Taking Real Estate from Hustle to Harmony: CHAPTER 2

When we say yes to something, we're inevitably saying no to something else, which is why effective calendar management is critical for real estate professionals. Your calendar directly reflects your priorities and correlates with your bank account—successful agents plan like business owners by blocking time for consistent prospecting, appointments, and follow-up.

A peak into this episode -
• Start by scheduling faith, family, and non-negotiables first, then build business activities around them
• Improve by just 1% daily and focus on beating your personal best
• There's no such time management—only activity management
• Schedule income-producing activities during your peak energy hours
• Approximately 70% of your business comes from effective follow-up

If you're finding value, please subscribe, follow, or share to help impact as many agents as possible. Next week we'll cover Chapter 3 on lead generation—an area where most agents struggle.

Chapters

• 0:00 Yes vs No: Calendar Control
• 3:31 Building a Business Owner Mindset
• 6:47 Creating a Productive Daily Schedule
• 10:51 Managing Activities, Not Time
• 13:54 Seasonal Thinking and Future Self
• 16:58 Lead Generation Preview

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

When you say yes to something, what are you saying no to? That is chapter two of my ebook and today I'm going to read that to you and I would love if you're finding value, if you would subscribe, follow, share, whatever you'd like to do to spread the word, because I really want to impact as many agents and really almost anyone could listen to this chapter. Don't even have to be real estate specifically. It's helpful for all people, for sure. All right. So chapter two when you say yes to something, what are you saying? No to? Run your calendar or it will run you.

Speaker 1: 1:28

My first year in the business was by far the hardest the learning, anxiety, uncertainty, fear, freedom, success, failure. It was all a lot. Every day and every transaction was different. It still is and I remember coming home one night. Hours passed when I said I would be home and my husband said to me I don't care about the money, it's not worth it. I said I would be home for dinner and once again a showing came up and I said yes to the showing and no to my family. I had not learned about locking my calendar and setting boundaries. That no is a complete sentence.

Speaker 1: 2:20

It was clear I didn't have the tools or emotional IQ to handle all the extremes ups and downs that accompanied real estate. I had so much to learn. It was once said to me we are only selling real estate. We aren't performing brain surgery. To me, we are only selling real estate. We aren't performing brain surgery. No one is going to die. So why did it feel that way to me when things were headed in the wrong direction? Did I care too much? How come I felt extreme happiness one minute and like I was going to throw up the next? You see, it took months and years of training to get to where I am today. I now stay very neutral and I go into solution mode. I understand I am only in control of what I can control. I can't control my clients, other agents, inspectors, appraisers or loan officers, etc. I went through some really tough situations and learned the hard way. It shouldn't be that way. It doesn't have to take years to learn what should only take months. Make sure you surround yourself with the right people who will fast track you and your success, people who want to see you thrive, not just survive.

Speaker 1: 3:45

Your calendar says a lot about you. First, if you look at your calendar and then look at your bank account. There's a direct correlation between the two. If the results are not what you want, what are you doing about it? You see so many agents don't know what to do about it. They play around on social media, send some text messages, maybe make a few calls, and still nothing happens. This is where your business plan and calendar come into play. This is a business. You are a business owner. Your calendar should reflect your business.

Speaker 1: 4:26

I see agents all the time with lead generation blocked off on the calendar for one or two hours and when they show up to prospect they don't know what to do. Then they spend 20 to 30 minutes trying to figure out who to reach out to and much of their time is now lost and nothing moved forward. This is where your calendar is so important. Sit down Sunday night and plan your calendar for the week. Plan like a business owner. I have many of the activities on repeat each week. Much of your calendar you can create and set on repeat your prospect.

Speaker 1: 5:08

Time when you're available for appointments, non-negotiable activities, lunch, follow-up calls all of it. Remember Follow-up calls, all of it. Remember. Consistency equals success. You can't have one without the other. Monday what are you doing? Who are you contacting? Tuesday, wednesday? Be specific. Have the list names, numbers pulled and devices charged and ready to go? For some agents this all seems a bit extreme, trust me, I saw more people come onto the team and leave within weeks because the level of accountability dumbfounded them. Now I encourage you to take what resonates with you and apply it to your business. You can leave the rest here for someone else.

Speaker 1: 6:11

A typical day back then when I was building my business 815 to 845 in the office, script practice, objection handling with a partner or on the team I also had three script partners I worked with at different times throughout the week 9 to 11 am, lead generation specific for the day, and in my calendar this time was sacred. This was non-negotiable. Nothing and I mean nothing interrupted this time. 11 to noon follow-up If there was a team meeting or brokerage meeting, the follow-up would move to the afternoon, noon, lunch, 1 to 6 pm appointments, which included showings, buyer consultation, listing consultations or prepping for appointments. If I didn't have any appointments, I did more lead generation or follow-up to fill my calendar. My goal when I was 100% in sales mode was to have 100 conversations or more per week with people who didn't yet know me, I mostly did this with a CRM and dialer. If I didn't hit my 20 per day in the morning, I would continue calling go door, knocking whatever I needed to do to find people to talk to about real estate.

Speaker 1: 7:38

When planning your calendar, start with faith, family vacations and non-negotiable events. Put these on your calendar first and simply call them an appointment. Color code each category so at a glance you see what the day or week entails With vacation. Let your clients know when you'll be having an upcoming vacation, when it's planned, and put a backup plan in place. While you're gone, you don't need to explain your calendar to your clients. If you have your son's baseball game at 6.30 pm on a Saturday and a client wants to schedule a showing, your response should be I have an appointment during that time. Would five o'clock work? I have found that some clients won't honor your time with your family or may not see it as important as you do. That's why it's simply an appointment. If an emergency comes up, like any emergency, you'll move things around and make it work. This is the exception, not the rule. After talking with and coaching hundreds of agents, I know everyone's path looks different. I am grateful for the well-rounded experience I have and can bring forward to help other agents, for the well-rounded experience I have and can bring forward to help other agents.

Speaker 1: 9:07

I have learned that competing with yourself and beating your personal best is key. It's one of the keys for growth, building self-esteem, confidence, creating great habits, strong decision-making, setting standards and meeting and exceeding goals. It's essential for all of it. If you beat your personal best from yesterday and get 1% better every day, your business will grow. Therefore, your calendar is very important. When you show up and follow your calendar, you don't have to think or decide what to do. It's done for you.

Speaker 1: 9:50

Don't feel like doing it? Yeah, I've been there. There are many times I didn't feel like doing it. You do it anyway. Regardless of how you feel, I can tell you that most of the entrepreneurs in the top 5% of their profession didn't always feel like doing most of the things they had to do to get there. They did it anyway and that's what sets them apart and got them the results. Take action even when you don't feel like it.

Speaker 1: 10:21

A huge lesson I learned is that there's no such thing as time management. You cannot manage time. You can't change the past or even what time you got up today. Time ticks away regardless of you and what you do. What you can manage are the activities you fill your time with. It's what you're doing with your time each day that makes the biggest difference in your business and your life. Learn to manage yourself and your activities. Many people go back to their why.

Speaker 1: 11:00

What inspires or motivates you to show up every day? I do this to a degree, and much of my decision making and inspiration comes from my future self. What does that version of me do? Have a conversation with your 80-year-old self. Ask him or her what should I do in this situation? Is this going to move my business forward? How do I make the best decision today? What would you do? I heard this from Alex Hermosy and it's pretty powerful. If you lean in and listen. When you don't feel like showing up, think to yourself what does the version of me who has met or exceeded my goal do at this moment? Is it even a question? No, they do it, because that's what moves the needle forward.

Speaker 1: 11:56

Take action to get from where you are to where you want to be. When are you at your best? When is your energy the highest? For me, it's the morning and take this time and focus on income producing activities and anything you want or you've been putting off doing. What are three to four things you will do that will move your business forward? Always do the things you've been putting off first. When is your follow-up scheduled? Approximately 70% of your business will come from follow-up. Do you have a solid system for follow-up scheduled? Approximately 70% of your business will come from follow-up. Do you have a solid system for follow-up? If not, get one and put it on your calendar. Schedule lunches, breaks and personal appointments outside of your peak energy and income-producing time and income-producing time. Be intentional about your calendar and what you allow on it, and when the goal is to sit down at your computer, pull up your calendar and it tells you what you are doing. It's simple, not easy, so take action. The step for this week is schedule out your calendar for the week.

Speaker 1: 13:19

Challenge yourself to say no to activities that don't move the needle forward in your business. This is one in a lesson that I truly did learn the hard way, a lesson that I truly did learn the hard way, and I am really passionate about it. And I actually just got off a call with some of the top leaders at my company and this very thing came up when you say yes to something, you're saying no to something, and I want you to really think about that and think about what you're saying yes to, and should it be a yes? And we talked about this being a season. We all go through different seasons in our life and for this season you're in and in order to get from where you are to where you want to be it may be a month season, it could be a year or maybe a couple years what you have to do during this season that will get you through it. It's going to be something different than what you did the last time, the last season, a year or two ago, and it'll probably be different from what you're going to do a few years out in the future.

Speaker 1: 14:36

But you want to think about today and truly look at your goal, look at who you need to become and what activities and habits you need to put into place, because for you to get from where you are today to where you want to be, on average, you're going to have to leave 50 to 80% of who you are today behind, and that's stepping into your future self getting in different rooms, having different conversations, hiring different coaches, finding a mentor. That's done what you intend to do and really block out all the noise, block out the things that maybe are really fun or you just like to do, but it's not adding anything to your life. I'm not saying never do anything fun or have time for just you. Absolutely. Have that on your calendar, have that off peak energy time and on a separate place. But you want to really show up during the time that you've allotted for your business and make decisions like a business owner. I promise you it will change everything. Decisions like a business owner. I promise you it will change everything.

Speaker 1: 15:59

And, of course, if you need anything or have any questions or if I can help in any way, I'm here and happy to do so. You can look me up. If you're listening on my podcast, you can drop me a text below. If you're on YouTube, leave me a comment. I'll read them, I'll respond and I'm here and happy to help in any way. Leave me a comment, I'll read them, I'll respond and I'm here and happy to help in any way. So next week will be chapter three. This is another good one lead generation. It's a numbers game Just about every agent I've ever coached or mentored does not have their lead generation down. So I encourage you, come back next week and we'll be reading chapter three and talking more about that. So until next time, go sell something and have an amazing week.