Home is more than four walls and roof. Home is a door opening to you, your family, your pets, your lifestyle, your neighborhood, your community, your city. It’s all encompassing on so many levels.
Mother MAY I?
Being a Realtor mom has it’s challenges, but the rewards are far greater than any career I’ve had…
I remember coming home from school and putting the key in the door to let myself in. Mom hadn’t been back from work yet, but once she did, she was confronting a pile of stacked up clothes to be altered for the local department store. All day long she was at the manufactory sewing hems on suit pants. She worked long, painful hours and there wasn’t a lot of times for stories or playtime with her. Her impeccable work ethic had a lot to do with her Panamanian-Chinese upbringing and I grew up with her advising that I save ever penny, “You never know what’s going to happen, so be prepared.” Those words have echoed in my head for a lifetime.
Since I'm a broker and flip houses my world can feel upside down some days. I've learned to hire people and trust they will do as good as a job as I would. Take me time without guilt and I'm still learning to say no when needed. Honestly, I love challenges and instant gratification in everything I do. So real estate hits all the Hotspots. Plus, who doesn’t like the financial freedom from the investment side. I'm teaching my kids generational wealth and breaking generational curses. - Joan Small, RVA Group Realty
I never had children unfortunately, I do however have a step-daughter who doesn’t understand the stretch of a dollar or what it is to struggle to eat every day. What I do have the luxury of is giving her my time. I’m able to pick her up when I need to, to hang out and play with her when she wants and take her along to open houses. She is seriously the best PR rep I could ask for. Being in Real Estate allows a lot of women to have full careers, make ends meet, and have time to be there for their kids. I couldn’t imagine giving my kids the fair treatment and time they deserved while working in advertising or being a paralegal. I cannot tell you how many times I had to stay after hours to meet some ridiculous deadline, and if I decided otherwise I may have not have had the career I strived for. The American Dream—work hard, move up the ladder. Let’s be frank here, that tends to be a bunch of horse poop.
“At first it was super challenging to be a mother and a realtor. After being a full time mother and yoga teacher, adjustments had to be made for the whole family. Like many working moms I felt some guilt about juggling my time and it was hard for me to prioritize. Over time we have all adjusted and I have learned to switch gears and be present with my family when I’m with my family and be present with my clients when I’m with my clients. Yoga helps a lot! It has definitely provided our family with some extra opportunities that we are grateful for and I really do enjoy finding people homes in a city that I love. “ - Kelly Trask, One South Realty
I have loved my new career in real estate because it gives me personal freedom. It is a job where I’m accountable and I am my own boss, but most of all, it is a job I am able to make my own time. There are some downsides to that as well as I’m sure every realtor mom can relate to. I’m only a part-time mom and I’m sure my experience is different than my full-time mama duty colleagues. Weekends can be difficult with showings and open houses. Also, you have to consider your clients’ needs. If they want to see a house in two hours, you have to be able to accommodate those schedules, and sometimes plans are broken at home. I think we all struggle with saying no sometimes in addition to putting boundaries in place. There is the reward though, to be able to take a vacation for a week and literally be present or to be able to take a day and focus your attention on your children rather than being tied to a desk is a great feeling that not a lot of people have the privilege of experiencing.
It gave me opportunity to accommodate my schedule and arrange it around my husbands so that always one of us would stay home with the kids while they took online classes. As time went by and market got crazier it got a little bit more complicate it because even though I can still accommodate my schedule it seems like I’m never home, no weekend, anytime any day, I can’t really make plans ahead of time because I have to be there for my clients. - Daniela Queen, RVA Group Realty
Kids are hard. They just are. We as agents work from our home offices a lot of the time and sometimes it’s hard if you have little ones scurrying about while you are trying to write a contract. I have some realtor friends who are incredibly strict with setting boundaries for their businesses because they don’t want any interference into their home life. If you are making a lot of sales it’s easy to have that priority, but i you are an agent starting out or not as busy, it can be very difficult telling your client you can’t meet them at 6pm because you are having dinner with your family, in your head, you don’t want to lose them.
The challenges of mommydom and being an agent are, to me, far less than other careers. You do have the ability to maneuver schedules and be effective/productive remotely. The key is to organize and prioritize, find a schedule that works for you so you can spend time being a mom and a great agent. We’re women, we can usually get our lipstick on while on a conference call, flipping pancakes and packing little Johnny’s lunch, all while wearing heels. And this is why we make fantastic agents. Kids also make great helpers in our business, they love to pass out flyers, drop off popbys, and they come up with the best suggestions for rooms.
So, to all my Mama Bear Agents, you’re doing a great job and remember that the rewards of this career will allow that Disney vacay or that European trip you’ve always wanted to take them on. Now you can go back to your superheroine’ing.
Working from Home: PJs Aside, Some Helpful Tips
Now that a number of you are working from home, there will be challenges if you aren’t used to this environment.
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Nothin's gonna break my stride, nothing's gonna slow me down...
Working from home is not for the weak. I have to do it on a daily basis and it takes structure and discipline to manage your time effectively. I know some of you are thrilled to be working at home during this time but are you prepared to be distracted? To sit for long periods of time? To eat everything in the house?? Start with a plan. Here is an example of some helpful tips.
SPACE. Whether it’s your home office or on the patio, find an area with the least amount of distractions and by NO MEANS do it where there is a television present. You will get sucked into a “Love is Blind” abyss. I tend to do a one hour show during my lunch break, right now being a rotation of This is Us, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Good Girls, and Outlander (don’t judge).
GET UP. This is the hardest challenge I have daily. Once I get in the zone, I will unwittingly sit for hours on end. So I decided to implement a new routine. Every hour, I get up, and do a ten to fifteen minute workout or I get more coffee or I do a chore.
GET DRESSED. I know it sounds dumb since you finally get to test out the durability of your pajama pants, but getting dressed puts you in the mindset that you are going to get something accomplished today, at least put pants on!
FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS get off track. I do this. I like to text on my computer, which in all fairness is part of my job, but when the MEMES begin, the work ends. Isn’t it nice to finally get to catch up with friends without having to be on the clock. I get it, I miss them too, but keep it to a minimum and no matter if they have golf clubs or Prosecco on hand, just say, “Let’s see where I’m at in a few hours.”
SCHEDULE APPROPRIATELY. We always have to be aware that during this time, things will come up and we can’t always stay on task. Allow yourself a reasonable schedule for all the things you have to get done during the work day. I have a tendency to say, “Ok, from 10-noon I’ll be working on this.” What usually happens is I’m working on it for six hours. Keep track of your time.
CHECK IN. Even though I’m an independent contractor, I really enjoy checking in with my co-workers, just to talk about what everyone is up to and to keep morale going. It keeps your head in the game. Take this time to connect with your clients. You have time to see how they are doing or to touch base to see if they need anything. This is a grand use of this time.
GO OUTSIDE. Take yourself outside for a few minutes. Fresh air refreshes you and so does direct sunlight. You’ll tend to get cabin fever if your only solo time is in a room with four walls.
CHILDREN. I don’t have this issue, but a lot of you do especially right now with everything being shut down. Make sure you have that conversation with your kids. A neat trick I learned was to make a door hanger for when and when they shouldn’t disturb you. Here’s a better idea — get THEM to make it for you! Crafts, check. No Molestar, check. Do make time for them though. How wonderful that family time isn’t cramped into just at the end of the day.
SNACK. I will say, working from home, makes you eat more. Be smart and healthy about your snacking during the day. Pre-make some little snack packs and get the fam create their own “delivery service”.
GO SOMEWHERE. Go on a walk, go to the store, go to the bank, doesn’t matter. It’ll give you a chance to let your mind rest and a short time of decompressing before getting back to it.
LADY J’S HOME OFFICE WORKOUT PLAN
So here’s some added bonus I wanted to share with you. I do two things to help pass along my day of working from home. Sometimes, I set an alarm to every hour, to make me get up and do:
100 Jumping Jacks
15 Pushups (I’m getting there people)
25 Crunches
It’s a great simple thing you can do to get your heart pumping and out of your chair. The second thing I’m going to start implementing is 52 Card Work Out.
Get a deck of Cards. Divide them into five piles with one pile obviously will have 12 cards instead. Add the jokers for additional fun. Every hour take one pile and begin by flipping the first one. Whatever that card is, is a set of exercise. For instance, 2 of Hearts I will dedicate to push ups (cause I hate doing them!), the next card is 7 of Spades, I’ll now do 7 burpees. I’m sure this is on the internet as well. You can also divide up your exercises by suit as well, ie. Spades = squats. Remember Jacks, Queens, Kings, and Aces = 10. Good luck and have fun! When the CV is gone, you’ll be thanking the gym membership fee I just saved you, oh and you’re welcome for the toned abs.