Tracy Royce is the Owner of Royce of Real Estate and is a Distressed Property Specialist, Investor, Rehabber and Real Estate Agent. She also is a blogger, vlogger, social media enthusiast and contributor to real estate magazines and podcasts. Learn more about Tracy…

Hometown: Belleville, Illinois, or as I more commonly refer to it, “a small town across from St. Louis”. Even though my parents were military, I grew up there; I’m a Midwest girl turned AZ local!

First job: My first job would have been mini-entrepreneurial bursts before high school. I remember mowing neighbors lawns, mucking stalls for extra “saddle time”, things like that. Apparently, I love hard work!

Favorite AZ restaurant: I’m really excited about the burgeoning foodie scene in Arizona. That being said, Bandera has always been a go-to spot for me. Their menu is thoughtful, the food is always mouth-watering and the atmosphere is cozy.

Person who has impacted your life the most: Does it sound cliché to say my mom? Even if so, I’m ok with that! She’s been incredibly supportive, dynamic and instrumental in helping me move through the biggest changes and challenges in my life and career.

Your biggest accomplishment in your eyes: Being nationally recognized in the real estate investor community. I worked behind the scenes for about a decade for other real estate investors, learning the ropes, becoming more educated and playing support roles, which I wouldn’t trade for the world. However, branching out on my own, creating a brand name around our firm and being recognized in places like BiggerPockets, Inman and Forbes have been very humbling.

The biggest obstacle you have overcome: I am a logical, pragmatic person by nature so my biggest obstacle would be that I would tend to over analyze when I should gather enough information and just move forward. As a business owner, though, I’ve started to learn how to combine the right amount of data, guts and feedback to take the next step. I’m also competitive, so I’ve learned to overcome the paralysis of analysis by giving myself the “suck it up and get in the game, Royce” talk. That’s normal, right?!

Someone who inspires you: I recently had a very good friend suffer a tragic accident and be diagnosed as a paraplegic. However, he is posting his progress, updates, struggles and wins through social media and it lights me up to see him set goals, focus on being there for his family and also share with other people. Visiting him in the hospital and seeing his courage and attitude was even inspiring. When I consider some of my stresses, it puts in perspective what we give meaning vs what’s critical, important and worthy of our ongoing attention.

Favorite quote: A quote I’ve kept coming back to lately is “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves”. It’s this simple but intensely powerful realization that to do big things, we ourselves have to change, even if it’s one tiny step at a time. You’re definitely not the same person when you return from (your personal) Mt Everest as you were when you left.

Advice to someone pursuing a career path in what you do: Be prepared to work! The TV flipping shows, seminars and infomercials do no justice to what’s really entailed to excel in the distressed property market. To that end, though, I would encourage anyone who’s looking to be a real estate investor to pick one niche and stick with it.

What makes someone fabulous: To me? Calm confidence. Whether it be rocking an amazing outfit or closing a deal, nothing looks more fabulous on someone then a sense of knowing who you are, showing up as your best self and sharing that with the world.