It struck me once again today. 

My workload of appraisal files reaches the end, coming down to the last 2 reports.  I am once again thinking, "Ok - tomorrow, I will start my marketing campaign to {INSERT NICHE HERE} to try to shift my workflow into more stable avenues!"  And then it happens.....

5 new orders arrive into my mailbox!

Now you would think that I would be super happy with more work, right?  Well - I am of course, as this is how I pay the bills.  But I KNOW that I need to shift my work into another niche in order to get better fees, more rewarding assignments and align myself for what I see will be a better long term future.

Yet my pressing need to 'pay the bills' once again screams louder than my small little voice which is telling me "invest the time into marketing to a new client base"

Have you ever been there?  A plateau of mediocrity - that just seems to sustain you - but from which you cannot get to a place of truly flourishing?  That is the meaning behind my title "just busy enough to fail"

Appraisers, we know we want to get more education, get better clients, get better more rewarding work, etc.  But when we have families to feed - we just keep working the grind don't we? 

We all know WHAT to do - marketing, education, and more marketing. 

If your current workload is keeping you on that plateau.  Stop for a couple of days.  Finish those last few orders and take 2 days off and do nothing but pull the trigger on the marketing campaigns you have been thinking about for months - yet never seem to 'find the time' to pull off!

We have to make a LEAP sometimes, to get off the plateau and find our way to the next step up.  INVEST in yourself and your career - and MAKE the change!