Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – September 23, 2004
Re-Grouping
Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – September 23, 2004 – I’ve had a lot of time to think about my conversation with Big yesterday and her comments about my being “increasingly intolerant, rigid and resentful of women”. She may have a point. I am intolerant of a lot of things (stupidity and lateness being two of them) and I think I’m probably much better off in a “little marketing group” by myself.
With this thought in mind I think I’m going to bow out of the group – gracefully and early – before there is resentment and rancour. I want to focus on a recap of my business since March 1995. I’m in the process of going through my past records and analysing exactly where my business has come from – where it is today and where I may be able to take it over the next five years. I don’t have a pension – I need to take advantage of my productive, working years.
I had an extremely busy day today, so I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to look at the information – but I felt a real buzz of excitement at the prospect of looking at the details and then making some decisions about the development of my business. I’ve also decided to do a revamping of my website and to add another site that will link to my original site. My new site devoted to my newsletters, brochures, marketing pieces, archives and articles will be named after my long-standing newsletters “Real Estate Bits” – 18 years ago and it just happened that the name was available – so $35.00 later, and it’s mine for the next two years.
I made a decision nine years ago to concentrate my business around my website, my e-mail database, my client base and client service. For the last nine years I’ve been doing that, and it has proven to have been a good decision. I create my newsletter twice a month, write my own column “Tricks Of The Trade” and provide helpful and interesting information to my clients. My website serves as a resource for my clients, a great introduction of my services for referral clients whom I’ve yet to meet and a forum for my banker’s interest rates, my preferred home inspection company, guest columnists and the obligatory (demanded by my clients) twice a month joke.
It’s an exhilarating feeling to take control of the business part of my life, make new plans, move forward, put new systems and ideas in place and try to slough off the negativity that I’ve felt for the last few months – generated – in part – by too much work and not enough time for myself. I know that when work systems are streamlined – the flow of business is more efficient and less stressful. Real estate can be an isolating career choice because so much of the actual work is done alone. The client interaction is almost always enjoyable, because I’ve been blessed for the most part, with opportunities to work with wonderful people, but the background work can be lonely.
I’m having a meeting next week with Larry, my broker, to go over the business review that I’m preparing, and to get his ideas about my new marketing plans. This is a chance for me to move forward with some exciting ideas and with a positive attitude. I haven’t felt this good about my career for a long time. I look around me and it’s being done by others. There are a lot of very successful real estate agents out there.
I make an extremely good living already but I can still say – “Why not me?” There is no reason for me not to do even better, and still find time for the things I’d like to do in life. All work and no play is not a good life motto and with my little marketing group of “one” – I get to concentrate on the things that are important to me. So perhaps the timing of my tiff with Big was opportune after all. They say there are no coincidences – no accidents.
