President's Perspective

The Real Estate Circus

Juggle, Balance, and Keep 'em Happy

Chris Reese
President

At the beginning of every year, the current president presides over a leadership retreat. The event is for the officers, directors, staff, and committee chairs to come together for an overnight stay to set goals, brainstorm on how to better serve our members, and discuss the current issues facing our Board. One of the duties of the president is to come up with a fun central "theme" for the retreat. My theme this year for the retreat was a circus, and I'll tell you why...

In thinking of a typical business day of a full time successful REALTOR®, it came to mind that we must master JUGGLING a multitude of tasks into every day. Many Real Estate trainers tell us to divide our day into thirds. One third, we should take care of our current business, one third we should do activities such as showing houses, going on listing appointments, etc, and one third we should be prospecting

for new clients. Doesn't that seem easy? How about dividing our day into 30ths? What about developing your website, measuring houses, writing fact sheets, writing ads, going to area meetings, learning that new technology tool, sending mailers, paying our bills, managing rentals, cooking, grocery shopping, putting up signs, lock boxes, cleaning your car, cleaning your house, yard work, your committee/Board activities, taking your kids where they need to go, etc?

We need much more than thirds to divide our day. Being a REALTOR® is a LIFESTYLE. How can we do it all? By working smart! We have to learn to JUGGLE a portion of all of our tasks into our day, all day long. We have to learn to prioritize and delegate. We have to schedule in downtime for ourselves, to turn off our phone, to relax, and recharge again for more tasks. We need to know when to say no, and to only work with people we are comfortable with. Like the TIGHT ROPE walker, REALTORS® need to maintain a happy BALANCE between business, social, and family time. If we put more weight on one, then whole ACT will suffer.

Finally, don't CLOWN around with your clients. Take them seriously. Represent them well. Keep them happy and they'll keep coming back.

By the way, our retreat was a great success. You have some amazing leaders this year who are looking forward to serving you well. They have set their goals and very enthusiastically are ready to get ON WITH THE SHOW.