For Jamie Decker, real estate isn’t just a career; it’s the life she built when she trusted her instincts, took a risk, and never looked back.

Today, Jamie is a top-producing REALTOR® with a thriving business and loyal client base. But her path didn’t start with real estate. It started much earlier, in classrooms, on college campuses, and through lessons she didn’t fully grasp until later.

Growing up in Johnsburg, a small town in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago, Jamie was shaped by the steady work ethic of her parents, both teachers, who encouraged her to explore opportunities beyond the classroom. In high school, a marketing class sparked something that stuck.

“I just loved everything about marketing,” Jamie says. “It clicked.”

At the University of Iowa, Jamie studied business marketing, graduated summa cum laude, and immersed herself in hands-on learning. She joined Alpha Kappa Psi, a business fraternity focused on professional development, and was selected for the Marketing Institute, a program that gives top students real-world projects with actual companies.

Perhaps the most pivotal influence came from one of her marketing professors—a mentor who pulled her aside and told her she had a natural gift for sales.

“I was so against it at the time,” Jamie recalls, laughing. “I had such a negative view of sales—used car salesmen, pushy tactics, all of that. I didn’t want any part of it. But he saw something in me I couldn’t see yet.”

After graduation, Jamie spent several years consulting pharmaceutical companies on marketing strategies. The work was happily challenging and demanding, but still, something was missing.

“I realized I liked to work hard, but I wanted that work to feel meaningful,” she says. “I was determined to find a career with a purpose that I was truly passionate about.”

In 2018, Jamie made the leap. She studied for her real estate license while still working full-time, obtained her license that summer, and dove into the business by August. It wasn’t easy. The first couple of years were a grind—making cold calls, knocking on doors, chasing expireds and FSBOs—whatever it took to build momentum.

By early 2020, Jamie was at a crossroads. She was newly pregnant with her first son—and the world was shutting down on account of the pandemic.

“I thought it might be the end of my real estate career,” she says. “But it ended up being the beginning.”

Leaning on the coaching she received through Tom Ferry’s company and the virtual structure of her brokerage, Jamie doubled down. She stayed consistent, focused on service, and by the end of 2020, she had nearly quadrupled her business from the year before.

“Real estate doesn’t reward you instantly,” she says. “It’s about consistency over time. The work you do today shows up months down the road.”

That discipline and long-term mindset still shape how she runs her business today.

For Jamie, client relationships are everything. She stays connected long after closing, hosting events and building genuine friendships. Many of her clients have become close friends—people she and her family are raising their kids alongside.

“My business is built on relationships,” she says. “Helping someone buy or sell a home is just the beginning.”

Away from work, Jamie’s world revolves around her family. She and her husband, Zack, her high school sweetheart, have been together for twenty years and married for eight. Their two sons, Drew (4) and Neil (1), and their yellow lab, Rocky, round out their crew.

In the summers, you’ll find them boating on the Fox River and Chain O’ Lakes, trying out new restaurants and parks, or taking long family walks. Jamie loves staying active, running and working out, and enjoys decompressing with a true crime podcast in her headphones or indulging in her slight shopping addiction. But when she really needs to unwind? It’s all about shows on Bravo. “I love Real Housewives of anything,” she laughs. “It’s the perfect way for me to shut my mind off and just melt into the drama.”

Success for Jamie isn’t about volume or awards. She keeps a quote by Maya Angelou taped up in her office: “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

Her advice to new agents? Leap—and trust yourself to build the net on the way down.

“You can’t wait for the perfect time,” she says. “You have to show up, be consistent, and remember that small disciplines repeated every day lead to great things.