172: A Long Drive and A Day Off

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As we enter the heavy holiday travel season it felt only right to tell you the story of a very long drive and some of our best tips for taking a day off. We hope you find yourself surrounded by friends and family this season and we give you a few tips on how to prepare for that with your Realtor hat on. The truth is even when you go on vacation or take a much needed day off you are still a Realtor and there really isn’t anything wrong with that. Let’s talk about how to successfully take time away from work without feeling worry and stress while you are gone. And don’t forget you need to grab the first module of The Database Course for FREE! Now is the time you want to be reaching out to your people and getting all of their contact info updated. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.

0:00
Hi y’all welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie and we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market.

0:05
We work for two different companies where we should be competitors but we have chosen community over competition. The goal of our podcast is to encourage you to find your own way in business to stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Hi, Alyssa. Hey Katie. It’s episode 172 Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving bought. You’re laughing because I’m in the in our first iteration of this I had to tell the story. Remember it was in You’ve got mail. When she’s standing in the checkout line. She’s paying cash she’s in the ER she’s paying credit card. She’s in the cache line. That checkout lady so mad. Tom Hanks comes swoops in to save her. And he says Happy Thanksgiving rose. That’s the checkout lady. And he says this is where you say Happy Thanksgiving back and she goes Happy Thanksgiving bulk. She says it buddy. I don’t know. It’s just a funny thing. And always every time I think about Happy Thanksgiving it makes me think of that. Yeah. Does that ever happen to you? Yes. i i live quoting movies right usually writes me but yeah, you guys should take a day off this week. Yes. Or two? Yes. Maybe the whole week or watch a movie? Watch you got mail. That’d be a great holiday movies. My favorite in the fall. If you watch it, just send us a little tag. I know I love that show is that you’re not working during Thanksgiving too hard. Yeah. So

1:22
we’re going to reshare one of our fan favorites. Take a day off. Take a day off. It was originally episode. So number one, I tell you 5757 Episode number 57. We’re replaying this week for you just so you can have a nice little reminder get your mindset right to enjoy

1:41
Thanksgiving. You remember why we recorded that one? No, I’ll tell you you posted in your like Instagram. We’re going to New Orleans like randomly. Yeah, I was just gonna take a day off and the week right and everyone like, messaged you like losing their marbles? Yeah, I don’t get DMS. Like, you know, I don’t know, I’m not one of those people. But all of a sudden when I posted that I was taking a day off. I had this influx of people being like what and it made me so sad did you do that inspired this episode so we hope it is helpful this? I mean this week take some intentional time off. Yeah, I think that’s good. Okay, now we had a hilarious story hilarious. Come in, through the website inquiry actually. Did you know you guys that you could go to hustle humbly podcast.com and find resources and all of like all this, but you can also send us a message straight from the website. And this sweet girl. DM it’s Dan Dan. Dan sent us a message so this is gonna read it to you. Alyssa and Katie, y’all, I’m just already laughing. Right? I’m a realtor in Talkeetna. Oh, Alaska, Alaska, Alaska, I decided to take a 3500 mile road trip to California and then to Florida. She was taken quite a few days off. Yes. So I decided to download all your episodes along with some music on my new Spotify account. Not being very tech savvy. I was distraught to realize once in Canada with no cell phone signal that none of my music had downloaded. All I had was YouTube and all of your episodes. So for over 1500 miles I have listened to your podcast, and now I feel like you’re my best friend. Yes, I have laughed commiserated agreed, disagreed, and most importantly, learned learn. Thanks for being there. Throughout my trip. A road trip is a great time to listen to your podcasts. Cheers. To your city. I mean, I just think that is absolutely hilarious. She was trapped in her car with us with us couldn’t even listen to anything. There was no other choice is hilarious really feels like it brings the pressure of being entertaining every episode. I think we should just toast her for this thing. That’s a great idea. That would be perfect. Dan’s last name is Audrey. Yes. From Alaska. I know. I hope she made it back. I feel like I also want to know the end to this that she sent us this message in October. Right. So the beginning of October. I guess she was making this trek because she said she pulled over like when she finally got cell service to send us the message. Yes. Like she’s like, I just have to talk to them. I brought my car with them for so long. I just need to send them a message right. We’re friends now. Yeah, and if you’re listening to this, could you please tell us how the end of the trip?

4:35
Yeah. Did you make it to Florida? Like how long did everything take what happens now? Do you drive back the same way? You went? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Or do you just make a circle?

4:47
I don’t. We need detailed need answers. We need details. Deann. Okay, excuse me. One other thing I want to talk about today before we play our fan favorite from the archives is You are going to see a lot of people this week. Right? Thanksgiving. Right? Right. But your family? Yes, if you’re, and what are people most likely going to talk to you about? Okay. Hi, I’m Alyssa. I’m a realtor. What do people ask you about? How’s how’s the real estate market? How’s that market? How’s the market? How are you? Down, I heard the real estate rates are so high. So I’m gonna give all of my friends I hope you’re listening to this on Monday, Tuesday, or maybe even Wednesday. And you could take a moment before you see your local family. Ideally, obviously, if you’re out of town, this isn’t going to apply. But they will still ask you learn some important information about your current market. What is the days on the market in your area? What is the absorption rate may be Hey, are you still in a seller’s market? Do you still have low inventory? Did you know that the rates drastically dropped a couple of weeks ago? So we got back into six? We were out of seven. Like, I don’t know where it is today. The moment you’re listening to this, but check it yeah, when you show up to that Thanksgiving, maybe have some story or an example of one that you just sold and how it went like, yeah, and honest, like true data, like give some like have because they’re gonna ask you a valuable reason. They’re hearing it on the news, and they’re reading it in the headlines. And they’re gonna say to you, oh, you still in real estate? I mean, that must be bad right now, if you could just come prepared, though. What are you going to talk about what? Because they’re going to ask. And I think that there’s this real opportunity here, when you see people in person asking you about real estate, right, be prepared. This is your moment to shine, Alyssa, this could even be considered a database touch. It could be right, you totally could. You’re at the meal. You’re seeing your Aunt Sally, who you only see once a year, but she lives in your city. And she’s asking you about real estate, perfect opportunity right here. I mean, show your credibility. It doesn’t get better than that. Okay, so I just wanted to share that last year, we shared the tip of remember, this is the time when you collect your addresses, yes. Hey, we have already touched on that. So we’re good. I’m loving that some people are already like, deep into the database course. It’s out there, y’all. So be ready, come January, again, Module One free if you go to the database course.com. You can get module one, y’all get started. This is the best time to work your database. So good time to start it. So learn your numbers. Start your database. If you drive, if you’re Dan, and you’re driving back from Florida to Alaska, please contact. And I think that’s all we need to talk about. Yes, we hope you’ll have a great Thanksgiving and some time off. I know. Enjoy. Enjoy your family. Enjoy the food. Just enjoy your time. Bye, guys. Take a day off. Oh, bye. Bye. Hello. Hi, Alyssa. Hi, Katie. This is episode 57. Did you take a day off this week? I did. Let’s talk about that’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna talk about today. I got I don’t know what we’re gonna call it. And we should let the audience had kind of a rough morning. We were supposed to start recording nearly two hours ago. Yeah. You lost your key, we think in the car or somewhere. And then we just tried to record and we’re not even certain that this is recording because the machine or the machine was giving us trouble. And we don’t actually know if it’s recording. It is I think it is okay. Fingers crossed. We’ll see. Episode 57. We’re ready. Coming in hot. Okay. Let’s start with how this all started. Okay. You took a day? Oh, I did. And I do that. But I don’t always like advertise it. Right. But, um, since school has started back. You know, since the virus and everything. I have been really slow during the week. Like, I feel like parents are getting ready for school. They are just seeing and then some kids are there like half the time. And anyway, and I feel like that’s kind of normal, like summers busy. And then school starts and you just have more of a low. Yeah, like low low. And so this week, I just was kind of slow as far as appointments, right in person appointments. And then we have this hurricane situation. So my email is really caught up and my follow up is good. Like, I’ve just really caught up. You’re good. So on Friday, I was like, Man, I’m really I don’t have anything to do. Right. I don’t want to sit at home right Haven was at school. So I have a friend that lives in New Orleans. So I was like, I’m just gonna drive and have lunch in New Orleans today. Great. So I put it on my stories and I did the original story say your original story was like me with the icy and it was like day off equals lunch in New Orleans. Yes, that’s it. That’s all. That’s all it said. Take it and then I like got there and I’m not a big Instagram or I don’t get DM. Like I’m not one of those people that’s like, sorry, I haven’t responded to my DM. Yeah. You were like, what’s all this? What’s his number mean? Why is it so high? Oh my word, but it was just realtors. Yes. And two attorneys being like, so how does that work? Exactly? Like what do you do? What did you take a day? Take a day off. And it just made me so fast. Yes. For our industry, because we talk about burnout a lot. We talk about mindset a lot. We talk about boundaries. We talk about self care. Yes. And you know, we haven’t really addressed specifically a whole episode on what if you need a day off? Yeah. Well, I think also, this is a repeating theme for a reason. People talk about it in theory, and I’m like, Yeah, I’ll have boundaries or yeah, I’ll go on vacation or Yeah. Or we’re telling you, we’re going to have to beat this horse till it’s dead shirt because they don’t do it. Right. Like the fact of the matter is you had an Instagram post that said, gamma icy going to have lunch in New Orleans day off. And they were like, Wait, how did you do that? Yeah, but Okay, here we go. We’re going to tell you so your next Instagram post was? Now my DMs are full of people asking me how to take a day off. Yes. And it makes me sad for you. Yes. There’s no reason it should be so hard, right? I think as realtors and entrepreneurs in general, we overthink the day off. We think if I do that, I’ll lose everything. Yes, my business. I can’t be the mentum is gone. The momentum? Yes. And I’m not. And I mean, you can handle your downtime in one of two ways. I mean, you can either get really stressed out, you can get xiety you can have fear of the future. Yeah. Fear of failure, wondering like if you’re ever going to have business ever again. Or when you are slower, you can just rest rejuvenate. Yeah. And then when things start happening, you’re ready. Yeah. It’s easier or clean. Yeah, everything’s done. You’re refreshed, and you’re ready to get back to work. Yep. And yeah, I mean, okay. So you then posted, not just, I, my DMs filled up the next slide was, these are the things that the real estate industry glorifies. And, yes, it just except, except Yes, it just feels like when I started getting all these messages. It’s like, I feel like we’re solving the world with Nestle humbly. We’re putting the message out there that you believe to do it, that you can do it. You can control your work environment, yes, control and do what you need. You can take care of your family first, right? Take care of yourself. But then when you get all these DMS, and you’re like, they’re not there. No, they’re not doing us. They’re still confused. You know, it was really funny and ironic to me about the whole thing, because it resonated with me a lot too. And that everything you said about being sad, and then the whole list which we’re going to go through of things that the industry glorifies I felt sad. And I felt like you know, sometimes I struggle with things on that list, too. We all do. And we’re gonna go through them line by line. But what was really ironic to me was, I had planned to go to New Orleans the day previous what Yes, like I had cleared out my schedule that day, I caught up with anything I needed to have done. My sister wanted to go check out a particular place for like a shop. And then we’re going to have lunch and my mom was going to come with us. So I was supposed to be gone all day Thursday. But in the morning, she had a COVID exposure with at school. So she she couldn’t go so I didn’t go but my schedule had been cleared out. So I would have had the day off on Thursday. And then you all of a sudden you’re posting going to New Orleans for my day off on Friday. I’m like, Well, I guess it’s just a good week to go to New Orleans.

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Well, that’s the thing too, is that I do think in our industry and like in any business, you have your busy season. Yeah, have your slow seasons and it would have been a lot harder to go to New Orleans for a whole day in July. Yeah. But I took advantage I recognized that it was a slow week, right. I was also slow on Thursday the day before and I did I just stay home. Clear out my right that’s why you were so caught. That’s why I was so caught up. So when Friday rolled around, I was like, Oh my gosh, I can’t stay home again. Yeah, I need to go do something fun. I need to Just like write even. Just because you have free time doesn’t mean it has to be filled with work filled with work. Yeah, because you can, oh, I knew I could write. And that’s also why like, I couldn’t just lay on the couch and watch Netflix all day, which is fine to do, right. But I know myself, you would have worked, I would have worked on my computer, you know, done whatever I needed to do. So it was just better for me to get out of the house, go do something, visit a friend, get inspired. I like that. She’s wonderful. But, you know, a day off doesn’t always have to be like going somewhere. Or it can just be Hey, too. And I get it. Because the days that I do take off, especially during the week where I do just stay home. I might catch up on laundry and Ryan nap and go for a walk. I still sometimes feel weird on those things. Yes. Like I feel irresponsible. But I also know that’s a lie. Yes. And that I need to do it anyway. Yes. And it does get easier, right? Because then I see Well, you worked on Saturday and Sunday. Okay, this is great. This is exactly where I want you to go with this. You have the guilt the same way I have the guilt, like when I take when I say to people, I don’t typically work on weekends, I immediately feel like guilty, that well, that’s not appropriate for a realtor to take off on the weekend. Or are you you’re not really taking off on the weekend. That’s just something they say or whatever. And I think that we have to remember because we work on the weekends that you’re going to have to force yourself to take a week day off. You can’t assume that you’re so like, for instance, this weekend, Saturday, I didn’t know work right to the point of I did not respond to text messages. I did not do emailing that. Did anybody die? No one died? Oh, thank God, I’ve had and I had to slap my hand a few times like, Nope, it’s my day off, I have to you have to be fiercely protective of your day off because no one’s going to protect that for you. Yeah, and your clients don’t know if you’re working or not. And they are going to try and seep into your tail. Yeah. So you have to protect it. And then on Sunday, I had a walkthrough at one and a showing at two with a friend from school that I was happy to see it was totally fun. We went to a very nice house, it was not work, right? Like it was fine. So I work two hours on Sunday, right? But I think that’s okay. And that means that on Monday or Wednesday or whatever day you have slow, if you want to sleep late, and watch Netflix, then you need to be somewhat protective of the other day off. And you at the very least better for real have one day off. But you know, I would not have been able to enjoy this day off and I would not be able to actually take a nap if my brain knew that there was work to be done that I was not doing well. Now I know. So in order to take the day off and be successful, you can’t be lazy. You have to be productive work. You have to be doing what you’re supposed to do. normal working hours. Yes. lunching all day or running personal errands all day, right? You know, you do it to enjoy the day off. You have to be treating your business with excellence. Yeah. So when you shut it down, your body relaxes right, you could actually fall asleep, you shouldn’t have people knocking down your door. Because you’re all caught up. You’re all caught. Nobody needs something from you at that moment. Right? I think that’s the problem with some of us who treat it like the flexible schedule. I’m a part time it’s not a part time job, right. So if you don’t have full time hours to devote to it, then you won’t be able to keep caught up, especially if you’re doing a certain level of business, which is probably what you’re trying to do. Right, then it’s very difficult. But I don’t think that your clients are going to automatically ask you to work on your day off if you caught up on everything the day before you took the day off. Sure. And I mean, you can I think it’s fine. I had no problem if I got a text message responding and saying, Hey, and actually had it just copy and pasted. But hey, I’m actually off today, but I’ll look into this first thing in the morning. Yeah, to me that wasn’t working. No, that was just like an auto responder. Yes, you can just respond because you don’t want to start messaging again. Right, right. Three times. I’m not working today. Yes, exactly. Right. And so I think it’s fine to vacate that. Yeah. Um, and then there are times where maybe you don’t feel like advertising that you’re having a day off and you can say, hey, I’m totally booked today, right? Tomorrow, I will do this. That just probably from you. Yes. That’s the best way to handle it. If you are out of practice and taking a day off and if you are a jump as soon as someone says something, try that for a day. I’m sorry, I’m I’m in appointments all day or I’m totally booked today or whatever wording you want to use that doesn’t say it’s a personal day or a work day. Just say I’m not available today. I’ll get to Do it tomorrow. And then after you do that for a while, maybe you’ll be okay with saying, I’m not working tomorrow, one of my clients jokingly and this is someone I’ve done a lot of business with. But I had sent my thing saying, Hey, I’m actually off today. So I’ll get to this first thing tomorrow was like, you were just at the beach. Lol. Sorry. Like I was at the beach like two weeks ago. It’s fine. Can’t you take a day off? Yeah, more than every week? I’m off again. Right? Yeah, I know. It’s crazy. Do you work seven days a week, right? Like most people most all don’t? And because we were not designed to No, no. Oh, my gosh, okay. But I do think I made my notes. It’s always a good idea to do a time audit. So how are you spending your work days like get get a time audit, do the 15 Minute increment or whatever one you want to do? Or just make notes of how you spent eight hours of that day. And if you weren’t using the time wisely. That’s why you’re never caught up. That’s why you’re not feeling like you can take that day off. But it is possible to do. Right. Okay. I want to go through your list. But I want to first talk about why do you think agents feel like they can’t take a day off? What’s stopping them from taking a day off? I think a lot of it goes back to that scarcity mindset and fear that they’re gonna lose something, if I don’t respond, they’re gonna go elsewhere. And I can’t help them right now. I mean, there are agents that brag about, you know, 10 minute response times all the time. And you can call and text me at any time during the day, and they think it’s like a, I am committing myself to my clients fully like it right badge of honor. Yes. But if you really think about it, it’s just not possible. No. Well, it’s not possible to do that and still have friendships. No, you still have a family as a family life and still have your say had ASL. Even though you just can’t Yeah, it’s nice. Oh, but for a while, I think that was very glorified. And I got, we’re shifting a little bit better towards recognizing that it’s not healthy, that it doesn’t need to be that way that it’s actually more professional, right to have boundaries, right. And I agree with the implement things into practice. But I can remember when I was new, I took a class like a designation class. And one of the guys at the table with me was just so first of all, he was wearing a suit and tie, so I should have immediately been like, you’re not people. But um, he was just so busy. And he was kind of new, and I was new. You’re like, How’s this possible? I’m like, healthy, so busy. And he’s just like, so fancy and telling me oh, yeah, I work every Saturday and Sunday. And I was thinking I need to work every day. Like I was thinking about, that’s the only way to be successful. Wow. Yes. That’s what success looks like is that you’re so busy. Yeah. How many times when you run into another realtor, it’s like, are you busy right now? Yes. Because we like we do like to gauge like, where are we? I think we have Yes, but to gauge. It’s just for a while. It seemed like busyness equals success. Yes. My third part of that because I read the same exam. Why they why realtors can take a day off fear scarcity and the super secret. Third, it’s competition. If you don’t close that sale, someone else is going to close that sale. If I don’t, if I’m not number one, someone else has got to be number one like you. It’s that little nagging thought in your mind that not only did I lose it, but someone else got it. I

23:44
have a nagging thought in my mind right now. What is it? struggling with it? I’m just going to share it please do like therapy. So last night, at like to eight o’clock, I got a text message and you responded. And it said, Hey, Alyssa, this is so and so I was given your name. Okay, so and so I would love to buy a house. Okay, let me know what I should do. Okay. Um, Tanner was working. And I was just like, honestly, I didn’t even think about it. I just responded, and I’m not gonna beat myself up for that. I think it’s okay. It was fine. It’s fine. And I said, Awesome. I’d love to help you. I love so and so I’m so glad they sent you my way. Did you have a lender that you were talking with? Or do you need help finding one? Oh, I have one. Thanks. And then sent me the address to house this is the house that we need to go see. Okay. I said awesome. Do you think that you could just have your lender send me the pre approval letter I always let sellers know that anybody I bring into their home has been pre approved and vetted. My email address. Yeah. He sent back. I’m not actually pre approved yet, but I know which lender I’m using. Once I get to that stage, you’re there. And I said no problem at all. I totally understand but to maybe tomorrow, you could get pre approved over the phone, it should take like 10 minutes, and then we can schedule a time to go see that house. Yeah. No response. It goes to you after that to me. So this morning after I dropped Haven off, I texted him and was like, Hey, let me know if you have some time today. I’d love to schedule that appointment for you. Maybe due tomorrow, just let me know about the pre approval letter. Their response? And I’m just like, oh, sometimes things like this make me go. Why did I answer last the client? Yeah, like you’re now you responded? No, I think because I’m sticking to my guns. house as soon as you’re pre approved. Now what you now you’re like, he’s gone. He got it. Because this wasn’t a random sign call where I feel though it was a referral. It was an actual referral. Yeah, but maybe he’s gone for something that you’re thinking about it one way, but maybe he’s gone because he’s like, oh, shoot, I really don’t have my downpayment saved, or I really am not ready to call and do my pre approval, and I just want to look at houses for six months and then do it. I know, in the back of my mind, I’m sticking to my guns, you should have not considered flexing don’t. But I think because it was a personal referral. Yeah. And I don’t like being like ghosted with Yeah, that’s at all fair. You know, it called working the call, I probably will. I’m not gonna follow up with it, because it just happened. And I would call the referrer, your text the referrer. And be like, Hey, just wanted to let you know, so and so reached out. I’m so thankful for the referral. I’m not sure if they were quite ready to be here. You know, get started. But I’m, I’m here whenever they’re ready. So if you run across them again, but it’s like it’s that same fear that you would get if somebody’s like, can we go see this house right now? Yeah, today, and then you look it up. And it’s been on the market three months? And today you’re off? Like I know, no, not today. But tomorrow, tomorrow’s okay. It’s great. Because you also have to be willing to deal with the ramifications if the house sells today. And you couldn’t show with until tomorrow and right, you might end up with an unhappy client or they might even dump you. But that that can’t be the reason why you work every single day that you that have the fear that the house won’t be there tomorrow. And if your goal is to increase business that one day, you might have 10 to 15 clients at a time. Yeah. And you have to have boundaries at that point, right? No way. You can just be letting fifth no people tell you what to do at any given Oh, yes. Because this is the one that I can’t handle this the saying make hay while the sun shines. Like we all think here’s a farmer quote for you. Yeah, we all think oh, it’s busy season. It’s busy time. It’s everyone wants to buy a house right now I have to sell all the houses. Because if I don’t do it right now, in a month, there won’t be any right. But that has 15 years in and I’m here to tell you friends. That is not true. Yeah, there might be a busy season, but I’ve never just all of a sudden had no business nano it besides COVID. And that was like literally a month and then it went bananas and it went crazy out there. So what we’re you know, like, that’s my, my big thing too, is because I do know there are a lot of agents out there right now that when you have some downtime, you don’t need to be watching Netflix. You need to be Yeah, clearing out your email communicating with your well. And you have to have systems. Yeah, if you don’t already have systems in place. That might mean for the next 30 days when you have downtime, you work on those things. And once you have systems, you can take a day off. Yeah, you can take a day off. That’s what’s so amazing about it. I know, I think that everyone also needs to ask themselves, What is your motivation to work? Like, why are you working? Why did you say yes to that? Why did you scrap your day off and go do that showing for someone that wasn’t pre approved? Why? I think that’s important. Yeah. Hey, Alisa. Hey, Katie, what do we mention almost every episode, email template, you’re right, we sure do. And after every time, we mentioned an email template, do you know what we get emails asking if they can have copies of the email template, send me a copy of that template I ever had would like that. That sounds great. And you know what the good news is, you can get all of our email templates from our course email templates, one on one, tell the people about it. Our course has all of the email templates you would need to send to your buyers and your sellers and your clients that are buying and selling at the same time. Exactly. To get through every step of the transaction and giving them information that they need for where they are in the transaction. It’s great because you never forget to tell them something. Yeah. So we’ve already done all the work for you. Yeah, we wrote them and you can personalize them. Yes. And just feel organized, knowing that you have all the information where it needs to be and if you purchase email templates, one on one you do get lifetime access. So Occasionally we like to go in and make updates based on the market or if we find a new best practice. So we put that right into the template and you get that updated straightaway.

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It just goes straight to your core. Yes. It’s already there. It’s just already in there. You don’t have to worry about it. We’ll

30:16
email and we’ll say updated. That’s great. Where can they find these email templates? You can find the email templates at email templates with an S one Oh, one.com email templates. One Oh, one.com. Yes. Head over for reviews and all of the specifics. Wonderful. Okay, enjoy. Okay, I want you to go through your list. Okay. I have it right here. I’m so excited. It’s funny, because like, I just was thinking about these things on my No, you hit the nail right on the head. And I want to tell you, because I know you probably didn’t go do a lot of the follow up. There were lots of reshares of that list on our Instagram. There were lots of DMS to the hustle humbly Instagram, there were a lot of people who this list resonated with greatly and we covered most of it back in episode two, the culture of the real estate industry. And it bears repeating now that we’re 57 episodes, we’re on episode 57. Right. It’s time for a refresher. So this is the list that I came up with a things that the real estate industry glorifies and accept, okay, and even promotes, promotes great work says, This is what you do. Uh huh. You work seven days a week? Yep. It’s okay to be on your phone at dinner or lunch or with friends not okay. It’s okay to have a million emails that are just unorganized unanswered scattered here or there some have been responded to some are trash some are not some need follow up now. Never doing your actual to do list. Like so. cereals? Who’s out there? Like I’m gonna like they want new business so bad. But they’re not even following up with the I know with what say it again? Yes. Okay. I’m working into the evening. 10pm texting, emailing at midnight. No time off. being attached to your phone on vacation. clients get your best families get your leftovers that makes me sad. Someone said that one time and it just made me go Oh, wow. Because it’s true. Like if you come home totally burnt out. Yeah, every day. Yeah. Like what are your kids even getting? Nope. Perception of success is better than actual success. Okay, you want people to think that you’re legit just right like we’re gonna pause there for a second okay the need to display your stats and numbers and figure out a way to make them even look bigger like the whole I’m gonna be the team leader and have Tony Jones below me and all the production is gonna go under me and then we’re gonna say we can add these figures of income this month Can you imagine even if you did you don’t need to it does that is not being heard. First of all that is not important to your clients. No, in the least no not at all that those posts are the same as the that the real estate section for I don’t know how many years and the newspaper has been read only by realtors. Yes there are no people looking through the real estate section going Wow look at all these Realtors making all this money. That’s exactly the perception. We don’t need the public to have a no look at all the money I made because that’s when they come to you and they’re like, discount your commission. Like you bought my house without you because you’re you make all the money. Yeah, yes. Go on. Ah, man. Okay, let’s see. I’m being on call. 24/7 No, thank you bragging when you’re busy. Yep. Feeling failure when you’re slow. Now that one is a struggle. That one is Yeah, I had to go do something. Yeah, that was like I’m slow. I feel like I’m getting sluggish. I feel myself getting into a funk. I need to get out there. Get out there. No client boundaries. Yep. One I didn’t put on there because I couldn’t think of how to word it was no peer boundaries. Oh, like holding your peers accountable I think would be a fair way to say that. Well, other realtors that do text frantically Yeah. At midnight or whatever. I mean, having boundaries with coworkers. Yes, that’s right. We live to work. Yeah, wanting more while neglecting the business. So you have finally got a client now I’m just going to never communicate with them or give them any updates while I seek new business. I think that what I would love for people because we’ve said it a lot of times recently. If you could envision your how you’re treating your current clients as lead generation, then maybe you would give it the time and and attention it deserves Yeah, like if you’re one of those agents or a team leader. That’s really into lead gen. Yeah. Lead. Lian is how you’re treating your current business because that is how you get referrals. Yeah. Leads and it’s not just just not a made up thing. Wow, that is really bad. Yeah, it’s okay. Like that too. Okay. Okay. Flashy post with misleading number. Oh, yeah, I mean, y’all. I try not to do this and honestly don’t do that much anymore. But I don’t know if y’all are aware of this. Other realtors can very easily go look at your production in the MLS. It is not a secret. So if you want to see if you want to pretend like you’re real fancy, and you’ve done all the business, like someone can we can all do math. But also, that’s not what makes you successful. Yeah. I just don’t understand. Like, it’s too much. It’s too much. Okay.

35:51
And then the LOOK AT ME mentality. Yeah, well, that’s all the same. I know. You’re the numbers. Look at me, check out me.

35:57
I’m so successful. Right? You should hire me, I guess. But like, I just would not hire that person. I wouldn’t eat but I would either think, yes. Okay, maybe this is a little, I just don’t feel good about it. But also, maybe they’re too busy for me, right? Like, I don’t Well, they’re really busy. And I or maybe I’m a sweet little first time buyer. And I’m like, I’m afraid like, I don’t know what I’m doing. And they’re like, you know, think I’m stupid? Or I just Yeah, yeah. Oh, that perception is reality, too. And dress for the job you want not for the job you have. That’s just a bunch of crap. I know that people just stop doing that. It doesn’t matter what your numbers are. It doesn’t matter what my numbers are today. It doesn’t like it just doesn’t matter. Right? Your clients only care that you’re going to answer their calls, and treat them kindly and make sure their transaction gets to closing there for them. Right. Your deadline? Yeah, in the loop with what’s going on. I have never because you know my system for taking like vacation like actual and I don’t take a lot of a maybe two to three per year where I leave town. And I’m not like available at all. I always tell every one of my active buyers and every one of my current listings, Hi, here’s the email, I will be gone from the state of this day. Everything is this is where we’re at in your transaction. We should be all good. Or this is what’s going to happen while I’m gone. It’s you know, you’re going to be falling. If you have an emergency. Here is my whoever’s taking my business. Here’s my broker’s number. Here’s my, you know, agent, friends number. Here’s the number. If there’s an emergency, you can call them you can do that without having a team. Yep. And then I say, I will check my email once per day. Yeah, for non emergency issues. Sure. I have never heard anyone toss any kind of fuss about this. And do you know what they do? Say? Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you will be on vacation. We will leave you alone. They are always apologizing to Wait, are you still are you still on vacation? I don’t want to bother you. When I dropped my ring. When I was on my honeymoon, it was the first time and I was a newer age. Yeah. So I was learning, right? No boundaries and everything. But my office may just I gave her my email. And I’m not going to check it and this and that. And I was so stressed out I was so nervous. Like, oh, I can’t do this. They need me. Yeah. And when I got home, I was like, so how to go. I only had like, you know, two things and they’ll pull that. Anyway, she was like, well, you’re $72,000 condo appraised for $64,000. I was like, what happened? She’s like, well, we just negotiated and came to an agreement. I’m like, like, I got this. Yeah, like she just handled it for right. And I was like, oh, okay, hey, she might have handled it better than you would have maybe but it was just, it just let me know. Like, we think that we’re just so you’re not irreplaceable now. Especially nowadays. Yeah, it’s fine. I saw a quote one time that said don’t kill yourself for an industry that would replace you in one day. Yes, yes. Thinking about the number of agents that are new agents every day, guys. I’m not in real estate anymore. Nobody would cry. No, they would just say, Okay, do you have someone else you recommend? Yeah, like they would not even right? Because we’re your self worth. We think that we are just it can no one else can do it. Nobody could do it. Like we can do it. Nobody can do it. But they can and it feels good when you realize that it’s okay. Okay, I wanted to talk about something else while we’re on this topic because I also don’t want anyone to beat themselves up. If you’re a seven day a work worker and like, you feel like you’re struggling with this and you don’t know how to fix it. It’s not your fault. It’s the fault of society. Yeah, because Americans Americans, not Realtors a marriage Kids have a problem with this. So I got a couple of staff, okay. Okay with about Americans and vacation time. Oh, good. Okay. And then I made a note, realtors don’t even get vacation time. So you’re your own boss. And maybe you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. But 54% of US workers, any kind of worker, okay, felt guilty for taking vacation. Wow, 54%. And then 41% of Americans take less than half of their allowed vacation days. On top of that, I didn’t write this one down, but they’re an on average American, like full time workers get 10 days of vacation. So that’s two weeks, right? 10 business days. It is by far the end, it’s not required by law. So just just come in. But that’s sort of what the average is 10 days. In every other country of equivalent, like status, all your European countries and, you know, Australia and all these other places. They were far and away disproportionate, they do 25 3040 days of government required vacation where your employer has to give you 25 days. Yeah, it’s in. So you’ll open your eyes to the fact that that’s not the way that’s just the way that we’ve grown up with. And that’s the way that we experience in America. But that’s overworking yourself to the point of physical disease, illness stress. Like that’s not what life is about. And that and you’re your own boss as a realtor. So you don’t even have anyone who’s going to say you get 10 days of vacation, right? You better be the one that says, I’m going to take some vacation. You have to it’s hard. I mean, like I understand it’s hard. I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s not easy for me, but it’s hard when nobody else is doing it. That’s right. But you could be the example that inspires motivate take the day off. Yeah. Tell the people when other realtors ask you, are you busy? Say I’m all right. I’m busy. But I went to the beach last week. Like don’t, yes, I’m so busy. I will tell you that, you know, in the beginning when you’re new and you’re getting heavily recruited and then like, after you actually sell some houses and they put your stuff everywhere and you’re recruited more. What I loved the most was that these people were recruiting me but they were surprised that I didn’t want what they were offering they were like way them that way. You don’t you don’t want to be the depending on what they were selling. You know, you don’t want to be the team leader team leader like you don’t you don’t want to be the broker. Yeah, you don’t want to be a broker. You don’t want to be able to get on a cruise ship for weeks and have a whole team just run your business and you don’t want to be a realtor that doesn’t actually sell houses. Oh, that is such as you as white, you know, they just like but really like I like the part where I sell the house. So I actually liked the people and then I found it would kind of backfire and I would have them be like well maybe I don’t want that either. That’s right, we just hear the same messages and we think that’s what we’re here’s my air quotes that’s what we’re supposed to do right? Like what are you supposed to do as a realtor you’re supposed to you know build your business then build a team then become a broker and have your own office like these are this is the ladder that you’re on but you don’t have to be on that ladder festival realtors that just sell houses Yeah, make good income yeah provide for their family Yeah, go on vacation have boundaries have boundaries, repeat. Yeah, that’s their goal. Their goal is their goal isn’t to live to figure out work and the real estate empire Their goal is like okay, well to live in this world I have to make some money so I’m going to go to work and then after work I’m going to be with my family you’re going to vacation it’s the perception is so off very that they forget that like yo I’m not living to do real estate. Yeah, I’m not looking to buy a Lamborghini and show it on Instagram talking about all the deals I did like that’s just not what I’m here for. No if you’re here for that you’re probably at the wrong wrong but also you do you Yeah, that’s not my but I’m just we can all assume that that’s the way and that’s the goal. Yeah, like my goal is to one day not work at all. Yeah, and just do what I want. I think my goal right now not just to not work at all because I do really truly love it. But I want to be able to say I take one client a month and you better be someone I really want to spend time with that were like so excited to work with me or and you’re the train will take you there whether you want it to or not if you stay focused. So the more years you’re in it, the more your business will come to you and it’s And then you’re going to have to put those boundaries in place or else you’ll have too much business to do what you want to do. Exactly. So

45:06
20 years in, those people are going to keep coming to you. People I feel don’t really think about it long term, like, what is your goal? At what age? Would you like to just take one client a month? Right? Downsize travel, right? What would you need to do to get there? I think about I mean, I just turned, you know, 31. And I think about that all the time. Yeah. I’ve been thinking about retirement since I was in my 20s. I know, you’re weird, though. I just have this vision that you are intentional. Now. You can do it. And like, yeah, there’s a an older agent in our market that I really admire. And she’s always just been so humble. And her numbers are good every single year. Yeah, but she doesn’t ever, like you could be like, Wow, what a great year thanks. Like, whatever. She’s not gonna be like, I know, you know, she just, it’s just, it’s just, she’s just working so she can go to the beach, right? But I said, Why don’t you retire? Right? She was like, I thought about it. And then like someone I really like or reach out, they keep you in and I let you know, I wanted to see them to do that. Because we don’t talk about this enough. The time you spend with that client in that 30 To 60 to 90 day window is like rekindling or creating a friendship like this. If you’re seeing someone you don’t see regularly, but that you love and or enjoyed or what you are literally spending time with a friend or you might have a new client that you just jive with, and things that is so fun. At the end, when I say I’m gonna miss you. I mean that like it was fun spending time with them. It’s like having a new friend in your life. And then you get to see more often so and she told me she was like, and my best friend is in the office and why she she’s not ready to hear you’ve said that before? Yeah, like, I gotta be here for like, yeah, support, hear from a friend and I just enjoy it. And I’ll go to the beach when I want to. And if I don’t want to take the client, I just say no, right? i Yes. That’s the dream when the client says, Are you taking new clients right now to actually say, I’m so sorry? I’m not Yes, but I have someone amazing to take care of you. Yeah, that’s what you need. You don’t need a team, but you need to know the amazing next person. Right? Where’s that business gonna go? Yeah, I think that’s good. I think that all of this is a mindset problem. It is 100%. And I wrote in my notes, mindset makes your schedule. One of the messages I got on Instagram was from an attorney. Yes. I was like, Girl is the same way. In law. Yeah, let’s talk they really preach the 80 hour, 100 hour a week and they have like timers. You’re right. They’re really diggin death. If you get up to go to the bathroom, you stop your timer, because you’re not getting paid for that. I mean, that is why crazy, but I’m like, Okay, talk to me. I said, So, I always preach in the real estate world. Like we’re not emergency room doctor, right? So if we miss a call, no one dies, right? So it’s not that big of a deal for in our industry for someone to wait, yet we treat it right. We treat everything with such a sense of urgency. Urgent. Yeah. I said, so in the type of law that you do. Do you feel like this stuff that you have to respond to? Is that is urgent? Like are you doing serious? Yeah. Case? Because I know there are serious cases, right? When something’s like that. She’s like, No, no, not urgent. Not at all. Yeah. But that is just how we operate. That’s how we run the office. We act like everything is just such a big deal. And right, everything is time sensitive. So then really, nothing’s important because it’s all because we’re all equally urges urgent. And so we don’t even know how to prioritize and the work environment is kind of in that’s really hard, though, when you’re fighting against an entire industry. So like you’re talking about law, but it’s very difficult if the whole industry is operating in that way. And in that mindset, like you’re gonna have to really work at working against that. And that’s why I have enjoyed over time, you know, I’m approaching 10 years in the business and I have enjoyed seeing people that were really kind of judging or, you know, hurt my feelings even in the beginning, like other realtors that were recruiting me people would say things like, Well, if you’re not a premier Zillow agent, you’re not getting the leads or if you’re not building a team, you’re gonna hit the numbers or there was just a lot of things set and I’m like, Why do you as a realtor even care what I as a realtor, right? And doing or how did it matter? It shouldn’t matter? Why do you even care go talk to your clients. Why are we talking to me but in the beginning, I had to do a lot of soul searching and self reflection and being like, are they right? Well, I think they have trouble know about it. That’s about they want validation on their lifestyle choice if you don’t want to do that too. And you’re already successful. But that’s the the answer to being more successful, then they’re going to have to give it some deeper thought. Yes. And I think that’s where it comes. And that is why and that can the validation has come with time. Because I have had people who have said things to me come back to three years later, and say, Hey, can I pick your brain about like, how you do this? Or right, you know, because they want a more simple life. Yeah, is more enjoyable. Yeah. That allows you to be happy with your family and allows you to be happy with your clients and stuff. Like, I hate all my clients. My job is so stressful. Now I’m gonna go home and be grumpy to my family. Right, my friend. Yeah. And work all weekend work all weekend. And so in the beginning, it was very hard to hear. And I was always wondering if I was doing the right things. But then as time passed, those people that were pressuring me so hard, a lot of them aren’t in the industry anymore. Wow. Yeah. Because you burn yourself out. Wow. It’s almost like the people that are pressuring you. Those are the ones you need to be the most cautious of. Yep, yes. And the more most concern for Yeah, they might need a prayer they do. Pray for them. Oh, my gosh, I’m so glad you made that post on Instagram crazy, because that really did spark some like, real response. And I think that it really spoke to me. And it was good that you put that out there. And so now we have it in in podcast form, so that everyone has heard it, and I have toast. Great. Are you ready? Yeah. Y’all gonna take a day off? Yeah. And here is our toast. So you may recall, in our birthday episode, we briefly mentioned the agent who quit her full time job yet to go pursue real estate full time after listening to hustle humbling, so humbly was super new. Yes. In our beginning, it was pretty early on. She’s like, Yeah, you motivated me to quit my job. So I got an update. Great. And we’re gonna test today. Yeah, because I think we’ve tested her before but this is this is the update. We’re toasting to demora Bolton because she is the one who left her job. She’s been killing it. This is Sarah Reed told me this. So she’s been killing it in the office. She’s been a top producer in the office for two months in a row. Oh my God, and they have over 80 agents in their office and she’s like killing it amongst them and so I’m really proud and happy that it worked out in case anyone was wondering she went from part time to full time and she’s killing it. Yeah, she’s she’s making it happen. Yay. So proud of her. So cheers to dimora we’re so excited for you and we’re happy that we had the update. Okay, cheers. Goodbye friends. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. Let us know who we should toast to for the next episode. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at hustle humbly podcast. If you have an episode topic or question please email us at hustle humbly podcast@gmail.com Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. See you next week. Bye. This is the goodbye

Two Realtors fostering community over competition through light-hearted conversations.

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