needed to add more to my daily regimen to ensure my longevity. I want to be a healthy person who.

I want to live a healthy lifestyle till I’m 130. Right? And. Okay, cool, let’s do it.

And in some ways, eliminating, too. Like, I eliminated coffee, which I never thought I’d be able to live without. I never thought I’d be able to live without like, that was my one thing I did was coffee.

And I think I haven’t had coffee in like 153 days or something. Like, amazing. Yeah.

And I feel great. And I, you know what’s funny is like, I don’t wake up in the morning like a crackhead like I used to, you know, like I used to be like, don’t talk to me till I’ve had coffee. And now I don’t even care.

That’s awesome. It is crazy how things happen. Yeah, exactly.

So, like, one of the things that I did also implement, I don’t know. Have you ever heard of 75 hard? You know how I know this? My son’s new girlfriend, her name’s Whitney as well, and she’s the one that told me about 75 hard. So if I understand right, it’s no alcohol.

And then like reading a book, five minutes, you can explain it. Is that. Am I on the right track? Yes, you are.

Yes. It started Andy Frisella, he has a podcast and avid follower of his podcast too. And he has different companies too.

And so he created the 75 hard mindset program. It’s a mindset program. So the requirements, there’s different phases of it, but the first one, 75 days, and you need to have two 45 minute workouts.

One of them has to be outside. You need to drink a gallon of water. No alcohol, no cheat meals.

Um, you need to read 10 pages a day. You have to take a progress picture. And I believe there’s one more thing that I’m forgetting.

Right. You’d be on a diet, some sort of diet. So it’s unique to every person.

For those that are needing to lose weight, please consult with your attorney or attorneys. Wow. Please consult your.

Consult with your doctor first. But it’s a mindset challenge. It teaches you how to manage your time effectively to add more to your plate for self improvement.

Right. And so I started this because I wanted to see the real main focus was I wanted to see myself change because I have to take a progress picture every single day. I wanted to see me change.

Yeah. And all the other things. You know, I would go for a walk first thing in the morning, and so I’d be outside.

That’s my time meditation, my time of prayer with the sun coming up. Oh, it’s beautiful. Love it.

And then I would do weights. Cause we have a gym in our home. And so they’re my outside one and my inside one.

I’d make sure my water. Water was the hardest thing for me. Oh, my Gosh, a gallon of water is when you’re not time management properly.

Right. I was up till 12 o’ clock drinking water and then, right. Peeing and then peeing the nut.

So that really helped me because it got my attention off of the stuff. Right. Organized me.

It’s like, okay, first thing in the morning I’m going to go for a walk, I’m going to get home, get the kids going to school. Like, you just, you do it, you just do the things and it becomes this, this huge sense of achievement, checking these boxes every day. I got the app and so it kept me organized.

I’ve done 75 hard three times. This was my third time. Yeah.

And I loved it because during times of need where you’re, you know, you’re going to struggle with the mindset, you’re facing a hard challenge, it’s best to add something that’ll keep you accountable. That goes back to our accountability. You know, like it’s, you want to have somebody or if you’re able to hold yourself accountable, then great.

I, sometimes for some like me, the app works just fine. But you’re also going to need another level. So you’re going to need people around you who are going to support you.

And your family members are awesome. Your accountability group is awesome. You just need the people to help you along each step.

Right. How do you, how do you implement that while you’re starting a new business? Because you’re, you were starting a new business. And the funny thing is, so prior to this bout of me being sick this year, back when I was telling you and I had Lyme disease, I had a full time job, I was raising two kids on my own and I was in law school at night and I had done all the things.

I had quit drinking. I’d actually quit drinking for eight years that time. And then, you know, working on my health and I, I don’t know what was in me, but I could get up at 5 in the morning and run and then go, you know, at the time I was a dog groomer.

Groomed dogs for 12 hours and then come home and do all the things. And now with this, like, I don’t know if I just got lazy in my 40s or what because that was my 30s. Like, I don’t know what happened here, but I cannot get up at 5.

Like, is that how your day starts or not always. No. Now I just, I made it work.

I mean, it work so I would get up. Okay, so this is before this. Okay.

This is earlier on in the Year or whatever. I would be getting up 6:15, 6:15. So then I’d be out the door and do my 45 minutes by 7:15 because I had children to get up to to get to school and one of them had to leave at 7:15 to be at school and I would come back and then take the other one back to.

So I would just time it right. And I controlled when I go to bed and so I could be staying up until 11, why? Or I could try to go to bed at 10, 10:30. That extra half hour little bit, that adjustment enabled me to get up and because I looked forward to that morning walk, it was good, right? It was easier.

Like sometimes it’s going to be very difficult to readjust your day because there’s some, there are times where we feel as though there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. But then it goes back to really leaning on your community, your support network to help you because you can burn yourself out if you’re trying to do all those things right. But self care is really important so you need a buffer somehow.

So when my husband would be working out of state because he does that quite regularly, there were times that I was counting on my, I had to call on my in laws to help take the girls or pick them up from school or something just to alleviate, to give me an hour. Right. So that worked for me and thankfully I had, I have them close by and it was my father in law that really was adamant about the Ivermectin and I respect them so much, they are so smart and I know they have my best interests in mind.

So they opened my mind to taking this on a regular basis and yeah, it worked out really, really great. So you know, and that’s a big step because it’s controversial. Right.

But then you also, you never really know what your network is going to provide for you. They may have information or insight that you don’t have and unless you’re keeping in contact with them, growing that relationship, you could be missing out on their knowledge. That can change your life, right? Yeah, absolutely.

And did you, while you’re trying to implement these, this new, these new self care techniques, did you have to put boundaries down at work, for example? I find as a new business owner I could work all day and all night. Right. There’s always something to do, especially when you’re wearing multiple hats.

And it’s, it’s that diet that digs into your time for doing all the other stuff that you’re supposed to be doing right. So I have to tell myself, I like if you email me is talks about how I. This firm honors the healthy work life. Balance is such crap.

Like, like my, my hours are supposed to be Monday through Thursday, 9:30 to 5:30. They are not. I mean if you’re a client of mine, they are.

But yeah, they’re not. They don’t see what’s on the back end. Right.

We, and I’m an owner of the business and so we have our people. I’ve got our GC and I’ve got our, our workers. And so I’m doing my tasks within the operation of the business and my partner has hers.

I just need to make sure that I’m getting those things done and those things are a priority. I could do them all the time because I love it. So.

And as a starting a business, I know that even though I’m supposed to only be doing 20 hours a week, it’s really like 40. But this is a new business. Oh, that new business.

It’s an existing business, but it’s our new acquisition. So I know there’s always startup costs and expectations. You can write all you want on like expectations.

Oh yeah, 20 hours a week. No, no, no, no. I want this to be successful.

So I’m going to do whatever I need to get it done. But it’s finding that, that it is. You have to find a balance.

Otherwise we’re always going to be sick, we’re always going to be tired, we’re not going to be fully invested for our clients, for our experience, for being the best version of ourselves every day. Right. So if you add too much, it’s just not going to work.

You have to learn to say no. And that’s something that I definitely had to do as well because I want to be able to say yes to everything. I think we all inherently really want to do that.

We want to help people out. But you have to know your limits. You have limits.

Yeah. There’s only so much you can do. Right.

And so say yes wisely, say no wisely. Right. And I’m sure that you’ve inspired those around you, especially those that you work with, because they’ve watched you just conquer and prevail and come in every day and be positive in your position at Kohler House.

So I think we could have talked for seven more hours. Honestly, I would love to have you back on in another episode because I think we just touched the surface of all of this. But I would love to give you the opportunity to tell people a Little bit about Kohler House and any other projects you want to talk about and then also how people can get ahold of you if they need you.

Okay, awesome. Thank you very much. I love this.

I think we just covered the surface. This is going to be so much fun to reconnect later on. As I mentioned, my business partner and I, Camilla Jeffs and myself, we recently acquired Kohler House Remodeling Co in December.

It is a general contracting and residential remodeling business. Woman owned and operated. Love it.

We are so excited to pour into the greater Tampa area. We focus on luxury condos. Luxury homes.

And then we also love giving support to our real estate investor community for fix and flips. So we are here and yeah, you can check out our website I think through the Facebook page. And I love the pictures that you have up there.

Like it’s. It’s super exciting. You are just an, an inspiring individual.

Thank you very much. Super unique and like infectious. Oh, I really appreciate it.

We love what we do. And we were just recently featured in Tampa magazine and South Tampa magazine for the May edition, Women to Watch. And so it’s in magazines, it’s.

They just released it. We had a launch party last week and it was just really cool to be surrounded by so many women entrepreneurs and women business owners. And it’s just we were the only construction based business.

So it’s really cool to be able to share our story and come in and we want to provide a client experience unlike any others and we want it’s that authenticity and we know that a lot of times it’s the women who are making the decisions with respect to remodeling their homes and we want to ensure that they’re getting the best experience. And so we come in and we not only educate but we provide a good experience. We have amazing team that loves what they do.

They love transforming homes. And so this is just us doing what we love. And so we were just really honored to find this business.

The GC was the owner. She has been in the tampa market for 15 years. Amazing reputation, amazing woman.

She’s just retiring. So we stepped in and we’re just growing. What she grew.

She, she built a strong foundation and we’re just adding to it. And what an amazing advantage I never even thought about. But yeah, we’re gonna like the inside of the house that me and Christian have one day is mine.

Yep. So what. Who better to talk to than a woman owned business remodeling? You know, somebody that’s gonna.

I would rather talk to you honestly than try to explain my vision to a male. Yeah. And it’s intimidating, right? Unless you know someone, which there’s a lot of people that know people.

That’s great. Use your network. Right.

But when it comes down to it, it could be that woman having, you know, a contractor come in, and it’s overwhelming. There’s a lot of decisions. You have no idea what they’re talking about half the time.

And you’re like, what? So we guide people through it. We educate them. If they don’t choose us, then we give them the tools to be able to make informed choices for their contractor and for what they want to do with their home.

So it’s just a lot of fun. I love it. And congratulations on your magazine feature.

Thank you. I definitely want you back. So we’ll have to.

For something that we’ll. We’ll do, like a specific topic to. Just because I think that we can rabbit hole.

Oh. Oh, we’d have so much fun. Right.

Just grab a tea and we’ll be on our way. Right. So people can contact us at 813-545-7869.

They can check out our website at kohlerhouse.net it’s k o H L E R H A U s dot net and we’re on social. We’re on Instagram and Facebook.

Love it. Thanks so much, Amber. Thank you very much, Whitney.

It was a pleasure. It.