In another life, I used to think that teachers were the hardest working fools on the planet!
I have changed my mind! It seems like Real Estate is a 24 hour a day and 7 days a week kind of a career.
I have to laugh at that comment and both my parents are teacher, my grandparents were teachers and my brother is a teacher. I used to think that I got into real estate because I wanted to have more time with my family and make tons of money.
Boy teaching is starting to look real good to me now - LOL
In my mom's case 6am-10pm everyday doesn't seem so bad now!
It's 11:15 on a Saturday night and I am just finishing up some emails, and checking to see if there are any other listings that I should be aware for Sundays showings. I think we all work 25/7
And Todd- the teacher's salary is slow, but steady and it includes health insurance and a retirement plan!
However- it is not your own business! Contrary to popular belief--the kids are usually the highlight of the job. But that's another story!
For the last several years it was 8 am to 11 pm most days and Midnight or later on many occasions. Sundays were usually half days built around an open house and a buyer tour...
Planned "Days Off" meant no showings or listing appointments, but usually ended up catching up on paperwork or tweaking a web site for 4 - 6 hours.
NO MORE.
Came to conclusion a few months back, If I cannot make a living working 6 Day weeks and 8-10 hour days then I was not going to do it.
Funny thing is, my productivity went UP as my hours went down :)
Of course that has a lot to do with being almost 4 years into this... and making progress on the learning curve...
I already knew marketing and Web / SEO stuff, (and coaching) with a 20 year background, but did not know Personal Sales they way I do now....
Because I was suffering from serious burnout from a previous profession, I decided early on that I would not kill myself in real estate. I made sure that I took a couple of days each week (most weeks) for myself and things I needed to do. I was also still raising my daughter so I spent time with her and her activities. The income was secondary to recovery and my daughter which meant that I didn't take a "real vacation" for 10 years until January this year. In 2005 when I started my own company, I still stuck to my guns and kept the hours to about 40 a week, rarely more than that, and still had most of my weekends to myself. Now that I'm under a contractual agreement that my office be open 7 days a week, I'm back to putting in a lot of hours but they aren't hard hours. There's only 3 of us ... one I never see because she works the small town that she lives in and one agent who works here in town but he works out of his home so he doesn't come in often. I am pretty busy since under this contract, I handle 28 counties. Talk about the ultimate listing presentation...I had to put one together for HUD to get this contract. Daughter is grown and I "feel" better. It took a long time to get over the burn out and I'm not sure that I'm 100% normal but probably more like 90%. Now, my minimum week is a little over 60 hours but like I said they aren't hard hours, just long.
My home, however, has gone to he-double hockey sticks in a handbasket since I'm only there long enough to sleep and mess things up. My cats miss me.....fortunately they have each other.
LOL, 25/8. My mom's a retired 1st grade teacher so I totally relate.
I think in our biz, being available, even if not actually working, is just as, if not more draining. When you perceive you have to be 'on', you can never completely relax.
I think at least one day a week to be completely unavailable is a good thing, so as to recalibrate.
I think Lonn has the right idea here and I've also found that I perform a lot better at times when I am taking some time off. We will probably all be at our best and feel better about the buisness when every day and every week has an end to it.
For a number of years, I used this voicemail message and I never had a single complaint from an agent or a prospect.
"Hello. You've reached Norm's voicemail for Sunday, June 10. At the time of this recording it's 8PM and I will be away from my phone for the balance of the evening. I will be checking messages in the morning between 8 and 8:30. I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me your name and a number where I can reach you then. Thanks again for calling."
Norm,
I like that!
I work real estate about 25/7 and run my husbands trucking business for about 22/7 ... we've been on one vacation total in the last 5 years (about 3 years ago) ... and that was rather a Honeymoon vacation 2 years too late ... would love to take another one ... but knowing how crazy I would go before and after the vacation, I may just as well rather stay home and work :-)
Just as I thought, Michaela- no vacations for the hard working entrepeneurs who fuel this country!
My Mother and Aunt are both retired school teachers. My husband teaches high school level American History. I taught preschool when my children were little. They could go to work with me :) Is there some kind of pattern here?
Jana
Norm love your voice mail but I need the book to figure out how to change it and if I had to do it every day, I might learn. I will be changing mine to say something similar but make it where I don't have to go in and make a lot of changes.
Michaela, you are going to burn yourself out at that pace. Lonn has the right idea. Make sure you schedule time off for yourself. You may find it is more helpful than harmful.
Gary, I would love to find time for myself as you said ... but I hardly know what it means. When I was growing up, my parents worked the same crazy schedules as I am now (both having their own businesses), so honestly, I don't think I know any better. But I've made some progress ... but at least I have learnt not to pick up every single call I get ... voicemail is starting to feel like a good thing! :-)