Why Everyone Needs Personal Time

How do you handle the expectation of being available 24/7? How strict are you about doing business on your “personal time”?

A lot of people think that to be a great agent you need to be available 24/7. I used to tell my clients to call me anytime. Guess what would happen? They would call me all the damn time! When you make yourself available 24/7, you clients are going to call you 24/7.

When I first started in real estate, I didn’t have any personal time. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off and late to appointments. I was all over the place and I was working at all hours of the day and night. The problem was, I wasn’t being productive.

And then I got an assistant. My assistant helped get me organized and through that process I recognized the importance of work hours and personal hours. A lot of agents are so afraid that they are going to lose a deal because they aren’t available 24/7 and that’s just not true. You have to communicate and be transparent. I was upfront about what clients, vendors, and colleagues could expect from me. If they called during non-business hours, I would return their call first thing the next morning. I set up an outgoing message so people knew that I wasn’t ignoring them and I was consistent about returning phone calls promptly.

You absolutely need to set aside personal time for a couple of reasons. First, if you are always available for your clients, then you are neglecting your family and friends. Your family and friends are your support network. They are the people you can lean on when you are having a bad day. Don’t sacrifice and neglect those relationships. Secondly, if you are working 24/7, you are going to burn out and you’ll end up resenting your job. Take time to enjoy life outside of real estate. You’ll be a better person and in turn a better agent.

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