I have ALWAYS been good with numbers. While I love to lead and direct as my dominant personality type, my analytical side is not to be reckoned with as well as math and all things that have to do with calculations and numerical stuff have always been a breeze for me.
Many Realtors and others in housing and other professions I see constantly grappling with the problem of balancing their time. The 24/7 Realtors have no free time and they don't need me as a professor but need some serious couch time.
But for the rest that just need a little tip on how better to manage your time I can make you a
MATH GENIUS IN ONE EASY STEP.
We remember all those equations in Algebra and such. Well this is easier than that. We'll just focus on addition and subtraction.
The rule is:
ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION.
It's no great discovery that you have a fixed amount of hours to work with each day.
You can only "add" so many activities of what you want to do in a day. When full, you MUST
"subtract" other activities if you want to add more. Sounds simple, yet many people try to cram more stuff in. IMPOSSIBLE!!
Base your additions on what you value most in your life like family, work, leisure, exercise, reading, gardening, but don't leave out the necessary time for home cleaning and maintenance, auto repair, lawn mowing and other mundane activities. Several of these items can be delegated to free up more time.
A calendar is very helpful but don't make your life one giant calendar or you can drive yourself nuts. Effectively using the word "No" early and often is like a sledgehammer to block out chunks of your time for you. Even with blogging don't become a blogaholic or your health will fail with not enough sleep.
Addition by subtraction now makes you a math genius compared to the average Joe or Susie.
You can make your business, as well as your life, anything you choose it to be.
Customers don't have relationships with organizations; they form relationships with individuals.
In the competition between a homeowner selling her house with choosing the name brand firm with an agent she has never heard of or a friend REALTOR that she has known who works over at little XYZ Realty, whom most of the time gets the listing?
The friend. And why is this? Trust. Go with the one you know. Sphere of influence. I have marveled sometimes at the hairbrained agents that are chosen to list properties that because the homeowner didn't know the far better agent right in his area, the lesser qualified got the listing.
This brings me to my observation I have seen over and over again:
RELATIONSHIP TRUMPS SKILL.
I do not deny skill as an incredible asset when it comes to real estate, as well as experience and track record. But relationship more often than not TRUMPS EVERYTHING. Work on networking with "real people" much more than just creating an online presence for "connecting" with people.
After listening to many family members, real estate clients, friends, fellow bloggers, and associates during the Mothers Day holiday a lesson was most profoundly presented to me.
While some women were themselves mothers, other people had lost mothers recently, or from past days, while others had strained relations with their current mothers.
The lesson from one side or both was the sheer amount of unconditional love being practiced in our world. It truly amazed me the level of kindness that was all around me for those who chose to do so.
I am convinced unconditional love is heaven on earth. If you are on the receiving end of it, it doesn't matter what you've done, how bad you've been, how much you have hurt or ignored another, very much on a heart to heart level, that person is there for you. Sometimes it is mother to daughter, or the opposite, daughter to mother, or it can be mutual.
As the body needs food to survive and grow, the soul needs love. Love instills in us strength and vitality. All of us live and long for real love.
Unconditional love speaks to your heart and says not a word.
But the silence speaks volumes. Love is truly the most powerful force on the earth!!
Many a Sales manager over time will tell you, especially in service occupations like Realtor, Stager, Lender, etc. that the most effective sales people are ones that learn how to love their customers.
I think in defining what you are, love should not be a noun but
LOVE IS A VERB.
You remember those. Action words. You are not a REALTOR but one who serves, nurtures, cares, teaches, helps out, goes the extra mile.
If more of us would remember that love is an action more than a static noun, that feeling of the love would come across more to our clients.
DO YOUR CLIENTS FEEL THE LOVE?
Those that do, get to that highest level of satisfaction with you. They are "delighted" with your service. Now we may not get along with all our customers, and that can be ok too. Everyone doesn't mesh well. But for those who give you a fair shake you know you are doing a great job when they feel your love.
Your Mother is always with you.... She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street; she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks; she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well. Your Mother lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every tear drop. She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you.
Not time, not space... not even death!
Some are blessed to have their Moms today. Others are Moms. And for some their Moms have passed.
Let us always remember those dedicated women who carried us for nine months and gave us our start in life. They all are very special in their own way.
Very often we come upon those in this Real Estate forum that need to have a spotlight shown upon them. When they fly by, duly note their uniqueness and contribution to all our members. They stand out because they make each of our days just a little brighter. I think I have spotted one and wanted to make you all aware of her.
Her name is Carol Culkin and she is a hard working successful Associate Broker with Century 21 - Anita Ferri Realty out of Poughkeepsie, NY.
I think of her as my Realtor's Realtor. This is because if you read Carol's posts I feel like I am living the day in the life of another Realtor. I feel like she may be my shadow, boosting my own activities during the week. She balances her stories about dealing with clients, listings, and houses, with home life as a Realtor, Mom, and wife.
Basically, to me she is just so funny and always makes me laugh. Very good for her cause those are the folks I like to hang with and bring attention to.
A sampling of some of her recent thoughts that I appreciated included country vs. city type attorneys she encountered, being honest with sellers on accurately pricing listings, finding dead flies and moldy refrigerators in houses, thinking her husband was a stalker looking over her shoulder reading her blogs, hanging out in her car outside her office to get away from the stress of her office staff, being a rah rah team captain for one group of Realtors in her office in a listings contest, having mid week Hump day nights out with the girls or friends for balance and to take the edge off, and even whether to drive buyer clients in your own car or have them follow you in theirs. For me, I felt I was riding in the back seat of Carol's car soaking up all these observations and common sense wisdom along the way.
Carol is at her best when she talks about the impact of her real estate career on her family. From the family waiting till 9 p.m. for her to get home for dinners with them all either with a cook or to eat pizza, family is an integral part of Carol's life. Can you see I am paying attention to what you write Carol?
Her most endearing story to me was her 80 year old mother asking her if "Really State" is keeping her busy. Here is the photo of lovely Mom and handsome son.
Carol is also the master of self-deprecating humor. She is always poking fun at herself like when buying three pairs of shoes one day and her "dilemma" in picking which ones to wear the next day.
They don't make many of us finer than Carol, and I just wanted to say I definitely appreciate her as my Realtor's Realtor.
With all the stress that can be involved in real estate transactions by buyers, sellers, and agents, I am committed to stamping out frowny faces. How do you do that?
REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN "EACH" DAY NO MATTER WHAT.
Take dogs for example. Do you think they know how to chill?
You betcha. We could learn a lot from their antics. They have this easy living thing down pat.
Why, dogs are so happy to see you each day they don't even care that you had a bad day. Just make sure they get a pat on the head and their nightly meal and they are good to go.
Even if you are the studious, hard working type, a dog will NOT let you forget that life is not all about work.
Who cannot be licked in the face by a puppy and not start laughing??
So if you get tired, worn out, frustrated, or forgot how to have fun in your life, check in with your four legged psychotherapist for an attitude adjustment. You'll be glad you did.
In house hunting these days in many areas of the country in buyers markets the list of homes that you look at can seem to be endless. Adults, being the keeper of the finances, are looking for good values, proximity to what interests them like distance from work, church, shopping, social activities, etc. But if there are children in the family, especially younger ones, heavily weight their needs as well, beyond just schools.
What is the neighborhood like? Where will they play? Is it a friendly and happy place? If you have a larger backyard can you put in a playhouse, pool, or trampoline?
One of the key takeaways in "deciding" on that next place to live called home is it a safe, secure, nurturing environment for those dearest to you in life? How about you ask their opinion about the new place?
Hamster wheels have fascinated me my whole life. They are a metaphor for doing the same routine over and over and seeming to never make any progress. Remember the Peter Principle? Rising to your highest level of incompetence, maybe getting promoted one more time and then
YOU ARE STUCK.
In real estate, one key hamster wheel is the 24 /7 Realtor. I hope I never go there and forget balance and to have a life. Buyers can be on hamster wheels looking at houses ad nausem and never buying. Sellers can be little hamster wheels too with Days On Market that defy good judgment in hiring a Stager, a maintenance man or getting REAL on price.
In corporate life, a worker can get in a rut and after ten years on the job just burns out and says there has to more to this life than just pushing paper. Time to let the hair down, hit the road on the Harley and drive to Yellowstone and see Old Faithful. We are smarter than hamsters and need to get off these wheels.
Yes, life may come full circle on us and seeing the same lesson presented to you AGAIN. Maybe you didn't learn it yet. But life should be about LEARNING, and GROWING. Thriving, not just existing. Sometimes we get on hamster wheels cause we build traps for ourselves with our education, where we live, whom we associate with, and our financial situation. Some who have dedicated later portions of their lives to taking care of ill spouses or children or parents know they are on a hamster wheel and know this is a phase of their life for sacrifice. They will eventually do something else.
Know that while we all can paint ourselves into a corner and get stuck we can change. It just takes one baby step in a different direction each day to get out of the rut. You must first decide, and then have the will to act.
There's a story about the Mama bird and the baby bird on the branch way up high in the tree. The Mama bird keeps pecking on the baby birds feet until it hurts so much the baby bird FINALLY leaps off the branch and flies. We have to find motivation within to fly. I'm trying to give you a boost here with thinking about it. You know you are an eagle who wants to soar. Fly out of that nest and be the best version of you that the world needs to see each and every day. I'll be cheering you on as you soar!
When it comes to serving our clients in the real estate industry or in any other service oriented profession, have you asked yourself lately,
ARE YOU A SPONGE?
No, I don't mean you're age 39+, and still living at home with Mommy and Daddy. Although that might be a great cost savings technique in today's tough economic climate. : )
I mean are you a constant, and life long learner? I have found that if you keep learning, year after year, as you get older, you actually stay younger. Young at heart I think of it as.
Education includes formal education with continuing education, cross industry classes, informal seminars, learning from mentors, online learning, learning from elderly people, learning from children, learning from blogging, listening to sermons, happy hour learning, roundtable brainstorming sessions, visiting nursing homes, reading, seeing a movie, volunteering, building something, going on a vacation, a candlelight dinner, the list is endless.
So I ask you again. Are you a sponge? If you are, you will soak up much of life's lessons and be full of plenty of the water of knowledge in your sponge and then "applying" your education you can squeeze out the appropriate knowledge to those who need it at the right point in time. You are building a better you, one brick at a time, one day at a time. I believe applied knowledge is power. But first you have to soak up your sponge and constantly have thirst in this area. This is where "more" in life is a good thing. I told someone once that I think I read too much and they laughed, and said Gary you can never read too much, emphasizing the importance of learning.
As friends of mine in Wisconsin or Minnesota might answer with their local dialect when someone asks, "Are you a sponge?" The answer would be a definite:
