The funny thing about being surrounded by Realtors is that you hear other agents constantly complaining about being slow and/or busy and at any given moment you could be one or the other. Talk about a bunch of Goldilockses. Truth be told, as the “busy” summer season approaches you may find yourself in either the too busy or too slow camp and if history is any indication you may be both at some point in the next few months. This episode is a great companion for both extremes. We are going to talk you through preparing for a busy summer season as well as what to do if you want to utilize a slow season to prepare for and ignite future growth. NOW is the time to be excited and motivated! Your mindset is the number one tool to survive summer regardless of the market! We can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this episode and find out what camp you are in.

We also want to say a huge THANK YOU to our listeners! It is because of you that we hit 200 episodes this week and we are forever grateful that you are here and still finding value in the show. It has gone from a small passion project to a full blown mission to reach and help as many agents as we can and every time you share the show you join us in that mission. Here’s to 200 more!

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

0:01
And she let me finish my whole spiel. She just smiled at me the whole time. And then she was like, Are you done? Looking back on the last two years, I did the best I could. But there are certainly situations where I’m like, wow, that was different.

0:19
They’re not posting on Facebook helped 600 people with their cavities this month. Raising,

0:27
it’s okay, because my vacation is in two weeks. And you will be there for that. Hi, y’all, welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie. And we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market.

0:42
We work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition. The goal of our podcasts is to encourage you to find your own way in business to stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Hi, Alyssa, Katie. Take a deep breath. It’s episode 200 200. Re lunch

1:03
with my sister yesterday. And she was like, What are no gonna run out of topics? I never, I said we have this long spreadsheet. And I said they’re constantly asking questions and requesting topics. And she said you don’t just tell them to go back and listen to this episode. Sometimes I said sometimes yes. But sometimes we just touch on that. But we could dedicate a whole episode to it.

1:27
Right. And some topics are worth revisiting. Yeah, I mean, think about all of the, there’s so many people that teach one thing that talk about one thing that do one thing in their life, and yet they talk about it over and over and over again. We’re like, getting really into each little part and peace and feeling and situation.

1:50
And just when you think you’ve run out of things, something happened,

1:53
someone asks you either a story, or someone asks a question. And then you’re launched back in. Yeah. But you know, it’s funny, she should say that because today our topic is a bit of a revisit. It is today we are going to talk about surviving the summer in real estate. Yeah, or setting yourself up for summer in real estate, or having a successful summer, how to be successful in the summer. And by summer, I feel like we mean, the busy season. Sure. Like how how do you get ready for the busy season? What do you got to do to prepare? How do you like make it through that? And we actually want to come at this from two angles, because there are two very different people. There are two different agents listening to this. The one who is like, yeah, I am right at the beginning. I already feel it happening. Like it’s getting busy. How am I gonna get through this this summer. And then there’s the agent who’s like, it’s just crickets out there right there. The market is hard. The inventory is low interest rates are still a bit high. They’re slow, they’re worried. So we’re going to try and speak to both of these people. Because being slow and being busy. Well, if you’re slow, you can do the setup while you’re slow. Sure. If you’re busy. You better have planned for that. Yeah. Now this is airing on June fifth. So we’re in summer, your we’re just it’s launching like, right our children have already.

3:24
School has just ended the coop of school.

3:28
And they are back in our laps. And some people are probably just getting out. You know, there are a lot of places where it’s more beginning in June. Yeah. So if you have kids and you you’re in it already. We wish you well.

3:43
Yeah. I mean, the other day, I had someone asking me, how’s the market? You know, like they always do? Oh, yeah. And I but I feel like this is the first year 2023 And this is the first season since COVID. Really? It’s just been normal that we’re getting back to that normal real estate cycle cycle. Right? Yeah, it used to always be there. Yeah. And this is the first year where I really feel like it’s starting to come back and I’m like, oh, yeah, I remember I remember the cycle. You you kind of start January February, maybe a little slower and then March April May gets busy, busy and then the summer is busy and then things start cooling down around football season and Halloween. You know the holidays? Yeah, the holidays and it slows and that’s what it always did before the last three years.

4:34
All the time. And every one was bad every once in a while you’d have a busy December but it wasn’t like every month all the time. Go go go Correct. Okay, which is a great reminder, we recorded a couple of several episodes that you and I then re listen to to fresh in our minds. But episode number 33 is preparing for busy and I will tell you this when you tell Hey, this is what you wanted to record. I was like, I don’t really get it. Because I’m not as high of a volume agent as you are. So I was like, I mean, I know what it feels like to be busy, but I’ve never thought about preparing for it like getting ready for it’s coming. Get ready, hurry. So I really listened and I thought they were going to kind of go through the laundry list of things you should do, including laundry, that really helps you prepare for that season when you don’t have a lot of extra time. Right? Yeah, then there was episode number 57. Take a day off. So when you have a slow moment or slow season, maybe it’s a good time for some self care and taking a day off. And then number one or two vacations, a how to guide. That was great, because we hope that you’re able to prepare enough for this season that you can also enjoy your family vacation or some time off in the summer. You know, it’s not meant for you to work straight through the busy season. But we have to prepare. Yeah, it’s not too late to prepare.

6:04
I think it’s also a good time to remember that we talk a lot about your season of life. And are you You know, what are you doing? Are you raising little kids? Are you taking care of elderly parents? Are you just single living your best life like what’s going on? But also, it’s not just about our season? Summer as a whole? is kind of everybody like everybody has a little bit of a change of routine in summer? Yeah, whether it’s their time to vacation, maybe they do have kids and they’re out of school? Or maybe they’re just, you know, I,

6:39
I bet you know, so many sellers list in the spring, right? They start in March, it gets pretty heavy in April maybe even continues into May a lot of listings coming on the market. I always have this conversation every year with sellers. That is Wait, no one came to see the house this weekend. It’s been a week, why isn’t anyone here? And I’m like, Okay, well, it’s May, they’re at graduation, they’re doing the parties, they’re doing the end of the year stuff. They’ve got school things and dance recitals and all the you know, wrapping up all the things. They’re busy, then it’ll be the summer and it will be like, you might have three showings on one day. And then you might have no showings for one week. And they’re like, what’s going on? I’m like, it’s the summer that people are traveling. They’re moving around. They’re doing what like, I can’t predict everyone’s schedule in our market. Right. But I can predict may gets to be weirdly slow sometimes because they’re all busy. I just

7:38
had a client asked me to write a contract for mid June. Okay. But we’re recording this in early April. Right. And so I thought, Why so late? And she said, Well, we have three graduations in May. We’re hosting one of the parties. Like we just need some extra time. Yeah, before we can really focus right so now go Okay.

8:01
Make sense? Yeah. Yeah. So there’s a lot of I saw this Holderness, the Holderness family or if you follow them video where he does this whole song about May timber, like how May is like December, you know, in December, so many events, so many parties, so many like holiday things that may is if you especially if you have children, May is that thing, you have all the things that so many things, events and recitals and debt, this thing, oh, the thing, right, all the things. So it just makes me think about that. Before we kind of launch into the list of how to prepare. I did want to mention to Episode 17 is what to do when you’re new or slow. So if you fall into the category of not busy Realtors right now, that’s the one you want to go use to figure out what you want to do. Right, right with that extra time.

9:00
That’s one of my favorite episodes. So good. So many Oh, good. Like when I listened to it now, I get really motivated. You’re like, oh, yeah, that’s a great idea. Because you’re doing all these things that right now. Yeah, I love that.

9:13
Okay, what do you want to start with? How do you prepare? Were you preparing this year? Are you doing anything different? Well, this

9:18
is my first year to have Haven and kindergarten. I always had daycare life up until this point. So this was the first year I had to figure out summer camp that you missed the deadline for right right only to find out that we are grandfathered in because we attend the school. Oh, only closed now to the pump. You’re like, oh, I went in and begged my case. And they were like you’re in and she let me finish my whole spiel. She just smiled at me the whole time. And then she was like, Are you done? Because you’re in?

9:51
Oh, well, it said no, no more, right.

9:55
I said, Well, this is my first time so I didn’t know that. She was like You okay, yeah, sure. At fine, but then, like with summer camp you pay per week. Yeah. So if I’ve never had to plan so far in advance Yeah, I’m not really that great at planning that far out in advance. Yeah. So

10:14
you figure out your vacation. Did you figure it out?

10:18
Somewhat? Yeah.

10:20
We have some some things penciled in. Yeah. Well, always a pencil on the calendar. I’m glad that you mentioned that, though. Because that was when I’m on number one things. And even if it’s the beginning of June, and maybe you’re like, Well, I’m already in the summer. You really have to look at the whole summer, or the next few months, however you want to do it and get that pencil out and your calendar or your, you know, Google Calendar and be like, okay, where what goes where? Right? Because your calendar is going to determine where you have time to take off where you have time to vacation? Where should you be putting your closing dates when you write your contracts in the spring, like, you need to be thoughtful about all of that as a whole. So I think calendar, upkeep is crucial right now.

11:12
Right? I also thought Now is not the time to be over committing Hmm. All right. So when you’re being asked to do things or serve on certain things, just really ask yourself, Is this serving me? Well? Is it something I want to do? And do I have time for it? Yeah, it’s not a project time. No, no, no, not start any big projects right now? No,

11:33
it’s really hard. You know why? It’s hard, I think because summer, especially if you have children who are out of school, summer is the time to slow down. And most people like a to fivers or like summers, the slow downtime, we take more days off, we spend more time outside, we’re really like, enjoying our off time. It’s vacation, right? Like the whole vibe of summer is vacation. Then if you’re a realtor, it’s almost the exact opposite. It’s like, oh, this is like the the hustle season. This is the season where you got to be working and like you have so many people who need you and you gotta get this stuff done. I don’t have any tip or advice for how to straddle this line. But you’re basically being pulled, like in two different directions. You are the rest vacation and the worker at work.

12:21
Yeah, yes. I know. It’s tricky. That’s why we’re kind of talking about tricky, and we’re not here to say we have all the answers, you know,

12:28
but we don’t have a list of ways to get ready. If you feel like you need to like you know, get your mind. Right.

12:33
Yeah. And even just acknowledging that in our profession. Yes. Just a real struggle. Summertime. Yeah, for sure. Because we do want to embrace it and we want to be present. It was funny, because someone was like, Oh, you need to read the book. 18 summers, have you ever read it? Oh, gosh, no. Well, I read it. And it left me feeling so sad. Yeah. Because it’s really just about how you have 18 summers with your children. Yeah,

12:58
I don’t really. I don’t, I don’t want to anyone make me feel guilty. Hey, write about my lie.

13:04
No, it was actually a pretty good book. But I was telling my parents about it. And they were like, well, you’re 34 and you still go on vacation with us.

13:14
I was like, they were like, Alyssa, I have bad news for you. Your kids are never gonna stop being your kid. They’re still gonna be your kid. Right? Then they’re gonna have kids, right? And then those kids will be like your, they were like, That’s not true at all. They were like, they were like, quit your cry. It’s gonna be fine.

13:32
That make sense. Thank you. I needed to hear that. Right. Forget the book,

13:37
right? I mean, look, I really think it’s probably wise to be mindful and thoughtful about the fact that your time as a parent of this age child is bleeding, right? Like it’s not, they’re not going to be five again, next summer, there’ll be six or what you know what I mean? But at the same time, there’s pros and there’s cons to everything. So if you want to lean into pros, great. If you want to leave and lean into the cons, you’re probably not my people, but Okay, fine. But you can say, you can be both things, you can be aware that it’s fleeting, and like, I can’t also just, like, be paralyzed. And am I doing enough? Am I spending enough time with them? Did we do enough activities? Did we schedule enough for the summer? I’m a child of the 80s. We did nothing. I literally feel like some days of my summer I watched grass grow.

14:35
I remember the Nickelodeon commercials that would stop and say, go outside. Right. We’ll be here when you get right. So

14:42
I was the generation before that where they were like, come home children. You’ve been outside all day. Right? Where are you? Where are you? There was no GPS tracker on me. I was gone. Long gone down the street. There was rules like literally come home. When the street lights come on, like, Oh, nice, tense a different time. And then I feel like as Realtors one thing that I was thinking about is,

15:11
you know, the mythical mystical. I don’t know you tell me the rest of it work life bound. Mythical, mythical work life balance.

15:19
Mystical two. Yeah. It’s both. It’s not right.

15:23
But anyway, we’re trying to achieve it. But we’re like the three bears. We’re like, we’re too busy. I’m so busy. Oh, I’m so slow. I’m sorry. It’s very rare to find a content, realtor.

15:34
And that’s all mindset 100% Mine, you can do 90 transactions and be content you can do 12.

15:39
Yes. What do you like? How are

15:43
you? How’s your mind? What do you think? It’s so funny, because the beginning of Episode 33 Guess what the number one topic and the number one thing we wanted to talk about was our friend mindset. Then I was listening to 57. And then here it was, again, mindset. Yeah. I mean, if we had to rename this podcast, it would just be

16:01
mindset. Yeah, the real estate mindset. Right, right.

16:05
It’s just because it is how you look at it. And in 33, we’re talking about exactly we’re saying people are unhappy when they’re busy and slow, and like they don’t know how to be motivated and excited. And it’s just, it’s crazy.

16:21
So many realtors are operating from a place of burnout, okay, and burnout doesn’t just come when you’re super busy. No, burnout can come when you’re very slow, and you’ve been slow for years. It’s never taken off. You’re just stressed out, right? You’re working and operating from this place of just burnout. And you think, how can I take a vacation? If I’m this slow? I don’t deserve it. This and that. But right. You just need to walk away from it. Yeah. So that you can get some fresh perspective through How is my biz? I’m just gonna stop all the madness of all these things. I have been trying. Yeah. One of my really good friends has been a realtor for a few years. And she kind of like ebbs and flows. Okay. But it’s always been kind of a struggle, okay. She’s also an introvert. Okay, that was hard. Yeah. But she said, I just got asked to lunch with this vendor, okay. Who is you know, obviously trying to get business but was also like, I want to see you crush it in real estate. Like maybe me and you can partner together and like, go door knock and pass out certain things. And I said, Well, did you say no? And she said, No, I just stared at her with this horrified look on my face, like, Whoa, I don’t want to do that. But um, it’s just like, she said, there has to be a better way. I said, there is a better way. If you should, you should check out this podcast. It’s called the hustle hopefully. By God, but it was just like, you sometimes you need to step away from everything. Yeah. All the things that you are thinking I should do these things. I should do these things. I even just recently, it’s not really work related. It was more like personal things I’ve been thinking about. Okay, I started a list in my phone. Of it’s titled, things I wish I did, but don’t.

18:20
Okay, great. I can’t wait. Are you gonna tell us though? Oh, yeah, I

18:23
could tell you a few. Let’s see. Let’s see. So I wish

18:25
I did. But I don’t, but don’t. Um, was it like a hobby

18:30
would? Um, okay, so I wish I was better at tracking my money weekly. Oh, okay. I always say I’m going to do it in my app. But what happens is I don’t and I let it go to where it’s so backed up that it takes me like an hour and you’re like that doesn’t sound fun. I just push it off. I push it off. Okay. I’m

18:54
so on the edge of

18:55
my seat right now. Okay, so I do work out at 5am Not by choice. Okay. Okay, the only time I can do it ever since Haven started kindergarten in August, I used to go to the 615 class. Okay, I got home at 715 I showered I got the kids to school by 815 What time you have to wake up for that? You don’t want to know Okay, early. So but what happened is if you don’t go to the 615 class, the only other option is 5am. So I go and then I come home and I go back to bed theaters like how do you work out like that and then go back to sleep and I mean, I I set my alarm for 17 minutes after I rinse off and I jump back in bed as fast as I can and I sleep. I dream in the 17 for 17 minutes. Like he’s like I have never met someone like you that can just snap their fingers and fall asleep. I like that anywhere. Yeah, I’m like, for sure. Okay, so anyways, but then I’m always like rushing a little bit to get out like don’t want to eliminate your 17 minute nap. Yes. And every day when I’m when I’m leaving the gym in the car, I’m like, I’m not gonna go to sleep today, I’m gonna, I’m gonna like just make my coffee and stay up but, but then by the six minute drive home, I was like, I’m home. I know my bed is calling my name and teen are still asleep and I just want to go to bed. So I just went off and I get in bed but then the mornings rushed. So anyway, okay, that’s on the list. So, like I said, these are all personal things. Okay. I have a book that I’ve been reading that’s more self healthy. Okay, I wanted to start reading a few pages of it at night, but I don’t. Okay. They’re someone I’ve been wanting to ask to coffee, but I don’t. Anyways, my whole point is, instead of being on the hamster wheel of real estate, I gave a personal example. Thank you for my stance. I was funny. Um, instead of being on the hamster wheel. Yeah. My whole point with the friend is that she’s always feeling the pressure of performing and of I should I should write these letters and maybe I should go door knock and I should do this. I should do that. But that should at some point end. You should be your find your groove. Yeah. And the business starts happening. Yeah. Okay. So if that’s not happening, right, even though the business is not thriving, you may need to shut it off anyway, for a minute, reset leader reset? Yes, clear your head of all the noise and be like, What is something that I keep saying, If I would just do this? I know it would be better. For example, I have been on one of my realtor friends for years about having a good clean database, okay, just get your database clean. I promise you, you’re so good with people if you could just have you’re gonna be great. And she always wanted to, but just couldn’t. And one day, I was like, open your laptop right now. Put one in there. It’s kind of going back to that atomic habits. I just said, Right.

22:05
I’ve just like doing it right. In a small thing. Yes. Okay.

22:09
I’m sorry. I feel like this has been so tangent t but it’s, it’s important. It’s fine. And it’s also it’s about letting your brain have some quiet time. Okay, so that you can find your focus. What is working right, but more importantly, what is not working? Do

22:26
you know what I took a note for your last preparing for busy episode? was being mentally prepared for clients? Yeah. How can you be mentally prepared for clients, like there’s got to be a moment where you stop and recharge and reset, and like live your regular life. And then you come back into your real estate business and you say, Okay, now I have the energy to fill my database. But if every day is a struggle, and every day, it’s the only thing on your mind or the majority of what you think about an every day, you’re worried about your job and your business, then you’re never giving yourself the room to breathe and then come back to it feeling recharged to tackle the thing that you’re putting off? Correct. Okay.

23:13
Hey, Alisa. Hey, Katie, do we mentioned almost every episode? Email Template? You’re right? We sure do.

23:19
And after every time, we mentioned an email template, do you know what we get

23:24
emails asking if they can have copies of the email template, send me

23:28
a copy of that template? I 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 I want to tell the people about it,

23:39
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

24:08
if you purchase email templates, 101, 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.

24:22
It just goes straight to your core. Yes.

24:25
It’s already there. It’s just already in there. You don’t have to worry about it. We’ll

24:28
email and we’ll say updated. That’s great. Where can they find these email templates? You

24:33
can find the email templates at email templates with an S one Oh one.com

24:38
email templates. One Oh, one.com. Yes, head over for reviews and all of the specifics. Wonderful. Okay, enjoy.

24:49
I want to go back to the calendar just briefly because I’m going to try and check off some of the things on our to do list. These are just things you can do when you Know you’re about to hit that busy season, but pre schedule your open houses and vacation. So when you’re doing that calendar overview, and I also was I was thinking about this, like, you know, it would make more sense to do a calendar Overview When you do your business plan in December or January. Yeah. Like everyone who takes a vacation to anywhere you have to book usually does the months in advance, right? Like if you’re going on a travel, you know when that is like, but you can also start to add in the other boulders, right? Sure. So the big thing is, you know, you’re going to do are the dates I put the dates of when school starts and stops in my calendar in January, like not, not a win, I know it’s two weeks away, like you gotta go out. Okay, then make sure you have that time off scheduled. If you haven’t taken a full week off of work ever, whether you can afford to go on a vacation or not. You really need to like that is a reset. Oh, yeah, you can do a staycation it is possible. If you’re not working enough to make money to go on a vacation, I get it totally. But you still have to stop, turn it all the way off, and then come back to it the next week refreshed. So schedule that. And when you’re writing your contracts, if you’re a busy agent right now, then make sure you think about that summer schedule. We mentioned that. The other thing about scheduling that I wanted to mention that I loved when we were when I listened to the older episodes, you should set up your auto responder now. Yes, what is it going to say? Do you want it to go out every day of summer? Hey, during these months, you know, I’ll have limited access to contact but I can I’ll be on email once a day. Or if you’re on vacation, what who? Who do they contact, it’s not you. The auto email should be like, here’s my the agent who’s covering my business. If you have an emergency call contacted them. Here’s the contact info, I will read my email once a day, whatever your procedure is, go ahead and type up that email that Vacation Responder and then you can just slide it to on and slide it off. Whatever you need it you just taking one day off? That’s fine. Use it, use it. Use your auto responders. So that’s

27:16
a good time to go into your settings and set up the auto texts. Yeah. So if you get a phone call, and you can just press that button that says hey, I’ll call you or, Hey, I’m out of town until Thursday. Please shoot me an email till to this. Yeah, yeah, just having that. You can also edit your voicemails. Yep. So that if you’re on vacation, you can put your phone on airplane mode, right? Still take your photos, but your phone is off. Yeah. And then instead of it ringing and ringing, they just immediately get your voicemail that says, hey, it’s Alyssa. I’ll be out of the office until Thursday. If this is about real estate, please send me an email to a Jenkins blah, blah, blah, right? It’s so simple. It goes back to when you are busy. Or when you’re on vacation. Or when you are spending time with your friends and family. The client just wants to be communicated with okay, that’s exactly all that they want. They just want to know, when can I expect to hear from you? Because if they call you and they don’t hear back for a day or two or three hours, some of them? They wonder where is she is she still in real estate? It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in real estate for a year. Yeah,

28:27
auto responders are thinking occasion. And I wrote that exact same note communication can never be cut out. No matter you’re busy, you’re slow, you’re on vacation, you’re taking the day off. They have to be communicated with in some fashion. So auto text is great if you’re like going to hit the button or if you’re going to have an auto responder in your email, but they have to be communicated with.

28:48
And on the scheduling note. You gave a tip back in how to take a vacation. I really like to hear it. It was about when you get back from vacation. Make this first full day home and office say oh for sure. No appointments. No, I get back at 10am on Monday. Can you meet at noon? No. Like no let yourself get home, get settled. Get your email tidy. And whenever you said you have to be mentally prepared for client. I can remember in the like pit of the busyness that was the last two years if there was a buyer that called and was like I think I might possibly want to buy it. You don’t want to right now a little piece inside of me died. Like I was just like, I have 27 buyers right now at my house and we’re losing bidding wars and the thought of throwing in another one. But if they ever called on an office day, I was just at my computer I was ready to talk to them. I was ready to give them my spiel I will I sent your like, I can handle this. Yes. And I am thinking about just the whole point being whenever you are super busy. Or even if you’re just really slow, yeah, being at your desk at a computer, light a candle, get your favorite coffee or tea or whatever. It really does just attract the energy that you need for when that phone rings, right for sure makes you productive. Pick up some phone duty shifts. Yeah, just make yourself available in the office. Because it’s really hard to take that call when you’re not prepared. You’re gonna sound frantic, and not welcoming to new clients not going to sound like you want to work with them. People can pick up on where you’re at. Looking back on the last two years, I did the best I could. But there are certainly situations where I’m like, wow, that was different. You’re like I did not do we just had to go with the flow because things were moving so quickly. I was sending you know, buyer rules out as quickly as I could and trying to educate first timers on on like the fast track like, hey, normally I would coddle you and hold your hand. I’m going to ask you to buckle up and trust me. Yeah. I don’t have time for this. Right. We have to like, if you really want a house and you have a deadline, I’m gonna make it happen. You just gotta trust me.

31:22
I’m gonna jump, right? Yes. Okay. Yes, ma’am.

31:25
So it’s nice. Whenever you your systems are working. Yeah, everything’s in place you for sure. Yes. Do

31:33
you want to do some of the quick list of ways to get ready? Yeah. Okay, I’m gonna, I’m gonna run through them super quick. You can also go back and hear them again in Episode 33. Clean your car. Get routine car maintenance done. Clean your house, clean your real estate signs and order new ones. If needed. Clean out the notes and downloads on your phone and computer, clean off your computer desktop. Just did that. Clean out your database, update your CRM if you have one. Check your Trello and update, edit or create buyer searches as needed. Go through email, delete, unsubscribe, create and edit your email templates, order office supplies, paper, ink folders, etc. Stuff your buyer and seller folders, check lock boxes are functioning and clean by additional if needed. And your self care get your hair and nails done. Beautiful. That’s a great list your full list of how to prep for busy.

32:30
And so in that too. I wanted to talk a little bit about whenever you are busy. And that can be with work or just your personal schedule because it’s summer. This is not the time to let things slide. Okay. So if you like to get in your database, and check in with people, even if you can only do two a day or a few a week. Yeah, just again, it goes back to atomic habits. And realizing that the littlest things yeah can make the biggest difference. So if you can get through summer and still communicate with your database, yeah, the last two summers, I failed to send out my LSU. Matt. Oh, did they notice? Yeah, yeah, they were upset. And I feel I just felt out of touch with my database. Yeah. Even though I was still kind of working my way through them. I didn’t do a big mass mailer until Christmas. Yeah. And so Christmas was actually it was harder to clean out the database, because I hadn’t done the first clean out. Yeah. And so that’s one of my goals this summer is if you are in a big sports town, yeah, get the magnets out, set a reminder, you know, July 1, to check the schedules and see like, I send this out to my database. But now is not the time to let go of the good habits that I brought you success. Yeah. Because then November, December is going to be even harder,

34:07
right? Well, that’s what happens. The in this in the cyclical nature of nature, real estate agents do a lot of lead generation type activities, marketing type activities, when they’re slow, right? Then they get some business, they stay fully focused on the business and getting those to closing. And then when the closing happens, they’re like, Oh, well, we’re the next clients and then we start back on. No, they should be that has to be dispersed. Like you have to be checking in on your database on a regular basis, not just when you need new business. That’s not going to work. And so you have to kind of give yourself space for that. Yeah. And that might mean that you can’t take every client during the summer but it will mean you’re going to have clients throughout the rest of the year. Right. Okay, I had another note that said just because you have free time doesn’t mean you need to fill it with work that busyness, busyness, doesn’t equal success. So we talk a lot about what are you doing doing during your work day. And part of me and even thinking about myself knows, I could probably have still reached out to my database, even though it was a busy season, right? Are you like you’re making choices every day? Like, what are your priorities? So maybe you can’t go on as many nice long work lunches in the summer, if you want to do your database work and deal with all your busy like your actual business being busy that you have to make choices. Yeah, like, it’s not going to be in this in the cyclical nature, it’s not going to be the same in every cycle, right? I just thought that was important to remember. And then this gem of a gem from Episode 57. Mindset makes your schedule. Oh, I

35:46
love that. It does. It does.

35:49
Your mindset will make your schedule, what are you focused on? What do you give priority to if you really wanted to go do that thing? And it’s in your calendar, and you do it and everything else? You’re like, I can’t I have this thing? That can be anything. Yeah, it’s whatever your mind. So if you’re like, Oh, that’s a vacation day, like I cannot do that

36:07
thing. Right? Lunch with me. I can’t reschedule that, right.

36:11
And then you know how people say, when you go out of town, that’s when that’s when the business really picks up?

36:16
It does. They’re like, if you’re slow, just go on vacation, and everyone will need you.

36:19
There you go. I mean, but you have to have a plan in place for that.

36:24
Well, speaking of vacation, you had made a comment on the vacation episode that I thought is so true. When you go on vacation, if you don’t communicate well, you’re not really at risk of losing your sellers. But that is when you lose your buyers. Oh, for sure. Yeah, how many times I’ve gotten it all the time? Well, I have an agent, but they’re on vacation. And so I didn’t want to bother them. So I’m calling you because you’re the agent on the side. So many times, it does happen. And so you do not have to always tell people, I’m going on vacation. But if that’s your plan, you need to be able to respond to them. If you’re on vacation and say, Hey, I’m actually out of town. But don’t worry. I have a colleague in my office that is available to show you houses while I’m out. Or you can say hey, I’m going on vacation. But please reach out to me. I know. And I will make sure someone can show you that house. We said don’t worry about being a bother. You’re never a bother. You know what bothers me when you don’t call me and you call someone else. Yeah, that’s what makes me sad is

37:33
I think I am never a secret vacation taker because I want to like tie up all those loose ends before I go. And I don’t take that many vacations. But if you tell your buyers, I’m going Sure. Here’s who you can call. If it is an emergency and you need to see a house, I will check my email or I will check my text once a day or whatever you’re willing to do or can do while you’re gone is your business. Right? But if you don’t tell them and you’re just relying on yourself to be next to your phone while you’re gone. That’s not one really a vacation. You’re on call still. You’re still on call and to. Let’s say you’re having a moment where you’re like, Well, I went swimming.

38:16
I didn’t write my phone with me. Right, right. Like, yeah, oh, I

38:18
missed it. And then they call the zillo agent. It’s because you didn’t tell them where you work and what to do communicate. It’s so so important. You know what

38:27
I love about what you said, though, is that when you say here’s who you can call, there may be agents out there. They’re like, but I’m not on a team. Neither are we know, but in times where I have gone on big vacations or maternity leave, or my honeymoon. I was never on a team. And so I just had a colleague and my office and we trade when she goes on vacation. I help her when I go on vacation. She helps me right. It’s not hard. I didn’t even we don’t even pay each other because it’s reciprocal. No, I just help each other

38:59
agent in my office just like a month ago went on a very long like 10 day trip to Germany. Wow. She’s gone for a while. And she was like, Hey, I have this one particular buyer right now that’s really active. There was nothing else like that was super active. They’ve seen these two houses, and I think they’re deciding between them to make an offer. But I may be in the air. It’s a long flight. Like, can you I’m putting you on an email with them. Can you help them out? And I’m like, while I’m going I’m sure no problem. Yeah. They didn’t end up making an offer on either of those houses. But they did want to see one. Okay, we went into the showing, but they had already been linked up from their agent and to me in an email that said, this person is going to take care of you. It’s going to be great and then I responded with happy to help here. Yeah, this is the new here’s my contact info. You know, whatever you need. They didn’t feel uncomfortable reaching out to me because it wasn’t like an afterthought. Oh, this so and so is is is handling my business, you can call them what they were introduced to me like, right? Don’t go somewhere else, just this is no unique call any

40:09
kind of goes back to being the boss and having your buyer rules sent out a few, you can copy and paste those buyer rules from the template and use it a few different times, right? Like you could use it the first time that you have a conversation with a buyer, even if they’re not pre approved yet. Yeah, you can use those buyer rules anytime, right? Because the goal is that once they have reached out to you to buy a home, you need to let them know, I will be your agent and I can help you with any house at all. Any of them. Right? Very important to don’t be losing your buyers when you’re out there trying to live your life. No, they don’t mind waiting for you. But they would like to know they have to what is the protocol? What do I do? They don’t know what the protocol,

40:56
honestly is communication, communication, communication.

41:01
Anytime that I hear a story from an agent. It’s rarely the public that I mean, the public may have made the error, but the question is always why. And that’s what I asked myself is, what could I have done to that they would have understood why they shouldn’t have done? Yeah. Did I explain the process well enough? And that’s actually how the buyer rules evolved? Right? I didn’t tell them how to do this or that or yeah, let me add that to the buyer rules, right?

41:27
I yeah, I it’s so important that they don’t, they don’t know, and it is your responsibility to teach them and guide them. Let’s also talk about what the industry promotes. Because we go through all the things you’re really good list in that in the in the episode 57. And they take a day off, like what the industry promotes being available all the time, you know, never telling your clients you’re not there, like you know, your numbers and this and that and the other and you know, you need to have a real estate empire and build a team so that you can take a vacation and go live on a yacht or something like that. I don’t know what’s happening keeps going. But they’re like you build a team. And then you can go to Europe for six months, and your business keeps on going blah, blah, blah, whatever. You This is what you said. And there are many successful realtors that just sell houses, make good income, provide for their family, go on vacation have boundaries repeat. So true, though. There. It’s it’s so simple, so simple. And you’re like them. Their goal isn’t a real estate empire. It’s

42:36
a sustainable business that allows me to live the life I want to live,

42:41
right? Because I think sometimes when we get to the busy season, people also default to the oh, well, maybe now I need to build this team or do that still is more work, right? It’s a different type of work. But and we just talked about this recently. But yes,

42:57
I guess solo episode would be a really good one to go back and listen to why

43:02
it should have just been out so good. I mean, right? You guys just heard the journey. But I just thought that was so funny that you’re like, there are lots of successful realtors who just sell houses, go on vacation, right? Have boundaries, that’s all repeat. Like this, is it? There’s not that any there’s no secret. There’s no secret. There’s no secret. In that same episode, it was September of 2020. Okay. And my goal. I said, sometime in my career, I hope my goal is that I could say, I can work with you. I can’t work with you. And I could work with like one client a month. And I was like, Oh my God, you’re doing

43:44
that and doing it now.

43:46
It’s been three years since we record, my business has changed. It has changed. And I’m like, I have reached my goal. Like I didn’t even I put it out there. And then it hadn’t been and yeah, I’ve just like wow. And then it also just like, brings into light like 200 episodes later, like these things are still true. And AR and our businesses have changed and grown and evolved. And we’ve gotten better at the things that we’ve taught on the show. Yeah, it’s just really interesting and grayed out. There

44:15
were so many things listening back to episodes from years ago that I was because when I was preparing, and I thought this is we could just replay this. It’s such good information. And it’s like I said it, I should know it and I do know it but hearing it again you’re

44:33
you do know you should eat healthy foods and work out like you do. You still have to be reminded and sometimes it takes you hearing the same message many times over before you have an aha moment that says Oh, I know how to do it. Right. You know, like, I knew I needed to do it but I wasn’t sure how to do it. And so I hope that they some little nugget has come up for you today. If you’re listening that’s like, Oh, I see. I see how to do it and Not just that I need to do it or like, I see that maybe my mindset is stuck thinking, I can’t do it. But I really, there are agents that do it. Yeah. And do it. Well, I mean, this summer should be a time where you can do both, like, hustle and get the work done, but also relax, and maybe it’s more of a work hard play hard vibe in the summer. Yes. Like, you got to work super hard. And maybe you’re not doing like all those. That’s why you prepare for being busy. You’re not doing all this nitpicky stuff during the summer, I’m not like cleaning out my database and ordering extra office supplies and stuffing extra No, I am getting the work done that I need to get done. And it’s, I’m working hard. And then I’m turning it off completely. And then we have to go out and swim and play and write and be and do like and go on vacation and

45:51
time. Right? I had now is the time to trim the fat. Is it necessary to be doing this right now?

46:00
Can you just put it on your schedule for later or make a to do list in your notes that says after summer? When things slow down, dot dot dot and then put the thing that you went to go do and then you realize I don’t have to redo my website right now? Yeah, it doesn’t mean it does maybe now is not the time it does need to be done. And you would love to have a new website with your new colors or whatever. Just put it on the list. Things I’d like to do when I’m done with this season.

46:27
I guess what if you never slow down to do those things, then they were never necessary and

46:32
needed, then you’ve had to mentally you’re just running a business. If the business is running and making you money, then the website wasn’t necessary, right? You’re

46:40
fine you’re doing it is fallacious is just

46:43
like you with your social media. And you were like, sometimes I get really stressed about it, I need to do it. I’m like, What are you using it for? And you’re like, I don’t I don’t know, I feel like I’m supposed to have it like, Do you need more clients? And you’re like, No, and I’m like, I don’t know why. Never, never add something to your business just because you think you should have it. But you can’t prove how it’s going to actually grow your business. They’re

47:06
so pretty. Pretty things out there. Who cares? Me sometimes I know. I

47:12
mean, yeah, what I love my website to look beautiful and be updated every week with a new blog. Sure, maybe. But if your business is running the way you want it to run, and it or it’s running to where you have more than you can even take on in this season, then you don’t even need to do those projects, and even

47:31
project okay, if it is a very busy summer for you, or it’s a slow summer for you, but you’re home with your kids, right, you could utilize a newer agent in the office for a project. If you know that you want your website up and running. If you know that you want something done over the summer, if you know you want your magnets mailed out for your sports team, ask a newer agent in your office. Hey, would you mind if I paid you to do this for me? Yeah. And then it’s just your time is more valuable than money so much of the time, so much of the time, and it is so worth it to utilize some other resources and ask yourself, am I working efficiently? Is this stuff even worth it? Yeah. And

48:16
also, you have to, you have to sit with yourself and decide what part of your life are you going to spend doing this and that and what is it valued at? Right? Yeah, well, is it more valuable for me to take that hour and go take a nap so that I feel refreshed for the next day? And maybe then I should pay someone to do this? You get to choose? Yeah, what do you value in this season?

48:41
You know, Enneagram, three over here. I do my best to

48:44
mean the person that naps for 17 minutes. Just whatever

48:48
I could do, you know, I try to catch myself when I’m being hard on myself for not doing enough, right. But I have a really good friend who is with a different company than me and we’ve just been friends a long time. But they’ve had they’ve been solo. They’ve been on a team. They’ve had a team, they’ve been over an office, they’ve gone back solo, they started their own all the things okay, but always a big name in real estate. Okay. And I was looking at numbers the other day and it was like, Whoa, what happened? You know, where do you go? So we had lunch I message because I’m like, I’m worried about you. You okay for it? And you know, why are you so wired? You’re selling real estate, your life must be over.

49:36
Your life must be Oh.

49:41
Okay, okay. I’m gonna need therapy. Um, so anyways, we had lunch and he was like, No, I have been doing this other thing. Yeah. And I was like, oh,

49:52
like a thing. They don’t record the stats of some referee.

49:57
And I’m like, are you okay with that? Or Are you worried that people will think you have failed?

50:02
He’s like, no, no, no, not at all. Because this he knows he’s fine. This is the message for people who are so far in it as we have been. If you take yourself out of real estate, you look around and realize, in most careers, no one notices what the other people are doing. No one is waiting or comparing themselves to the other person’s production. No one is no other field. Are people so obsessed and aware of what the other people in the field are doing. I’m

50:38
over here basing my friends health on there enough, right?

50:42
I don’t know how many patients every dentist has. Right? They don’t like maybe they do. I don’t know. But there’s not some bit like they’re not posting on Facebook helped, you know, 600 people with their cavities this mom raising, but they they’re like, because they work and they work during their office hours, they go home and they enjoy another life. Like we have to realize that it’s not just the one thing, right? It’s not just the one thing are you

51:13
doing enough to provide for your family? Right? Are you taking time off to spend with your friends and family? Yeah, you should place value in that. The reminder is that we are also one of the very unique jobs where it is our job to maintain our relationships. Yeah, it is our job to check on our friends and make sure they know that we’re good and that we’re present and that we’re there to help if they need it. Yeah. And to grab a glass of wine with the long lost girlfriend like, those are the people that we’re supposed to be checking on. It is our job. It is our job. What other career can say that? I mean, we’re a relationship career, so we should not be neglecting our friends and family. Oh,

51:54
never. Do you have any other thoughts about preparing for the summer?

51:59
I was sitting next to a realtor in CEE the other day as she had gotten a text that was well, okay, I’m sorry, someone called her. Okay. And then she immediately while they were calling was texting them back. And she was like, how does this sound? She was a new agent. And it was really cute. But she started off with Hey, I’m so sorry. All like capital S Oh, so sorry. I’m in a C class right now. I can call you after I said, we’ll delete that first sentence and just say, Hey, I’m in a C class, I’ll call you after? Why do we feel like we have to be sorry, whenever we’re unable to answer the phone in that second when again, they just, they just wanted to respond. Yeah,

52:42
I’ll let you know later. Yeah. Hey, Anna. See class. I’ll

52:45
call you later. Oh, man. So don’t feel like you have to apologize for taking time off. Hey, I’m so sorry. I’m on vacation. I’m so sorry. I’m at kindergarten graduation. Right? Like, just, it’s okay. Everyone’s fine. Have you ever noticed in the grocery store? How

53:03
many realtors are selling houses while they shop? This happens to me all you don’t go the grocery anymore. But in the target, especially if I’m in the target seekers target is like my happy place where I’m just tooling around for an hour and like, you know, zoning out, right? And that hell here these agents? Well, we could do this about the repairs, blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, can you just shop and do that when you’re done? Right? Like, did you have to do it right now? I want for you to be able to shop and the target and peace.

53:35
Right? Please. I know that I already shared the story before about Well, I’m just gonna share it again. So please talk about it. Okay. So one of my friends is a lender in town and she I really think she does a great job because she said relationship based, okay. She doesn’t do online leads, she just is wants the relationship, okay? An agent who she didn’t know very well approached her and was like, hey, I want you to be my go to lender lender. And she was like, right, I would love that. I would love to be your go to lender. And she was like, Alyssa, I’m so naive. And then I got this email. And it was like register. And so I registered and then the next day was Saturday, and I was in the grocery store. That’s what made me think of this story. And I got my phone just went off and I didn’t know what it was. And it was this new noise and it was like oh, so and so has sent you will lead and it was my new, my new, my new my new best friend. So I thought great as soon as I finish up here. I’ll check this out. Well, when she was in the checkout line, it was like this has been reassigned. She was like wait and so she got in the car and she called the agent was like Hey, I don’t I don’t know what happened. I said that you had sent me someone but then they went away and she was like, oh yes, this program I use for these leads, and it goes to you. But if you don’t respond in 10 minutes, it goes to my number two. And she was like, you can take me off this shopping piece, right? This isn’t gonna work. This is just not going to be my quality of life.

55:20
Good for her though, for saying you can take me off, take me off.

55:25
I don’t want to be your number one. Yeah, or two, right? Especially if I only have 10 minutes before, I’m your number two. Oh, man. But I just thought it was really funny because that is the expectation that is placed on us so much of the time. Now, I will say even though I don’t go to the grocery store, and I get my groceries delivered, yeah, I usually have the same lady that delivers them every time and I sold her daughter, a condo worked out great. And then whenever they closed, I added all this extra stuff to my grocery wire. Okay. And so it was like Lysol wipes, macaroni and cheese, toilet paper, paper towels, like a candle. And so when she dropped it off, I said, Hold on a second. And I quickly grabbed those items and put them in a bag and handed them back to her

56:14
like this is for you.

56:16
This is for your daughter moving in her condo. She’s like, Oh my gosh. So anyway, even if you’re you guys are so whether you’re at the grocery store or having your groceries delivered, you

56:27
can Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love that. Yeah. Okay, anything else? Do you? Do you have a trip planned for the summer?

56:36
I have? Well, yes, I have to at the moment. Okay, great. Both at the beach right now I like to so whenever we schedule our family beach trip, I quickly schedule my girls beach trip right soon after a cushy like run them together. Because it helps my mindset with the children, right to know that you’ll get to guess so that when they wake up at 6am and then they want to go to the beach. They’re not ruining your vacation, right? And then they get sunburned and they get sand and their diaper and they have, you know, sand in their ears and they get stung by a jellyfish and they’re crying because they need a nap. But they don’t want to nap. I’m like, It’s okay. Because my vacation is in two weeks. And you won’t be there for that. I’m here for you right now. Right? This is your vacation and I’m here for it. I love it. And I’m okay because I know in three weeks, I’ll be back at this same place without you. And I’m gonna sleep till at least 830 And I’m gonna grab a book and go out on I don’t even bring a book. I tried one time to bring a book on vacation and it just ticked me off. Yeah, I made it like two and a half paragraph. And I tried eight times to read it and they are just so nice. They are needy. They don’t want to sleep well. Oh, it’s such a small window. I found some affirmations for slowing down.

58:04
Oh my god. Let’s hear them. Not like you know. Hold the phone. Alyssa brought affirmations get ready.

58:13
Sometimes. You know you need things for yourself. Yeah, sometimes in this podcast therapy. I’m speaking to myself.

58:20
I support this message. Things go okay.

58:23
I am taking the time to simply be love it. I’m making the conscious choice to slow down. I am enjoying the journey. Oh, that’s

58:34
a good one.

58:35
I choose to live at a comfortable pace. Oh, that’s a great one. A comfortable pace. I really liked that one because that could be anything like your pace could be different than my pace. I’m What exactly am I racing toward? Oh, that’s a good one for you like affirmation? Quite legit.

58:55
That’s a that’s a Enneagram three question for

58:58
sure. I don’t know. Like I don’t what’s what’s the hurry? I am steady and aware. I’m breaking the habit of busy. Oh, okay. I’m enjoying the people who are in my life right now.

59:12
Oh, love it. Love it. Oh, that

59:14
was a good one. I think that was it.

59:17
Okay, and I have one I recently heard I might have mentioned it on the show the other day. But it was from Kristin one of the coaches that I follow online. She said, the more fun I have, the more money I make. Oh, I like that. Like, like she was like the more fun and when you think about that in your business though. The more fun you have, the more money you make it through. If you love taking your database to coffee, you’re gonna make more money that way. If you love knocking on doors, then you’ll make more money that like the more fun I have, the more money I make.

59:53
Yes. So no matter where you are this summer. I feel like this is what’s going to this gonna set the tone for your year. Yeah. So how are you? How are you handling things right now? How’s

1:00:05
your mindset right mind your mindset mind your mindset and your mindset. Are you ready for a toast? Yeah, okay, great. Today’s toast comes from Kate Moore who would like to toast to Christine Pierce. They are both in Golden Isles Georgia. Okay. Okay. Coastal Realty. Okay, she and I so Kate says she and I both got our real estate license around the same time in late 2021. Oh, maybe they’ve missed those early episodes of the show. Oh, yeah, me I’ll go back lady. Back. We are at the same brokerage and we just clicked from the get go. We spur each other on a business getting together to set goals and brainstorm how we can grow our business and motivate each other. I introduced her to the hustle humbly podcast and we both love it and our faithful listeners. I’m so proud of how far we have both come especially proud of Christine for being Rookie of the Year for the golden Isles Association of Realtors. I am so excited for what is to come in the future and for both of us as Realtors beautiful. Thank you Kate and cheers to Christine.

1:01:07
Cheers, Christine. The Rookie of the Year. Amazing. Amazing. Okay, that’s it. Goodbye. Enjoy your summer.

1:01:17
Enjoy your summer. Enjoy your summer get a tan.

1:01:20
Yeah. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. If

1:01:24
you enjoy this episode, please go to rate this podcast.com/hustle humbly and leave us a review or drop a comment if you’re listening on Spotify. If you have an

1:01:33
episode topic or someone you’d like to toast on the show, please email us at team at hustle humbly podcast.com

1:01:39
Find us on social media at hustle humbly podcast. Don’t forget to find all the free resources at hustle humbly podcast.com/resources See you next week. This is the goodbye