SNDE - Plate 75 with FnancialBuzz.com Ice Cream Tasting Winner Amy Dwyer

SNDE - Plate 75 with Amy Dwyer

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

SNDE

[00:00:00] Trista, Host: This is Trista polo and I'm here with this week's plate story. Today we are talking with Amy Dwyer from Boston. Amy gives the scoop on real estate by injecting her personality into the competitive real estate industry and thinking outside the box for her clients, by using her creativity and knowledge, Amy's unique ability to serve her clients with gregarious. Know-how puts them at ease, just like a scoop of your favorite flavor on a hot summer day. 

Recently Amy was hired by finance buzz.com. To be an ice cream flavor evaluation specialist and was chosen out of 8,000 applicants. Since 2008, Amy and her family and friends have been visiting various ice cream spots. And evaluating them on a one to five cone rating scale. And experience dubbed "ice cream Wednesday. 

Amy values, experiences over things and has set a goal to have ice cream in all 50 states. 40 down 10 to go. Amy's dream would be to have her own TV show driving across country in her 1971 VW bug. Sampling the best ice cream and highlighting the local real estate market and culture. We'll hear how ice cream became an important theme in her life. 

Her proven manifesting techniques and even experience her taste testing the flavor of the week we recorded. But first some plate story news. If you know me, then, you know, I've gotten really into new media platform, Instagram reels. I'm even dipping my toe into Tik TOK. It's the perfect arena for me to combine my improv experience, marketing knowledge and video editing. Plus it goes great with my short attention span. 

Recently a woman on TikTok went viral, opening her Maine vanity plate that gave a nod to Schitt's creeks. Famous saying Eww David. It may be no coincidence that the sound clip mashup of this famous quote is getting a lot of play in videos on both TikTok and Instagram platforms. The TikTok video is just her opening her plates and laughing about her choice. 

We choose vanity plates for lots of reasons. And making us smile is a big one. I interviewed the owner of the Eww David played in Wisconsin last year. And for her, it was more about knowing and owning who she really is. This is also a very popular motivation behind vanity plate choice. You can check out the Eww David episode to hear her story on my podcast. And if anyone can connect me to the Maine Eww David plate owner, I would love to share her story on a future episode. But for now. Let's go talk plates, ice cream, and manifesting the life of your dreams with Amy. 

Welcome to this week's episode. I'm super excited to have Amy Dwyer from Massachusetts. Her license plate is S N D E for Sunday. Sounds delicious. And I'm excited. Welcome. Thank you 

[00:03:03] Amy Dwyer: so much Trista. 

[00:03:05] Trista, Host: I'm excited to have you. So we always like to start with the vanity plates story. So tell me the story behind why you chose Sunday for your license plate.

[00:03:14] Amy Dwyer: So two years ago I bought my dream car. I had always wanted a 1971 Volkswagen bug convertible. We have the same born on date, a few. And I found this car and fell madly in love with it. I also happened to completely love, and I'm very passionate about ice cream and I take the car a lot out for a Sunday drive if you will play on words.

So it Massachusetts, when you love it, when you have an antique plate, you're only allowed four characters. So I obsessed about what was the perfect vanity plate for this car. And it came down to, you know, what. Sunday car for Sunday drives and going out for ice cream sundaes. So I just had to abbreviate it down to S N D E and people always ask me, like, I'm sure anybody else with a vanity plate?

What does it mean? What does it stand for? But that's, that's how I got there and I'm thrilled with my choice. 

[00:04:11] Trista, Host: I love it. And so do you find that people can guess what it means that it stands for Sunday? Or do you usually have to tell them. 

[00:04:18] Amy Dwyer: I usually have to tell them, cause some people say, oh, is your name Sandy?

No,

the whole story. And it makes sense again, I was kind of limited by the characters and then even some other stuff, like I thought about getting IC RM, but it was already too. 

[00:04:35] Trista, Host: I actually found you through an article that I saw online.

And there was a contest that you won having to do with ice cream. What, what was that? Sure. 

[00:04:46] Amy Dwyer: So probably like late spring, early summer, somebody, one of my Facebook friends had tagged me in a post and there was a contest.

The company or the website it's called finance buzz. And they were looking for somebody to be an ice cream flavor evaluation specialist, which is a fancy name for, I get paid to eat ice cream. 

[00:05:10] Trista, Host: I mean best job ever. 

[00:05:13] Amy Dwyer: And I immediately applied online and you know, why are you the right person? And one of my things about being passionate about ice cream is, well, Hey, I've got a Sunday car and it's really, really cool to look at too.

So I applied and there was 8,000 applicant. And miraculously I won. And what they said was that the thing that came through the most was actually like the deal breaker for them was the license plate and the car together. And that was that was the winter. 

[00:05:43] Trista, Host: That's so great because you also incorporate the whole ice cream theme into your business.

You're a real estate agent, right. So, I mean, you're definitely all about ice cream and I would see why they would want to choose you for that job. Yes. Yup. 

[00:06:01] Amy Dwyer: Part of the job is that they, they paid me a thousand dollars and I have to try 50 different Ben and Jerry's flavors over the course of a year.

[00:06:11] Trista, Host: Are there 50 flavors because I didn't even know they had. There's certainly not 50 flavors in my local grocery store. And 

[00:06:21] Amy Dwyer: that's exactly the point. So when they originally, they were originally going to send me a gift card to a local grocery store, and I had to like call the frozen food manager and say, how many different flavors do you have?

And I had called a bunch of different stores and like the most was Wagman's I think. And they had like 20 or 30 flavors. So they ended up sending me a gift card. One of those really cute custom visas, and they actually put a picture of the bug with the license plate on the visa. I can go anywhere. I want So I, it's funny, so different ice cream distributors, I guess, distribute different ice cream flavors. So anytime I see limited edition or special batch, I scoop it up pun intended and put it in the freezer. So like right now this morning I had six different flavors of Ben and Jerry's in the. 

[00:07:10] Trista, Host: Wow.

And so where are you finding all of these? So obviously Wegman's a great place to get a lot of different ones, but where are you going to find the other half of the flavors that you need to scoop up? 

[00:07:23] Amy Dwyer: So I'm looking, I'm actually Googling like Ben and Jerry's near me and I'm seeing what flavors that pops up.

So target, for example my boyfriend went to target last night to get like paper towels and stuff like that, and came home with a new flavor, which today's Wednesday. So I'm supposed to be sampling my ice cream on Wednesdays, and I'm actually going to be sampling this new flavor that I had not had or heard of 

[00:07:42] Trista, Host: before.

This is exciting. So we are going to do some live Gerry sampling right in this episode, which is super exciting. So if you're listening to the episode, go check out the video. Because not only is there a very cool license plate backdrop. But you're going to get to see the sampling done, like right here.

Do we want to just jump in and do it right now? Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Okay. So you're getting it out of your little cooler, a little cool. And how many flavors do you have for us today that you're going to be sampling? So just one flavor. Okay. 

[00:08:20] Amy Dwyer: So usually what I do is I pick one flavor. I sample it on a Wednesday and then on Thursday they send me like a Google form and I fill it out.

So they give me a one to 10 rating scale. The flavor that I had. And then any comments, so usually I'll write three or four sentences about about what it is. So this one, I, like I said, it's called Gimme S'More. 

[00:08:41] Trista, Host: Okay. Okay. Can you read the description?

[00:08:43] Amy Dwyer: This is toasted marshmallow ice cream with chocolate cookie swirls gram cracker, swirls and fudge flakes. 

[00:08:50] Trista, Host: That sounds amazing. 

[00:08:53] Amy Dwyer: And apparently somebody got into it last night, 

[00:08:56] Trista, Host: I guess it's been pre sampled. Yeah, exactly. 

You're not doing this for Ben and Jerry's company. You're doing this for finance buzz. So these are real reviews, honest reviews. Just your impressions of what you think I have to ask you. Have you had any so far that you didn't like what? I didn't think you would say yes.

[00:09:18] Amy Dwyer: So I there's this cream ice cream, however, there's certain flavors that. I don't like, so for example, I love peanut butter. I'll stick a spoon into a VAT of peanut butter and I'll eat it right off the spoon. I'll have a peanut butter sandwich, but peanut butter and ice cream. No, thanks. Okay. There was one that I tried the other day and probably half of your listeners will be horrified by this.

My name is Amy and I've never had a pumpkin spice latte, and I believe that pumpkins are for decorating and I don't like pumpkin. 

[00:09:53] Trista, Host: Wow. Right. You said that on a recording, like people are gonna hear you 

[00:09:59] Amy Dwyer: and I'm okay with it. Like, I'll take my stance on it. Yeah, that's perfect. So two weeks ago I had pumpkin cheesecake ice cream and Nope.

Just, no, my son was like, mom, this is great. 

[00:10:14] Trista, Host: You're like, well, you're not the tester. So why would you get a pumpkin flavored ice cream to test? If you don't like pumpkin, do you have to try all different kinds? Like, what was your thought process about 

[00:10:26] Amy Dwyer: my thought process was maybe I'll take a second bite at it.

Maybe I'll like this pumpkin flavored, whatever. I'm still a no, it's kind of like Like Buffalo tenders or whatever. I realize half the world loves Buffalo tenders. I don't like spicy foods. Yet last week we were traveling and we were in New Mexico and there was at the ice cream place that I tried, there was red chili and green chili ice cream.

Again, I don't like spicy food yet. I felt compelled to try it or a New 

[00:11:01] Trista, Host: Mexico it's of course local. 

[00:11:05] Amy Dwyer: And it was still spicy. And I still do. I didn't really like 

[00:11:08] Trista, Host: it still didn't like it, but it's good that you're still willing. You're open. You'll try anything just to see. So with that, let's try this Gimme S'More. Okay. So there's the ice cream on the video. 

[00:11:21] Amy Dwyer: so we'll take a little bite. Oh. And I always use a fork when I try. 

Because I feel like if there's chunks of something in there, I can, it's not going to slide off the spoon.

I've got a better control 

[00:11:30] Trista, Host: over it. A good tip from an ice cream expert, which is, let's hear your impressions. How is it so 

[00:11:38] Amy Dwyer: far? First bite sweet. Sweet is the answer. So although I love sweet things, sometimes there's too much sweetness flavor. 

[00:11:50] Trista, Host: Yeah. What's the balance of sweetness in this one. Okay. I think it's a lot of 

[00:11:59] Amy Dwyer: marshmallow ice cream, which is what I'm tasting.

It definitely tastes like marshmallow, which is kind of 

[00:12:04] Trista, Host: cool. Yeah. Let's say toasted. Marshmallow was the first part of the description, right? Yeah. 

[00:12:09] Amy Dwyer: Toasted marshmallow chocolate, cookie swirls, Graham cracker, swirls, and fudge. Yeah, not really finding the chocolate cookie swirls or the Graham crackers 

[00:12:20] Trista, Host: right now.

Okay. There's a lot of marshmallow. Yeah. Hmm. When you're test thing, how much do you typically eat? Cause you're taking it right out of the container. Like, do you get a whole full serving or is it like a wine tester or you're only supposed to take a little bit 

[00:12:36] Amy Dwyer: I, I think my answer is I eat until I feel like I'm really understanding it because with every bite you're going to get something different.

So like this one I could probably eat more than I should. And it's, it's pretty good. I, 

[00:12:54] Trista, Host: I would probably 

[00:12:55] Amy Dwyer: want to sample it later and I actually wish I had Graham crackers with me to dip into it. 

[00:13:01] Trista, Host: Oh, Okay, that's great. That's a really good review. Now is this one of the limited additions? It's called a fan favorite.

Okay. It is the first, that's a mouthful. It is the first fan 

[00:13:16] Amy Dwyer: favorite. But I've had a lot of that limited edition or whatever 

[00:13:21] Trista, Host: else. 

Awesome. That's so fun. It's so fun and random and cool. And it goes perfectly with your car and your plate and your brand. So any last words about the ice cream before we pivot. 

[00:13:34] Amy Dwyer: I will definitely be trying it again after dinner, just to make sure I really 

[00:13:37] Trista, Host: understood. I understand that. Right. You got to, and maybe even after dinner, it'll land differently because it's a dessert after a savory meal, versus just kind of like at a random time in the middle of the afternoon.

Not that 

[00:13:50] Amy Dwyer: I can't eat ice cream at random times of all, 

[00:13:54] Trista, Host: I have to know how did your whole ice. Thing start. Do you remember like how this all started? I 

[00:14:02] Amy Dwyer: do. And this is where it, it hits her. In 2008, I went back to school to get my masters. I had two little kids. I was working three part-time jobs, going to school full time and running around like a chicken with my head cut off.

And I remember my daughter saying to me, can we go get ice cream? And I was like, I don't have time. I don't know. I'm too busy. I'm too busy. As we all are. And she was, can we go get ice cream? Can we go get ice cream? And finally reluctantly kind of annoyed almost. It was like, fine, we'll go get ice cream.

And I remember going around, like it was maybe two blocks away. There was a local ice cream place and we went and we just kind of sat down. I put my phone down and I was present with my children and it was just this, the ice cream. Wasn't great. But it was the, the time that I had created with. And as we were leaving, my daughter just kind of harmlessly said, you know, I wish we could get ice cream every Wednesday.

And it was like this light bulb moment. And I said, you know what? We can. So from then on every Wednesday, over the summer, I would take my kids to different local ice cream places. We had a one to five cone rating system and we would scoop out the time to be present with each other. And it really became something that was affordable.

In your planning, the event, let's research, the ice cream places let's go and we're excited. And back then you would scrapbook it. And it was, it was great. And then friends started to come and then family would start to come. And then it grew to, let's go to different places in new England. And then I said, Hey, you know what?

I think I want to have ice cream in all 50 states. So last Wednesday I checked state number 41 off the off the list in 

[00:15:52] Trista, Host: New Mexico. Oh my God. That's so cool. That's why you had the spicy 

[00:15:56] Amy Dwyer: chili ice cream. Exactly. It was. 

[00:16:01] Trista, Host: Yes, that's amazing. Oh my gosh. I love that story because you're right. It doesn't even matter how the ice cream was.

It was about the time with your kids and taking a break from the hustle and the bustle. A huge amount of things you had on your plate. And, and like you said, like carving out scooping out that time. Yeah. And so you're still doing it to this day. How long ago was that? That that first ice cream, 

[00:16:29] Amy Dwyer: Wednesday, 2008, nine, 10.

I'd have to go. Okay. I don't really remember. And now it's kind of a, a, more of an annual trip as opposed to let's go get ice cream. But whenever we're getting together with our best friends, it's, Hey, let's go meet for ice cream. And sometimes we'll take the card, the team that my teenagers are like, I'm not getting in their car.

They don't necessarily think it's cool and that's fine. But it has become more of a. A destination for our summer vacations. So each one of our summer vacations for the past few years have been centered around different states that I have not had ice cream in. And then we do a little bit of ice cream, a little bit of nature, some baseball parks, and it turns into this great summer road trip.

[00:17:20] Trista, Host: That's awesome. I love that. You know what else? I really love, but it wasn't on Sundays when you started. No, it wasn't right. It wasn't, it was on Wednesday. So it was ice cream Wednesdays. And I don't know. I just, I love that. Well that's really very cool. So thank you for sharing that story. Now I mentioned this really briefly at the beginning, but you're a real estate agent.

And a pretty good one from what I can tell by Googling you online. Tell me about your real estate experience, your expertise and why you chose that as your career. 

[00:17:54] Amy Dwyer: Sure. So when I was actually getting my masters, I was bartending was one of my part-time jobs and a woman came in and we kind of got to be friendly.

And she said, have you ever thought about being a real estate agent? No. And she said, teachers make really great realtors. I was teaching part-time at the time and I gave my two weeks notice and I said, this sounds like a good idea. And eight and a half years later, here we are. It's funny. So in real estate or in any sales business, it's about taught Mindshare and recognition in that regard.

So knowing that a lot of people associate me with ice cream. You know, people post them, tag me in Facebook posts people I've never met before, like saw this about ice cream and thought of you, which is a really cool feeling. And I made it part of my branding giving you the scoop on real estate.

So I have a really cool ice cream logo that someone did for me. And it's got, you know, houses and it's colorful and an ice cream pin drop on the top. And I. And the color and the background is actually the same color as my bug. So it all kind of ties in together. I 

[00:19:03] Trista, Host: love that you got to have the branding across the board so that it's consistent.

Brilliant. May 

[00:19:10] Amy Dwyer: I share you with you? A funny story, actually chorus. So when we were traveling last week in New Mexico, we were at, I don't even know where we were like middle of nowhere, some completely back road. And I've been trying to think, how do I, what else can I do with this ice cream thing? Because I'm so passionate about it.

And it just, it makes me happy. Like it makes me smile. When I think about. So my big believer in signs or synchronicities, I think some people call them. So we were literally in the middle of nowhere and we stumbled upon something out of, you know, that TV show, American pickers. Yeah. So there was like all these old gas stations and there's, it was gas pumps rather.

And there was so much junk on several acres of land. So we're walking through. Here we are in the middle of nowhere. And what do I see 

[00:20:07] Trista, Host: my bug? Oh my goodness. 

[00:20:10] Amy Dwyer: In the middle of New Mexico. And I'm looking around like of all of the junk that is at this guy's property or whatever you want to call it here is literally the same color of my bug, everything.

And it was one of those things where I kind of looked at it like, huh? Maybe this is the world, Trent, you know, the universe trying to tell you something I dunno if it's pick up and move to New Mexico, but it's it's right here in front of me. And there was just so much ice cream memorabilia that he had and any place we went.

Are you familiar, have you ever heard of a reticular activating system?

[00:20:48] Trista, Host: No. 

[00:20:50] Amy Dwyer: So my understanding is it's it's something in the back of your brain and it's like, if you went and bought a purple car, suddenly you're driving down the street and everybody has a purple car. 

[00:21:02] Trista, Host: Oh, I didn't realize that's what that was called.

Okay, great. Yes, I'm with ya. 

[00:21:07] Amy Dwyer: So any place I went, even in New Mexico. People were talking about ice cream, we would walk into a place and somebody be like, oh yeah, you know, I had great ice cream over there, or, you know, I I'm on a diet and I can't eat ice cream and I'm looking around, like somebody tried to tell me something.

So it was really it was 

[00:21:27] Trista, Host: really cool. So what do you, what do you take from that? Because I know when we spoke before in preparation for this episode, you told me that you really are all about manifesting. And that you really do follow the signs once you've declared something to be, what do you take from that?

What's your interpretation? So 

[00:21:51] Amy Dwyer: I have had this concept of ice-cream Wednesday in my brain for in practice even for over 10 years. And I've put my foot on the gas and I've taken it off and I put my foot on the gas and I've taken it off. And I have a whole business concept, I guess, behind ice cream, Wednesday.

And I think it's time that I, I, I do something with it. Probably five years ago I had had a small idea about it and I thought I'd be cool. And I would submit my idea to Charlotte. And, you know, I didn't have any sales or anything like that, but nonetheless, they called me and they said they get like over 35,000 applicants every year.

So the fact that I even got a call from shark tank, right. I was like, woo. Yeah. Cool. But there's just something bigger. I think I have a bigger purpose and not that I don't enjoy and love selling real estate and helping people to start that next chapter. There's just something bigger and more purposeful that I feel like I need to do.

And I, I think it's related to ice cream and the experiences that are surrounding it. I'm a big believer in experiences over things. You know, if you asked my kids what they got for Christmas in 2017, What are they going to tell me a pair of flannel pajama bottoms? I have no idea, but if you ask them about the ice cream that we got in Detroit or the ice cream that we got in Phoenix, they're going to be able to tell you about where it was, the experience surrounding it, and that's way more important and way more valuable to me.

[00:23:31] Trista, Host: Wow. I love that. So do you actually have. Business idea in place in your mind, or are you still kind of, so 

[00:23:40] Amy Dwyer: I it's like going shopping for the perfect recipe. I know where I want to get this ingredient and I have this ingredient and I know this is going to be a great idea. I'm a really I'm really great at ideas and big picture thinking, and I need to find some help to bringing that to a concept. 

[00:24:00] Trista, Host: I wish you all the success in the world and you're a manifestor so if you say it to be true, you're really good at creating your life. . Tell me a little about your process. Because there's so many people who believe in the law of attraction, the secret and whatever you want to call it.

But then when it comes to implementing it, it's a completely different matter because we get in our own way with our belief or our resistance to actually receiving or whatever it is. So tell us a little bit about your process. How do you use manifestation in your life and. What tips or tools have really helped you increase your effectiveness?

[00:24:41] Amy Dwyer: So I think that in my experience, even with myself and with others the biggest thing that gets in the way, in my opinion is fear. Fear that other people are going to judge you, you know, for wanting something big or thinking bigger and. You start to self doubt, that fear and that self-doubt my D my father calls it, fear, doubt, and insecurity.

And that's the stuff that puts that negative energy out there. And, oh my goodness. If that's not true, I don't know. Is this really something I can do? Is it really something I can believe? What would other people think of me or other people are going to think this is a stupid idea? Well guess what, here I am loving on ice cream and I'm talking to you and you found me on the internet and I was on the front page of the local newspaper, and I got a call from a local radio station to do an interview.

Okay. Let me tell you, there's not a lot of people who would get, you know, like if, if I asked my mom, she'd be like, that's ridiculous. You can't, you can't make a career out of ice cream. Right? Hold my cone.

I think that if you I'm a big I I'd love vision boards. I am not at my office right now, but I love vision boards. And when I go back and look at my vision boards, I kind of, whoa, I didn't realize that was there. And I even put it on there. And here we are five, six years later and it was like, I had a car that I had put on it.

One of them was the bug and then one of them was my everyday car and I put it on a vision board probably four years ago. And I ended up buying that car last year and I had forgotten all about it. And when I went back and looked at, look at it, it was like, well, wait a minute. He, this is what I'm driving around in now.

Well, who knew? And it's just that positive. It's a visualization for me. And if I can visualize it, picture it, feel it, and then it creates that energy that goes with it. I think that's really what is the secret sauce to doing it. 

[00:26:45] Trista, Host: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. And I always think about the process, ask for what you want, believe you deserve it, and then take the inspired action steps toward it.

And the belief piece is the. Because your belief in whether you deserve it. And I love that you point to fear because I'm thinking imposter syndrome, it's fear. It's just all about fear, self doubt. It's fear that you deserve it or not. Like it's all fear-based. So I love that you just honed in on just it's the fear.

The fear is really what stops us. That's really great. Now you mentioned your car. Do you have any other examples of things that you've manifested successfully? So 

[00:27:29] Amy Dwyer: growing up in new England and Massachusetts everybody talks about Cape Cod and, you know, Cape Cod is like the summer destination. Everyone goes to down, down the Cape is what we call it, you know?

And I had always, always, always in my life, wanted a house on Cape Cod real estate's expensive on Cape Cod. Last summer, the summer of 2020. We were, my boyfriend's family is from the Cape and I very reluctantly agreed to go on a walk. It was July 4th, it was hotter than hot. I didn't have sneakers. I didn't want to leave the house.

Like my friend said, come on, let's go for a walk. So we take the jog and we're walking through this neighborhood. And I remember the feeling of standing in front of this house. And the house was a hot mess, overgrown grass. You could see into the house because it was rotted, trim boards and stuff like that.

And I just looked at it and I'm like, this is my house. And he's looking at me. So I handled it. I hand wrote the owner a letter and she lived in New York. She's in her eighties. And I just said, walking the dog one day and I want to buy your house. If you want to sell it, give me a call, not like crickets.

And I just kept thinking about the house. What would I do with the house? What color would I paint the house? I know what color I paint the house. Oh my God, I do this. And then I can use it as a summer rental, which helps me along financially. And then at the end of, he was probably about two months later, I got an email from this woman and she said, my aunt is in her eighties.

Doesn't email, but she'd like to sell her house will be on the Cape. They lived out of state, like I said we'll be on the Cape in a couple of months, meet us down there. I'm like, I'm buying this house. I don't know how I'm going to do it. I'm buying this house. And the day that I went to the house, I sat and talked with the owner for four hours in this house was.

Hot ness, hot mess, like beautiful red linoleum floors from the seventies. Pink bathroom, like pink tile. 

[00:29:33] Trista, Host: Oh my 

[00:29:34] Amy Dwyer: goodness. Fantastic. And I sat and talked with her for four hours and I said, I need to have this house. And the woman looked at me. Okay. She basically handed me the keys to the house right then and there, we hadn't signed any paperwork or contracts or anything like that.

And two months later I closed, I closed in January, the house underwent unbelievable. A major renovations. $200,000 in renovations. And I created my dream home on Cape Cod. 

[00:30:05] Trista, Host: That's amazing. I don't know if anybody else is thinking this question, but I have to ask, having been a former real estate appraiser, how good a deal did you get on the red linoleum and pink bathroom house?

Yeah. Good deal. Yep. Yep. Good. Which made it worth putting in the 200,000 in renovations. So you could have it be exactly 

[00:30:26] Amy Dwyer: what you want. Even recently appraised and I have significant equity in the house and it is the best financial decision I've ever made. I just looked at the house. I was like, this is my 

[00:30:41] Trista, Host: house.

That's amazing. Congratulations. I love it. So manifesting, we all want to do it. Those of us that believe it's possible. I think we all get lesser results than we would like fear being the biggest factor. What tips do you have that you could share from your experience?

How do we get rid of the fear? Ignore the fear. Push through the fear. Like the fear is real because it's, it's a survival instinct. So what suggestions do you have having gotten through a lot of that on your own?

[00:31:15] Amy Dwyer: I think for me, a lot of it was rationalizing my fear and you know, what, like, is this. You know, is this really what's going to happen? No. Like what is the worst case scenario? And the worst case scenario is I'm never, I'm not going to die. I'm not going to be homeless. I'm not going to be bankrupt. I mean, those are those basic things.

Like I'm still going to have food on the table. I'm still gonna have ice cream in the freezer. Those are the real. Fears for me, it's the, the, the basic things. And if I can kind of walk through them and sometimes I'm, and again, a visual and I'm very literal. I'll take a piece of paper and you know, is this true or true or false?

And if you can write them down and where do you put them, and when you realize the things that you're putting down that are your fears, You can put them on the false category. And it's a story that you're telling yourself. And that's one of the expressions that I kind of measure my thoughts with. Is this a story you're telling yourself nine times out of 10?

Yes. Is. And then drilling it down to what is really the issue what's really under, underlying your fears or your doubts, your insecurities then can you just say, you know what, I'm just going to put it up on a shelf and I'm going to ignore it. I don't need to, I don't need to attend this right now. You know, just because my brain is inviting me to this fear party, I don't need to attend.

[00:32:39] Trista, Host: Yes. I think I'll stay home instead and have ice cream by myself. 

[00:32:44] Amy Dwyer: Exactly. 

[00:32:45] Trista, Host: Awesome. So I know you have dogs. I do. I am a dog person. I'm an animal person, but dogs are at the top of my list. And so I just, you have to tell me about your. Oh, my pleasure. 

[00:32:59] Amy Dwyer: So I have a seven year old German shepherd.

Her name is Kai, and my boyfriend has a, almost 12 year old English cream, golden retriever named Gus. And it was funny when on our second date, he invited me over, he was going to cook dinner for me, and I had made homemade ice cream for the dogs and we came over. Everything's great. And I'm like, okay, it's time for dessert.

I've got ice cream for the dogs. And of course my dog goes right for it. And his dog was like, wants nothing to do with. Beelines past the ice cream and really, it's just more interested in my dog and my boyfriend goes and reaches down and he looks at his dog. He's like, I'm trying to impress a lady here.

Do you think you could eat the ice cream? You know, like I just want 

[00:33:47] Trista, Host: to do me a favor, be my wing man. Like, you're you. 

[00:33:51] Amy Dwyer: But actually one of the Ben and Jerry's flavors, that's in the freezer right now is they make dog ice cream too. So I will have the dogs be ice cream flavor, evaluation specialist assistants at some point in time.

[00:34:04] Trista, Host: I love that. Will that be part of the official finance buzz job? Like it'll be posted and stuff. That's awesome. Yeah. So now will you, will you test the dog ice cream? You I'm like, okay. I would not judge you. 

[00:34:24] Amy Dwyer: That's a fair question. No, I don't think I will. 

[00:34:27] Trista, Host: The, what flavors are they like liver or no?

[00:34:32] Amy Dwyer: Yeah. It's like peanut butter and banana, which are, again, I'm not, if they're not a fan of bananas, so, yeah. But my guess is, and it's funny, the golden retriever will probably eat the entire thing in like two bites, including the wrapper and the German shepherd will take twenty-five minutes, lick by lick and push it around the kitchen floor while she eats it, which is pretty stereotypical of their behaviors.

[00:34:59] Trista, Host: I just love how, and this is one of the things that I love about dogs is they really have very clear personalities. 

[00:35:07] Amy Dwyer: So, yeah, yesterday on Facebook, a friend of mine posted, which I thought was hilarious. If your dogs had pockets, what would be in their pockets? And it was just this preposterous thought, but I laugh. Because I'm looking at my two different distinctly different dogs and I'm like, okay, the golden would have like tennis balls, snacks grass sticks.

And the German shepherd would have like a notebook monitoring, everybody's comings and goings, and like photos of like every dog and person in the neighborhood. 

[00:35:37] Trista, Host: Yes. Oh my gosh. That's amazing. And you're so right. That's a great question. I love it. Now. I always like to ask my guests, how self-worth has played a role in your journey. So how would you answer that question? 

[00:35:52] Amy Dwyer: That is an amazing question. I can look back 10 years ago and I am not the same woman that I was not even close and it might sound silly or cliche.

But the real estate company that I joined literally changed my life personally and professionally it, I grew up with a lot of limitations in the sense of You know, play small, don't do this. Don't think bigger. That's a great dream. That's never going to happen. And I joined my real estate company and it was like, why are you thinking?

So small think bigger. And it was this amazing concept where. I was surrounded by like-minded people and I felt the sense of freedom to think bigger, and then be able to not only think bigger, but to realize that the harder I worked, it was a life by design. And I had the opportunity to create experiences.

I mean, if I was still teaching I would not be able to afford having gone to 41 states to have ice cream. And that has increased my self worth in the real estate community. People look to me to, you know, hold their hand and guide them through the most important financial decision of their life.

That's a pretty big job for some people. And when you're buying or selling a home or even investing in real estate, You're starting a new chapter or ending one, maybe you're going through a divorce. Maybe you're your parents just passed away. Maybe you're looking to build passive income for yourself and I'm that expert.

And people trust me to make that help them and guide them and educate them through that decision making process. And it makes you feel pretty 

[00:37:40] Trista, Host: good.

 I agree with you. You know, when, when I look back at myself 10 years, 20 years ago, I am not the same person. And so you're, you're, you seem to be like me where you're always looking, like, how can I grow? How can I expand? How can I transform? I'm I'm whole and perfect just as I am.

And I know there's. So, what more am I capable of? That's great. 

[00:38:08] Amy Dwyer: I, a hundred percent growing. Not because I'm eating more ice cream. Yes. Growing emotionally, not physically necessarily. 

[00:38:17] Trista, Host: Well, let me ask you this question that actually brings up. Are you doing anything to offset the additional calories and let's face it fat that ice cream comes with, especially Ben and Jerry's, that's not a low, it's not a.

[00:38:33] Amy Dwyer: In general, I don't like the gym. And as I've gotten older again, think back to the 1971 bug and the same born on date kind of thing. I've recently started going to the gym like three days a week. I don't love it. I know some people love the gym. I look at it like, yeah, I've got to go to the gym and I do it and it's fine.

So that's my little recent counterbalance, if you will. 

[00:39:00] Trista, Host: Yeah. Well, good for you for doing it mindfully. That's awesome. 

[00:39:05] Amy Dwyer: I'm going to ask you a question if that's okay.

What is your favorite ice cream experience? 

[00:39:08] Trista, Host: I would have to say I have two ice cream memories that are really clear that come to mind. And so I'll share them both. The first one is my husband and I, when we travel, we prefer to be able to bring our dogs with us.

Right now we have a dog and a cat. This memory is with my two dogs who have since passed. One was a German shepherd mix and one was a golden retriever. Come on. I swear. I'm not making it up. Wow. Audrey and Brandy. but We would always take them with us on trips.

And we were, I forget if my husband was here, he would know where we were, but it was some like beach town. And we were walking through the town and we stopped at a little place and we just, it was the four of us, you know, us and our two dogs and we got ice cream for us and we got ice cream for them.

And it was just so fun, like to have them along with us on the trip, meant everything to me. And to have us all be able to enjoy the treat together, meant everything to me. So that's just like a really special memory.

And I still get choked up. When I think about them, it was a big loss when we lost them. They were really members of the family, you know, so that's my first memory. And my second one, I wouldn't say this is like a good memory, but it's definitely a really big memory in my life. So when I was in high school, this was before cold stone Creamery existed. So this was a Coldstone Creamery type ice cream place. It was called white mountain Creamery. And they had a contest that if you could eat. Their largest amount. You'd get a free t-shirt. So we're in high school and so we had the, like the whole, we were like an 80 person class in our high school. And the whole class after school one day goes to white stone Creamery and a guy I ended up dating. I don't know if we were dating at the time, but he was one of the contestants.

And then there was another person that was a contested. And so they were both going to try and finish it, but who could do it the fastest.

And I don't remember my exact role in all of it, but I I'm remembering that I was, I had a more important role than just being a spectator. I don't know if I'm the one that worked it out with the place to let us do the contest or something. But I had some kind of important role that made it really stand out as one of my, you know, bigger memories from my my growing up my youth.

So those are the two ice cream memories that are the most constant in my mind. 

[00:41:49] Amy Dwyer: So, and that is one of the things that if you walked up to a hundred people on the street and said, what's your favorite ice cream memory, I'm guessing it would take no more than 30 seconds for most people to be like, oh, I remember this time.

[00:42:06] Trista, Host: Absolutely. 

[00:42:07] Amy Dwyer: Right. And I think that's one of the things that brings me joy about it. When we were traveling last week, we were going through this little, teeny, tiny cowboy town and on the side of the building painted in brick. And I love when people paint on brick. It's one of my things. I love it.

And it was Roy's homemade ice cream and I made him pull the car over and I had to go take a picture of it and I peered in the window and it was an old abandoned ice cream. And it looked like nobody had been in there. Five or 10 years in, when I looked into it, it was, it, it almost came to life and Technicolor.

Like I can imagine the sounds and the people chattering in there and the, you know, the screen door slamming as people walked in. And there's, there was actually like a small piece of paper in the window and it said, you know, a business for sale call so-and-so and I'm going to intend to call her more.

So, because I want to know the story behind roy's ice cream. And I think everybody has these ice cream memories and it just triggers joy unless you're lactose intolerant, but that's a different story. 

[00:43:17] Trista, Host: Lactose-intolerant people probably have good ice cream memories because there was a time they didn't know they were lactose-intolerant.

Yes. 

[00:43:25] Amy Dwyer: And now there's like sorbet and non-dairy and stuff like. 

[00:43:30] Trista, Host: have you ever had oat milk ice cream? No, not yet. You should try it. I don't think Ben and Jerry's mixed one, but it's really good. It has kind of that oaty that out essence to it. It's delicious. I 

[00:43:44] Amy Dwyer: will try that. Ben and Jerry's does make a non-dairy version.

But I'm an ice cream snob, so. We'll see how it goes, but I will add it to my my lineup. If you. 

[00:43:57] Trista, Host: Well, I will say that the oat milk base is better than the coconut or almond. I've tried all three and cause I, I try and stay away from dairy, but not ice cream because you know, come on. And that is my preferred.

Right. So you should see. Yeah. See if Ben and Jerry's has an oat milk based ice cream. And I would love to know your thoughts on that one. If you've tried 

[00:44:20] Amy Dwyer: it, make a little more room. 

[00:44:25] Trista, Host: Sounds good. Sounds good. It has been so much fun chatting with you and hearing your story and your love of ice cream and how it permeate all areas of your life, which I love. Any final words before we end.

Thank 

[00:44:42] Amy Dwyer: you. I it's me. How today I was, you know, I'm kind of like post vacations. And kind of like, nah, what am I going to do? Blah, blah, blah. And even talking about ice cream has raised my energy so much today. I just feel really empowered right now. So 

[00:45:02] Trista, Host: thank you for, yes. I feel a higher energy too. I don't know if it's you or the ice cream or both, but definitely I'm leaving this conversation better than I found it.

So thank you for that. Thank you. All right. Have a great. 

[00:45:19] Amy Dwyer: Alright, bye.

Thanks for listening. Please subscribe to Trista's plate story podcast, share it, or leave a review. If you would like to nominate a license plate to be featured in a future episode or you have an interesting plate story news item to share with me, leave us a comment or visit plate story.com. That's P L number 8. story.com and give me all the details. 

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