Your Agents Don’t Need Your Ambition—They Need Accountability with Jana Adams

Jana [00:00:00] I wasn't as strong of a leader because it was a new thing for me as far as building this team in real estate. And what it's come down to is really the accountability piece, and helping them realize that if they want to make certain goals or make things happen, it's up to them. I can't do it for them.

Karlton Hey everyone, welcome back to the Reside Platform Podcast. I'm your host, Carlton Otter, and today I'm joined by one of my favorite people in real estate, Jana Adams from Santa Rosa, California. Jana has built something that's much bigger than a successful real estate business. She's created a mission centered around helping seniors and their families navigate one of life's biggest transitions with confidence, preparation, and compassion.

Karlton She's also had the strongest first half of her career in 2026, with transactions up 120% and earnings up 123% over last year. [00:01:00] But as you'll hear today, those numbers are really the result of something much deeper than sales. Her Aging Well Blueprint workbook is complete. Her Aging Well With Intention 12-session series is now live, and she's leading a growing team while creating an incredible community around serving seniors and their families.

Karlton So Jana, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?

Jana Good. I'm really excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

Karlton Yeah, it's great having you on. I've been really looking forward to this conversation, us sitting down and hear about all the great things that you're doing. for those of you on the podcast that haven't met Jana yet, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Jana Yeah. So I'm in Northern California. It's just about an hour north of San Francisco. I grew up here, raised my kids here. I started real estate in an, a real estate office, right out of college, so I was young, and managed an office. But two years in, got my license and took it from there, [00:02:00] doing real estate full time.

Jana about 10 years into my business, I had my fourth child, and really she had some medical needs and I quit everything and just, completely just stayed home with her and figured out we have to figure this out before. And, but then I was able a few years later to open my own brokerage. For five years, had my own brokerage and then decided, I had a couple agents with me thinking that they would help me, in case I had another medical emergency with my daughter, and then realizing that that wasn't really the way to build a team. And so I was looking for something different, and I had connected with Reside, and so I'm really excited to be here.

Karlton Yeah. We're gonna get into Reside, how Reside's helped you kind of grow your business a little bit. a couple questions down here. But kind of going back to it, so what made you decide to get into real estate right out [00:03:00] of college?

Jana so funny thing is I actually w- was calling, in-- while I was in college, I was calling people asking if they wanted to refinance.

Jana That was my job. And then, for a loan officer. And so I had no idea that the ties went this far, but I also... That same company offered me to be an appraiser for them, like in-house appraiser and all that, and I just decided it was out of state, I wanted to come back home. So I relocated here, and the, the opportunity came up.

Jana And, the broker there actually took me under his wing, and I worked with a lot of his clients during that first few years while managing the office. And so really got the, training and everything straight from him, which was amazing.

Karlton That's awesome. And obviously you had no fear for making those phone calls.

Karlton If you were calling people about refinancing, picking up the phone was just natural for you, so why not real estate, right?

Jana Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, who [00:04:00] doesn't like real estate?

Karlton Yeah, exact- I've always said everybody is always thinking about real estate. And even if you meet somebody that's not interested in buying, selling, renting, investing, and they're just perfectly fine living in their parents' basement, at some point they're gonna inherit that home and wonder what the value of it is, right?

Karlton Yeah. So it's always a hot topic.

Jana Yeah. Everyone can relate to it somehow. Yeah.

Karlton So I understand, like, coming out of COVID, you had a couple of tough years. 2023, 2024 was a little bit of a struggle, and then you joined us here at the Reside platform in 2025, and your business has just been, like, cooking ever since.

Karlton So, like, looking back, like, what changed the most? what got you into this rhythm and, and got you performing at the level that you're at now?

Jana Well, I do wanna add that, my daughter, Faith, came on board with me. She wanted to get her license as soon as she turned 18. So she came on board with me, and that prompted me to say, "I need to [00:05:00] find something that's going to help her."

Jana I had the help of my broker. I wanted to have her have that same, boost up. And, Reside just fit that, that mold for, for wanting me to give that to her as well as build a team and have that training and the systems and everything in place. 'Cause a lot of it was in my head, and trying for her to help me, it was like getting it on paper and getting all that done, it was not working well.

Jana And, you know, when you're working with your family member, sometimes there's a struggle there too. So I thought it was easier to bring somebody in and, then it was just, "Let's do it that way."

Karlton And so it's worked out a little bit better for you since setting it up that way?

Jana Yeah. No, she's been thriving and she's doing really well.

Jana this is probably gonna be a, it already is, her first six months have been really well for her too.

Karlton That's awesome. Yeah, my, my son's [00:06:00] always like, "Dad, I need you to start a real estate team because once I graduate college, like, I wanna get right into it." And I'm like, "I love you, bud, but I don't know of us working together."

Karlton Like, but you, you do, you want that person. Like, having a mentor, it, it's so important. And even if, like, that working relationship, as long as you're still there to guide them. And like, I like what you did. You're like, "Look, the way that we're working together is a bit of a struggle, but I have this other option that I can put in place that's gonna help you be successful, and I'm still here to help you."

Karlton So it's great to hear how you position that, and great to hear that she's having a, a ton of success in real estate as well.

Jana Yeah, she's just kinda taking it all in, and it's been really great

Karlton That's awesome. your team right now, so you're up to what? You have five agents. three are actively producing.

Karlton You have a few that are newer that are getting up to speed. as you're growing your team and you're, you're seeing it start to expand, and you have some in production, some that are [00:07:00] struggling to get in there, but, like, what have you learned about leadership and building a team through that experience?

Jana So originally, I wasn't as strong of a leader because it was a new thing for me as far as building this team in real estate. And what it's come down to is really the accountability piece, and helping them realize that if they want to make, make certain goals or make things happen, it's up to them. I can't do it for them.

Jana and so it's, it's really helping them be accountable for themselves and building them up to take that on and realizing once they do it... I mean, I hear my agents saying, "Oh, I actually made calls, and I, I got ahold of so many people. I'm talking to them now." I'm like-

Karlton Imagine that, right?

Jana How that works.

Jana Yeah. And so it's, it's helping them realize it for themselves because like you said, you can't do the work for them, and you can only do so [00:08:00] much and provide so much for them, so they've gotta want it as well and put in the time and effort.

Karlton Yeah. It's tough in leadership, right? Because you can't want it more than they do, and we typically do.

Karlton And you don't wanna be dragging agents to do things. You want them to see value in it, and you want them to want to do it because they wanna make money and they see the value in it. So it's great that you've been able to kinda put together that balance, because it's hard when you're, you're, you're trying to, like, do your own business, build a team, and you feel like you're dragging these people with you.

Karlton So the fact that you get them to wake up in the morning and be like, "Here's what I gotta do. Here's what I gotta get done. Here's how I move the needle." I think that's a fantastic way, and it's, it's really only gonna support your team and help you build a culture, based around accountability and what you're trying to accomplish, right?

Jana Yeah, definitely. And I think that hel- it helps me realize, who to bring on and how I can help them get to that next level, 'cause that's all I want for [00:09:00] them. I want them to be successful and enjoy, all the things that come with that.

Speaker Yeah, it's, it's, it's a much more enjoyable business when we're making money, right? Yes. But I would say over time, all this, all these years, my business really has been based on relationships

Jana And so, building those relationships, that, that comes along with the money and the other things that come, but it's not always money-driven. It's, I mean, that's a great benefit, but I think for me it's been relationships.

Karlton Absolutely. You build the relationships, the transactions will come because of that. I, I always say, you know, our job is to talk to people, right? The more people we talk to, the more relationships we build. The more relationships we build, the more folks we get to help support with the American dream of buying and selling real estate, right?

Karlton And the fact that we get paid to do that, we get paid to talk to people, it's just a bonus. but kind of looking at how most agents build their business around a neighborhood, they build it [00:10:00] around a price point. Like, they have very kind of like specific approaches that they take. You've chosen to specialize in seniors, family transitions, aging with intention.

Karlton Where did that vision come from? You don't see a lot of realtors that are really focused on that approach.

Jana Yeah, so kind of evolved really. I, I realized that at the time, when I was doing my own brokerage as, as things kind of went along, that I was working with families that were transitioning or seniors.

Jana And so I started getting into getting the probate and trust certification. And then, as a caregiver myself for my youngest daughter, I'm learning how much that transposes over to someone aging and a senior that is going through health and medical stuff. it's a lot of the same things, just one is pediatric and the other one is geriatric, y- you know?

Jana So, but a lot of the things co- [00:11:00] coexist just in different levels. And so, I realized that I was a caregiver. For a while, I mean, I just thought, "I'm a parent, I'm doing this for my child because that's what parents do." But as I learned and dove into different things, I'm a caregiver and that's who I am.

Jana But, as my, my father, passed away, back in twen- early '25, and his decline, helped me realize that we had some things set up, but we didn't have everything. And relating that to when I got my daughter's diagnosis and her, you know, struggle that we had those first few years trying to figure out everything, I've got...

Jana I've there's got to be a better way to find what resources are out there, what should I have set up, what can I set up, who is all i- involved and, like, your circle of support, all of that, it relates to both, you know, with my daughter and with my, my, my father. [00:12:00] and my parents moved. We had really big fires here.

Jana We lost over 5,000 homes, and so my parents relocated out of the area back in '21 And so they were in an area with my sister in Missouri, and so I didn't have any contacts there to really, support their, transition and all of that. And so it was really hard to, you know, do that from afar.

Jana and so I based a lot of my knowledge and studying and just experiences and put that all together in a workbook to help families, whether you're pre-retirement or if you're sandwich generation and your f- y-you know, your parents haven't planned or they just, you know, th- they're at that generation where they didn't talk a lot about things.

Jana Nobody knew what, what was going on or what they had or what they didn't have, what they'd planned. And so, this gives them the opportunity to start that conversation. It gives the opportunity for a [00:13:00] senior that is, you know, wanting to transition but doesn't know where or what they wanna do now that maybe they lost a spouse or maybe they can no longer use the stairs in their house and, you know, whatever their situation is, they can really, see what all is out there, the resources.

Jana If I chose this, what plan would that go, what path would that take me down? You know, it gives them a, an overview of what that looks like. And also, there's always room to have a crisis plan and backup, 'cause we... A lot of people wanna age in place. That's like a trendy word, and a lot of people do. But sometimes life happens, you get a diagnosis or you have a, you need a hip replacement or, you know, whatever that looks like.

Jana and you need to plan for plan B as well.

Karlton Well, it's incredible to hear how that situation inspired you to build this Aging Well Blueprint, and then you have this, [00:14:00] this 12-session program, the Aging Well With Intention. what kind of impact are you seeing those resources truly have? And then how is creating this community around those resources and around that, that niche approach to who you're trying to service and help with that servient mindset, like, how is that helping change your business?

Jana It's been incredible, actually. So I was just finishing up, we just launched at the senior expo this last weekend, our 12-week series. So you can sign up for it. It's gonna hap- start happening the end of August. And with that, the workbook comes, and the 12 weeks goes over that. And I've invited all the professionals that I know in every area that I could gather together so that it's all in one place.

Jana No matter what path you're choosing, you've-- you can hear both options or all options and then decide, "Okay, that could be [00:15:00] the option I wanna take, and here's who I need to talk to. Here's how I financially plan for that. Here's how I, put all my documents in place and POAs and different things that you have to have in place in order to make this happen."

Jana And, you know, if you wanna age in place, when should you start that? So I've got all those professionals that know all how to do that, what resources there are, so they can set up everything ahead of time. And people are just, surprised that I'm doing this on my own. Like, I'm not a nonprofit or some other, you know, big company that's, or organization that's, like, planning this and doing this.

Jana And I was like, "No, it just, everybody needs it." And, so now I've got,the Alzheimer's Association a part of it, our local Council on Aging, Aging and Disability, Committee. So we've got all these community people as well involved in, and so they're gonna be able to provide what resources are there and [00:16:00] support.

Jana One of my sections in the book is talking about circle of support, because I know when I had my daughter, I had no idea, and everyone just told me that I just could not go outside. I could not leave her because, her medical situation, I just had to keep her at home. Do you know what it's like to stay at home and you've got three older kids doing baseball and dance and all the things?

Jana I had to miss a lot of that. And so I didn't have that circle of support in place, y- you know? And so I fee- even a, a caregiver, whether it's, you know, you're caregiving for your spouse or you're a daughter that's caregiving for your mom. I hear this all the time through my clients, like One of my clients, she was a caregiver for 14 years, and she, you know, her mom had passed.

Jana I sold her mom's house, and then she's like, "I don't know what to do. Like, I haven't been able to do anything because I couldn't [00:17:00] leave, or I couldn't, take time off." And so I want to be able to make sure that they're supported and still be able to have a life that they had dreamed and have planned for.

Jana Like, you know, you're planning for retirement, and now you're planning and, and you- you're taking care of your parents, and that might not have been in the plan. so how do you still take a vacation or still do what you wanted to do, you know, volunteer with some kind of passionate, area that you wanted to do or go live near your grandchildren, but you can't leave 'cause your mom is here.

Jana You know, so there's a lot of different situations that come up, and it's like, how do you get that and also take care of your parents, no matter what that looks like? Or how do you relocate because you wanna be near your grandkids, and make that travel before you're in a position where you're not healthy enough to kind of make that transition?

Karlton n- the fact that you've been able to take something that you're so passionate [00:18:00] about and turn it into what you've done, and it's obvious you, you're not doing it for the business. you're doing it to help people, which is creating business for you. But that's part of, like, what we get to do in real estate, is we get to help people in various aspects of life, in various situations.

Karlton honestly, like, I'm getting emotional listening to you talk because y- you can see how passionate you are and how much what you're doing is, is needed, right? And the fact that you've kind of recognized that void and been able to fill it. A- and it's not just that, but, you know, let's get back to talking about your daughter, Brooke, who, you know, y- you are spending around-the-clock care taking care of.

Karlton I understand that she was on the Today Show. I'd like to hear about that. I haven't seen it. I wanna hear about the Today Show. But you've had-- You've been on the To- she's been on the Today Show. You balance caring for your family while also putting all of this together [00:19:00] and also running and starting a business and doing traditional real estate.

Karlton So tell me about Brooke and the Today Show, and, and then I wanna hear about how all of this has, what it's taught you. Like, you put so much into it, like, what... And I, I don't mean this disrespectfully, like, what have you gotten out of it? Because I'm not meaning, like, money-wise, but I'm like, professionally, like, how has it helped you grow as a human, and what have you learned that, that helped you translate that over to, to being a strong team leader and, and just being a leader in general in your community?

Karlton Let's start with the Today Show. What did, what happened with the Today Show?

Jana Yeah, it was a lot. so my daughter, has a rare type of epilepsy, and, most pharmaceutical drugs don't, stop her seizures. her longest seizure was, three hours long. and most of them would go 25 to 45 minutes.

Jana And so, w- we didn't have anything to, like, help. And so that's where I was [00:20:00] saying, like, I couldn't go out. I had to stay and, and we'd just manage that situation, and going to the hospital and, and doing all of that. And, it turns out I found a solution for her that has been an amazing solution for her.

Jana And so she actually takes cannabis, and now all her seizures stop within two to three minutes. And so it's life-changing, right, for us. So we consider it like an EpiPen for somebody that, you know, has an allergy. It's, it's saving her life really because any seizure could take her life because of the drastic, ep- episode.

Jana And so, for us, when it was time for her to go to school, the school district, said, "Okay, we of- offer you all these things, but, w- we can't accept her because in our l- our policy, there's no, no, marijuana on campus." And mind you, my daughter has a one-on-one nurse that goes with her to school that [00:21:00] would, administer medications and, and help her during seizures and things like that.

Jana So it's not like a kid in high school,passing it out to his friends or anything like that. So it was, it was kind of a ridiculous kind of response from the school district. And we, said, "I don't think that's right. you can't just deny a kid from going to school. She needs it. Like, if someone had an EpiPen, you would let them take that EpiPen to school."

Jana And so we, we fought saying, you know, "You need to take her to school. You n- she needs to be at school. All kids need to go to school. Like, that's not okay." and so the, one of my friends in a different state-- There's different people fighting in different states for this, and because of our rare, our daughter's rare type of epilepsy, this was a solution for many of the kids that have the same diagnosis.

Jana And so it seemed like we were the The moms getting out there and trying to fight for our [00:22:00] kids, because really in our situation, we're fighting for her life. It's not like, "Okay, we'll just change and do something different." There was no different. She'd been on four medications at a time, all very powerful.

Jana You know, like all the-- Like we tried diets, we tried all the things, and this was the only solution. And so this situation turned me into, I call it an unintended advocate because, I'm one of nine children. I'm the middle child. I'm the quiet one. I'm not... I'm like an introvert. But this situation just pulled that out of me and, I just couldn't sit there and do nothing.

Jana And so that's kind of where this related all of where I'm at. it brought through this powerful, you know, situation to just help those that need it. And so, we went public with her case, and that's when the Today Show came. they came to us [00:23:00] because she couldn't fly. so they came to us in our home, and then every news channel was covering it and, we of course won the case because kids need to go to school.

Jana And so that's, that's kind of where that landed and just projected me into advocacy and, and helping those, those people that need the guidance and the support and all of this together.

Karlton That's fantastic. And, you know, what did that... that, that must have taught you, like, it must have been nice to win, right?

Karlton First of all, to like win. But like, what did you take from all of that and how did, how did that help you grow as a person and help you with your overall leadership skills? Did it give you more confidence after you were able to win that and advocate for her and kind of push yourself out of that introverted approach?

Karlton Because that's, that couldn't have been easy, and we have a lot of folks that are introverted in the real estate business, and it's [00:24:00] okay, as long as every once in a while you do have to like turn it on. And I joke around, I say I'm an introverted extrovert. I gotta be on all day. At night, I wanna sit on the couch with my dogs and I wanna doom scroll on TikTok, and I, I just, I need my decompression time.

Karlton But, we do have a lot of introverts that have to be extroverted, and you had to get pushed into that scenario.

Jana Yeah. It's funny because my... I was up at our, family cabin at the lake, when the Today Show called me to see if we would go on, and I hung up the phone and my sister-in-law's like, "Aren't you nervous?"

Jana And I was like, well, I wasn't until you said I should be." You, you know what I mean? Because I- I was like, "I don't know. I'm just excited that this is, you know, we're getting this coverage because we want to, we want this to be out there." And so it was more like I was excited and not thinking about "Oh, wait, now I'm gonna be on TV."

Jana Y- you know, or whatever that is. And so, yeah, so [00:25:00] that's really helped, build my confidence, just knowing... You know, when you're passionate about it, it's just, I don't mind getting up in front of people if I'm passionate about it and I love it and do that. And so that's kind of like with the 12-week series, it's like I'm passionate about this.

Jana I'm gonna go do this. it's not something I'm scared of or worried about. it's gonna happen.

Karlton Well, you can tell that it's having an overall influence on your business and your team. You guys are up 120%. Earnings are up 123. So we're starting to head into the back end of the year, like we're already like heading into 2027.

Karlton we got a few months left here to close some transactions. We got a few months to book what we need to have ready to close in January and February. you know, how are you looking your business-wise heading into the back end of the year next year, and what excites you about the business going into the back end of the year?

Jana generally my business has always [00:26:00] gone better the third and fourth quarter. And so for us, like having this first year just already where we're at, it's like just pushing us way farther than we... Like we're, we expect to surpass our goals, by the end of the year, just with the consistency and, we haven't even launched any of this that we're doing here and that, I mean, you're gonna get business just because of that.

Jana But, just the relationships that we're building, I mean, that's just gonna keep moving forward through 2027. And actually I met with two different agents this week, exploring, coming on the team and I've gotten not only these two, but they're seeing what I'm doing, they wanna be a part of it.

Jana and so it's bringing in that culture, and bringing in the c- the empathy and the relationships, all of that into the team. And agents are attracted to that and they wanna be a part of it. And so I can't wait to keep building it and seeing where [00:27:00] this goes, next year.

Karlton I... Empathy is such an underutilized tool in our profession, right?

Karlton Because we just go, go, go and we stop and really think about... we don't stop and think about what the clients are going through, what kind of day they're having. And that word empathy, I just loved hearing you say it because you don't hear a lot of speakers or podcast folks that are on with us, you don't hear them really talk about empathy.

Karlton And, and, you know, in talking to you, you can really get that sense of how you care about the clients and you care about the approach, and I'm sure you care about your agents tremendously, that are on the team with you as well. So last question for you, and I'll, I'll let you go, is somebody listening today,you are an incredibly strong person with everything that you've been through and the level of support and how you've, you've dealt with it.

Karlton But somebody listening today that's in a difficult situation, whether it's a challenging [00:28:00] market, a personal struggle, whatever it might be, like what would you want them to hear from you today? What would you recommend to them on getting through that?

Jana Just keep moving forward, even if it's just a little bit.

Jana I mean, that's what I had to do going through all this. It's just you start a new day. So wake up, you start a new day, and, that's something that John's kinda drove into us as well, that, I don't care what you did yesterday, today is the day. Just do today. And so I agree with that. Sometimes you can't do today, but tomorrow you can do today.

Jana Y- So don't be too hard on yourself, but keep moving forward. And, just remember that your passion will keep driving you, and just find what that passion is to get you up and going.

Karlton That's incredible. Well, Jana, thank you so much for joining me today and for sharing not only your success, but the heart behind everything that you're [00:29:00] building.

Karlton I think what stands out the most isn't just the incredible growth that you've experienced, it's the way you've built a business around serving people. You create communities, you make a real difference in family lives, and today's conversation inspired you. I encourage you all to take one idea from Jana's story and put it into action.

Karlton Jana, before we wrap up, what's the best way for somebody to connect with you, learn more about the Aging Well With Intention, or just send you a referral in, in California?

Jana so I have my website, janaadams.com, or my email is jana@janaadams.com, or phone number 707-728-8525. Or I'm on Facebook a lot because that's where my people are.

Karlton Awesome. Well, thanks again, Jana. Thank you to everyone listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please be sure to like, subscribe, share it with someone who could benefit from Jana's story, and we'll see you all next time on the Reside Platform [00:30:00] Podcast.