Real Estate: What do you do when you're not Busy? (Ocean City, NJ)
Let me start topic by stating that most of us tend to slack off a bit, or a lot, when we're not busy. We all tend to be quite strong in responding to "being busy," but when we encounter those "more frequent than not" slower times in real estate ... what do we do?
Let me start my thoughts by returning to my first career (32 years in public education in Pennsylvania) with 17 years as a high school principal and four earlier ones as an assistant high school principal and one as a middle school principal. My jobs were varied and often arrived at my desk without warning. My work with students, teachers, district administration, parents, and the rest of the stuff were often arriving to be settled right away. But what did I do with those "off times" when I could move into those other issues that were always out there.
Back to real estate ... we have our very busy times with listing owners, buyers, rental tenants, closing deals, etc.; but what do we do with our off times. Obviously, a critical component is "to plan for these times" and write work items down so that one can refer to these as needed.
I might go further to the extent that how we handle those "slower times" tend to be the best for the very organized and able which helps that group to make their job roles that much more meaningful throughout the week, the month, and the year.
An example: I enjoy writing, but it is not a major part of my real estate role. But I do a great deal of it by "finding off time" to complete my weekly and monthly newsletters, to write my ongoing "Active Rain Blogs," and to catch up on some important reading that I clip out in a special folder.
Even scheduling a day or two per week for a couple of hours playing tennis outdoors during most of the year, but indoors for about 4-5 months too. That is scheduled so that I have also planned for a relaxed break, a good workout, and some off-schedule fun time with a special group of tennis players.
Let's wrap it all up by saying: planning is the critical role for real estate agents so that they can easily maximize those slower times by addressing useful tasks that will help in many ways to reduce some of that down time.
(Dustin A. Peters is starting his 23rd year in real estate in the resort community of Ocean City, New Jersey. He would appreciate any and all comments regarding this blog posting.)
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