When I was growing up, my mom (Pat Pope) was a hard-working, top producing Realtor and my dad (John Pope) was really her biggest support system.
While holding an open house, mom would arrive early to get the house properly set - curtains open, lights on, all of the usual stuff. To do it without pressure of people arriving when she was unprepared, my dad would place all of her directional open house signs out for her.
And at the end of the open, dad would pick up the signs so she could leave when her stint was over. (Realtors: ever have trouble getting out of an open house because people kept seeing the signs and just kept coming?)
We live in an area, Silicon Valley, where older homes just don't always have air conditioning. So to further support my mom's work, dad would actually bring her by a cold drink on a hot day, usually a chocolate milkshake.
Making her comfortable and easing the pressure with her open houses was always a priority for my dad, who often brought work of his own home on the weekend (he was an attorney, now retired).
In my real estate life, I have also found a
tremendous amount of support from my husband and kids.
Sometimes it's been a matter of running flyers out to a post box on one of my listings. Sometimes it's running a keysafe to me if I've accidentally left it on the charger. And sometimes, much more demanding things have popped up, and my great husband, Jim Handy, has been ready to be at the rescue....
A few times I've been sick and there were just plain things that
had to be done, but I couldn't do them. The worst was when I awoke with Chicken Pox late on a Saturday morning and had an early open house. I believe it was during baseball playoffs or the World Series. Whatever it was, I could not get a replacement. It was the first weekend of a new listing's open house. What a nightmare! And to make it worse, this was in a "farm area" where I was getting established. So I really, really wanted to do the open house that weekend. But there was no way.
Jim, my husband, did both of the open houses for me. Since he could not legally answer any questions, I typed up a Q & A sheet with frequently asked questions. For years afterwards, people who lived in that area commented on the fact that my great husband had bailed me out when I was feverish and blotchy with Chicken Pox.
My kids have often been good sports about waiting for this or that because of my work, whether it was phone calls taken on vacation or soccer games that I sometimes had to miss (though fortunately, hardly any!). Now I can pay my son to do the signs for me ($5 per sign per day is a good deal for him, and I can now leave when the OH is done).
When we agents make sales, we get the paycheck and the compliments at the office. When we have a good year, we get certificates or plastic statues that are engraved with our accomplishments. We may get our picture in the newspaper with a big congratulations.
In my life, though, I've seen firsthand that
none of us succeeds in a vacuum.
So I'd like to just take a moment and acknowledge that "I couldn't do it without you, honey".
And I think on this Father's Day, I'll thank my dad again for being such a
great support system to my mom while she was alive. I think I now appreciate all that he did for her even more than I did as a teenager.
Thank you, to
all of you supportive spouses, family and friends. You make what we do possible.
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I could write a book to offer accolades to my spouse, and support to your post, but for the moment I'll keep it short.
My spouse is also wonderfully patient with me as I am building this business. When I come home after a trying day, she builds me up, calms me down, or just generally encourages me to just keep doing what I'm doing and being who I am.
What more could a spouse ask for in a friend. Very good post, Mary Pope-Handy. Sounds like you've chosen a winner!