New Market, New Chapter: Real Estate, Reinvention, and Playing the Long Game with Brooke Pottle
There are guests you have on once, and then there are guests you keep calling back because every time you talk to them, something has shifted. Brooke Barker Pottle is firmly in the second category. The last time she was on the podcast, her job at Heather's Choice had ended, and she was throwing herself into freelance marketing work, trying to figure out what comes next. That was about a year ago. A lot has happened since. Including passing her real estate state exam the week before losing her elderly dog, who had been sick for months. The timing of it all was the kind you can't plan for: grief and a new beginning, stacked right on top of each other. She's still crying about it every other day. But she also credits that season with giving her the freedom to go all in on something new.
From Freelance to For Sale
When the outdoor industry tightened its budget belt because, tariffs, leaner margins, no room for contractors, etc,, Brooke found herself with a built-out business infrastructure and nowhere to plug it in. And when her wife, Quinn, picked up a project truck with front-end damage, Brooke started filming it for YouTube, and kept her eyes open for whatever came next.
What came next was real estate. It had always been in the back of her mind — her brother's a general contractor, her family loves a house project, and a long-held dream of a family renovation business had always needed someone with a license. A Fourth of July sale on an online real estate school was the nudge she needed.
Building a Business from Scratch
Brooke chose her brokerage carefully. She interviewed around five, landed on one that felt female-forward and gave her full autonomy. No hundred-calls-a-day structure. Just here's the runway, go. She narrowed her strategy down to three pillars: social media, open houses, and door-knocking in her neighborhood.
Her first client came from her second or third open house. A woman walked in near the end, took a business card, gave her number. Brooke followed up with one low-pressure text an hour later. A month later, a casual email. A weekend of looking at houses. By the end of the second weekend, the woman signed a buyer-broker agreement and was ready to write an offer.
For anyone thinking about buying, Brooke's advice is simple: you don't have to go with the first agent you meet, and you don't have to use whoever your parents used. Interview a few, look them up, and before anything else, talk to a loan officer. You might be further along than you think. And going to an open house doesn't lock you into anything. You can walk in, look around, and walk out with zero obligation.
Going Semi-Viral in a Bathrobe
Alongside the real estate work, Brooke built a brand new Instagram from scratch — separate from her personal account, entirely real estate focused. Her logic: she didn't want to force her existing followers into her business content. She wanted a space where she could post freely without second-guessing.
She went all in on consistency, and started noticing that the content getting traction wasn't listings or closings — it was the relatable, funny, day-in-the-life stuff. The one that took off: Quinn coming home in her high-viz work gear to find Brooke on the couch in a robe, phone in hand, insisting she's working.
Over half a million views.
"I'm playing the long game here. I haven't even had my license for a year yet. And if I want people to find me on social media, I know I have to build that momentum."
Brooke is only about a year into her license and already closing deals, building an audience, and demo-ing a 1958 house that hasn't been touched since it was built. If you want to follow along for the real estate education, the renovation chaos, or just Quinn's reaction to all of it — links are below.
Find Brooke:
📱 Instagram (real estate): @brookepottle.azrealestate
🌐 Website: brookebarkerpottle.com/
🏚️ Renovation & more content: @bkpottle
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