How to maximize your time freedom, even while working as a busy Real Estate Agent.

Let’s pretend that we got to look at a day-in-the-life of a busy and successful real estate agent. We have a chance to be an observer for a few hours to understand what our fictional agent’s life is truly like.

 Meet Amy. Amy is a successful residential real estate agent in an average size city in America. She wakes up at 5:30am, checks her phone, and already has emails from clients. She races to the shower, starts to get ready and then checks on the kids. Time to get them up and going for school. The dog needs a walk. She is out of coffee. Oh no! How will she ever get through this day?

A client sends a text with long and important questions. It is only 6:30 in the morning. Seriously? She can’t stop her busy morning to answer that. She finishes making the kids breakfast and packing the laptop for the office. She drops the kids off at school and Amy races through traffic to arrive on time. On her way, she has already missed 3 phone calls. This day is so stressful already!

Our busy agent has several listing appointments scheduled and is spending the afternoon showing houses to a really challenging buyer.

I’m exhausted just reading this and we haven’t even touched on the agent’s time spent on texts, emails, in meetings, answering phone calls, returning voicemails, working on her marketing, lead follow ups, or managing her real estate transactions. And this is just the business side of her life. What about family obligations to her husband and kids, grocery shopping, cooking meals, cleaning, and running errands? The list could go on and on.

Even though our peek into a busy real estate agent’s day is fictional, it is not far from reality. Talk to any of your peers or take a look into your own calendar for this week, and I suspect, you’ll experience a very similar scenario.

I find that most real estate agents get pulled into tasks that seem very important right now, because we get so many emails, calls, texts, appointment requests, etc. that seem urgent and need to be handled right away. This constant sense of urgency means we don’t make time for business development, networking, reaching out to past clients, or cultivating new client relationships, even though we know that those tasks are critical to creating a sustainable business over time. 

Or listen to what my real estate agent friend told me last week, “I would look at social media and watch how my agent friends love to go on and on about how busy their day was. Post after post was like “I’m running a million miles per hour, I’m working out at 5:30 am so I can be going strong by 8 am, so I can do all the amazing things I do as a realtor”. The problem with all that is I know these women personally and they are freaking exhausted, and crying and literally questioning if they want to keep doing this weekly if not daily.”

What if there was a better way? What if there was a way to be a successful business owner, serve your clients well, and still have time for the things and people you value most?

I’m here to tell you there is.

I have been that busy real estate professional working 60+ hours per week. I have been the agent who wakes up at 2am and can’t get back to sleep because my to-do list is stressing me out so badly. I have been stretched too thin and overwhelmed and wondering if this was the right profession for me.

I had to teach myself better ways to maximize my time and productivity so I could find more balance and joy in my life. It took me several years of studying and researching and trying different things, but I love my time freedom now and I love my business.

I’m happy to share a few ways that I was able to change my relationship to my business that helped me. Hopefully these areas will resonate with you too.

My Calendar

I live by my calendar. Not in a controlling or negative way, but in a way that brings me both joy and success. I plan my workout times, and my morning routines. I plan appointments and meetings. I also plan fun events like date nights and vacations and friend time. I have learned over the years not to over plan it, otherwise it becomes overwhelming and there is no room for spontaneity. But I do use my calendar daily and I really enjoy it.

I use an electronic version (iCal on my computer and phone) as well as a small planner that I write my daily task list on. I am one of those people that LOVES crossing things off of her to-do list.

I use my calendar to plan long term and short term and of course daily and weekly. I also always pad my time blocks because things seem to take longer than you actually think they will. This little trick will add more peace and calm into your day because you’ll have extra unexpected time before and after certain tasks and appointments.

Time Blocking

This goes hand in hand with my calendar. Whenever I have a big project to work on, I calendar in a block of time in 1–2 hour segments to focus only on that set of tasks required to complete the project. I typically make a little ritual out of time blocking like, setting up my computer in a different space, turning on music, closing my door or wearing headphones. I look at the clock or set a timer so I know this is my dedicated time to complete this work. I also turn my phone off, or put it on silent but put it in a different room. The key to time blocking is to remove any and all distractions in order to set yourself up for success.

Boundaries

If you don’t plan your day, someone else will.  What does that mean? If you have a blank calendar and you are living your life carefree as can be, you are a target for others to inject their agenda into your day. Hey, I need a ride to the mechanic, can you take me? Hey, I forgot my wallet at home, can you pay? Hey, I heard you are going on vacation, can I crash at your house while you’re gone? I’m not talking about the times you are happy to help a friend out.

I’m talking about the fact that if you don’t have a plan for your life, and you don’t have a plan for your day, then someone else will gladly fill your time up with their agenda. People that are on a mission, who have a real purpose in life, do not have time for other people’s screw ups. They don’t have time to bail that friend out of another situation they totally got themselves into yet again. Live your life with purpose and on purpose and make sure your calendar reflects where you are heading and what you are accomplishing. It is ok to say no. It is ok to have priorities and allow nothing else to steer you off course. That is the only road to success.

I hope these quick tips helped spark some ideas you can implement into your own business. It is hard being a solopreneur and it can feel really daunting trying to juggle life and work and everything in between.

Click here if you’d like to learn more tools to achieve time freedom in your business.