There was a surprising amount of real estate talk!

Let me preface this by explaining that my mother is the youngest of 8 kids, there are 18 grands and all of our spouses and respective kids.  It's a large group and rather noisy at any function!

So my dad and I are residential broker/owners, my cousin is a local builder, and another cousin is a real estate assistant.

The cousin who is an assistant is new to the assistant world.  She's a CPA by training and has been doing the books for a local real estate office until recently, when a RE/MAX agent in her town approached her to jump ship and come be her organizational skills!  So she decided to take advantage of the flexible hours, took a pay cut, and made the leap. 

She was asking me today what my assistant has done to improve my business...and I couldn't name anything. My assistant is GOLD to me, she implements my systems and does what I ask, but isn't the proactive sort.  Which is fine, she just isn't.  She wanted to know what I valued and what I would change, because she wants to impress the socks off her rainmaker agent and sees an opportunity for either making this full time when her kids are in school, or working as a VA down the road once she has her chops.  Lots of potential. 

I got tickled when she mentioned my Christmas card, and that her rainmaker got two ideas off of it...the personalized stamps from www.zazzle.com that have my website in lieu of a photo, and the return address stamp from www.stationerystudio.com.  Two very inexpensive marketing things that have a strong impact-they get my mailings OPENED. =) 

She's thinking of getting licensed, so that she can handle anything handed to her, and won't have to cut herself off short because of license laws (she's very ethical and was appalled that some unlicensed assistants step over the line).  So she asked me what one thing I would tell someone who has just gotten their license and wants to be successful.

I stopped and thought about it.  It's hard-I have a million little ideas and things that I've learned over the past few years, but the ONE thing?

Taking control of your life.  That would be the one key that I feel is essential.  Setting working hours and telling clients what to expect, how and when to reach you.  Setting expectations about weekends and evenings.  Not being afraid to lost a prospect over prioritizing your life. 

It took me a long time to learn and implement that one strategy.  I burned out over and over again, afraid that I would crash and burn if I didn't answer the phone at midnight and didn't work every single night and weekend.  Not knowing that my clients would understand, if expectations had been properly set at the beginning of a client relationship.  Not knowing that I would NOT starve if I treated my schedule as a professional should.

And do you have to hit burnout to learn this?  Do you have to be established in your business before you can set limits on your time? Nope.  Do it from day one and you will surely be amazed.  I have increased my business every year since going full-time and I work less and less each year (as in quantity-I think I may be working a little smarter now).  And that's a pattern I can live with-and my husband can live with-and my kids can live with.