I have been a Realtor now for about a year. I was a teacher with a teacher's schedule for 14 years (lots of vacation time). My husband, still a teacher, set up a few short getaways this summer. I have great support in my office, if anything came up, I was "kept up to date". My clients were always able to get intouch with me, I had my cell, and would check my email nearly every night.
After the summer was done, we begin thinking about next summer, and a 3-4 week trip Back East sounds great. But how do I schedule it? Who will cover all my clients, escrows, etc? Should I plan no closings for a month? How do I make my clients wait for their home, until I get back from my "laughing place"?
I begin asking other agents in my office, how do you vacation? Take "a week here, and a week there". But they admitted that during that 'week', they are always attached to techno-touch (email, voicemail, etc.). My question: Do you ever just go on vacation for a week, and turn off your "reach out and bug me" devices? How do you keep up with your business, without a "lull" 4 weeks later and no scheduled closings?
A year ago, I contacted a Realtor I ran into 8 years earlier at a vet's office. As we talked about the new field I was getting into, she told me of agents she had known who put their business before their families and ended up in divorces, out of reach teens, and even a family suicide. She begged me, with my two young children, to always put the family first.
Three things I have come to realize in my short year as an agent:
1. Real estate is like teaching: there is always something else that has to get done. My solution: Set a time that I go to bed, leave the office, not schedule as many showings in a day, take a weekend off and not do an open house. Go home early to have dinner with my family.
2. The only thing I will really miss when it is gone, is the one thing that I think will wait around for me forever. They don't, children grow up and leave, and spouses? My Solution: With a flexible schedule, set up a ritual of dropping the children off or picking them up from school, work for several hours in their classroom, be at home to help with homework at least several times a week, take a sport/hobby up with your child, so you have some things in common and can communicate.
3. When taking time off, you are always needed the most. My solution: Come to the realization that that ISN'T true. It is just the time that you are most aware of not being able to meet the needs of your clients and are more sensitive to their contacting you. It's okay to let your clients know you will be gone for a week, two weeks, and have a second agent's name and number ready to "cover" anything that may "pop-up". And then, don't answer the phone, just let it go to voice mail, and return only true emergencies.
I am lucky, as real estate is not my sole income, so I can afford some flexibility. I think about others who don't have my luxury. How do you take time off from you business? DO YOU?
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