FUNDing your LIFE

Here's a question I've been thinking about...

I know you have seen the meme…it is a 1990s curly-haired lady with a corded phone to her ear with the caption “Call me anytime, 24/7!” Every time I see an agent advertise a version of that, I want to slap them. Hard. Sherry Rampy in my office coined the phrase now famous here: “We ain't birthin' no babies!” What we do is important, for sure, but is there really anything you can do at 2 a.m. for a client? And what good advice would you give at that hour? While it sounds good, and you're trying to explain that you are accessible, you are also discounting yourself as a human who should have boundaries. My other favorite meme/rule of thumb is that if you are slow in business, book a vacation. That client who “isn't in any hurry and might decide to rent instead” sure as shit will call you in a hurry to see the PERFECT house as you step onto the plane. Every. Single. Time.

So how do you balance work-life? It is true we are a service industry, and our schedule really isn't our own as much as people think it is. (“OMG, I would love to work for myself. I could make my own schedule! You are soooo lucky!” 🙄) For me, it really came down to planning, learning the power of no, and prioritizing what was most important: my family. And ironically, planning my time off made me better at planning my time on.

I have a “Big Ass Calendar” that is 5 feet wide and 3 feet tall. It has 365 days all in one view. I bought colored stickers to fill the day boxes with important things. The very first thing I did was fill in the vacation days in blue. Two weeks in Italy here, three days at the cabin there, a 10-day cruise in November. Perfect. Now, I could easily see when I had time off coming up, which helped on THOSE days we all have. Next, I consulted with my goal planner and figured out how many closings I needed every month and put that number of green stickers on the first of each month. At the time, it was five per month. So, as I got escrows, I would move one sticker to the appropriate date. If I only closed three, the other two stickers moved to the next month. Yes, some months ended up with a mountain of stickers carried over from previous months. The tactile act of physically moving those stickers made me more cognizant of how I was filling (or not filling) my days. It certainly helped me, and I hope it will help you too.

A life well lived is a life well planned.

It doesn't have to be all work and no play. In fact, real estate should FUND your life, not BE your life. Yes, other people may remember you as “that Realtor,” but the people you surround yourself with the most will remember the vacation you took together, the birthday parties, and the special dinner you cooked for them. Take some time this week and start small. Plan out your time off for the rest of the year and see how it looks and feels. I bet it will help you work harder when you need to and play harder when you don't.

Good luck!

So the answer to the question I have been thinking about…What is FUNDing your LIFE?

Nicholas Yale

Designated Broker/Owner | Brokers Hub Realty