I wonder if it is a coincidence that after a long drought of no money I had two closings very close to June, the month where I wrote everything down. For those of you who missed last week, I made a spreadsheet and entered every activity, every client.

This week I was working on another rental. So much of the week was spent pushing toward yesterday, a showing marathon where we went through 10 properties.

I wonder if it is a coincidence that after a long drought of no money I had two closings very close to June, the month where I wrote everything down. For those of you who missed last week, I made a spreadsheet and entered every activity, every client.

This week I was working on another rental. So much of the week was spent pushing toward yesterday, a showing marathon where we went through 10 properties. Prep for that took awhile. Other than that I tried to think about my life.

New rule one: I do not work Saturdays. This is a very soft rule, because it’s much easier to spend a little time on Saturdays to keep the e-mail flowing than to drop it completely and be behind on Sundays. But still, once I do sort of chatty things for an hour, that’s it. There’s no one who needs to see a property on Saturday that can’t wait for the other six days of the week. I have had my share of millionaires flying in from out-of-town, and I am now experienced enough to say that the ones in the biggest hurries are never the ones that sign the contract. If they’re interested, they’ll wait a day.

New rule two: I must file more. It is clear from the state of my desk that I don’t know how to do this. I keep thinking that maybe I can trick myself by playing some sort of game, that just around the corner is "Grand Theft Auto Five: Clean Desktop," but I just can’t figure it out. However, I did see from my total of filing hours: one — yes, that’s for the month — that I’ve just gotta be better about this.

New rule three: More lunches. When you’re desk-bound, lunch is great — a port in an otherwise stormy day. But when you’re a freelancer, lunch just takes hours! It becomes this weird special thing, and you get all excited about it and wonder what you’re going to wear. I hate lunching now, because it takes three hours out at one clip. But it’s also prospecting, and I can see from my little magic numbers that I could stand a few more hours a week of that.

Don’t get me wrong, some things I do work well. I may not be doing enough prospecting now, but the prospecting I do is effective. (I think some of that is the experience of having tried different things and learning what worked. Also, over time I’ve found that I sell more naturally, because with more experience I’ve become a real estate agent instead of that awful bit in the beginning, where I was play-acting one.) I’ve got a sale I’ve been plugging along at, and I’m continuing to plug, and I’m advancing my cause.

And those are just the everyday things that are effective. Now that I’ve got a little money in my pocket, I can put some of that back into the business, which will help, too. I’m getting all excited about doing some promotional items, to the point where I just asked a friend if she’d be interested in making our firm’s logo a little more camera-ready. (Those of you who work for Century 21 probably don’t have this same exact problem, but you can still extrapolate what I mean — part of marketing is taking a little time to meld your firm’s branding with yours).

Anyway that’s the plan, to bounce along with just those rules for a couple of months and then write everything down again and see what’s changed.

Alison Rogers is a licensed salesperson and author of "Diary of a Real Estate Rookie."

***

What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer, click the byline at the top of the story.

Show Comments Hide Comments
Sign up for Inman’s Morning Headlines
What you need to know to start your day with all the latest industry developments
By submitting your email address, you agree to receive marketing emails from Inman.
Success!
Thank you for subscribing to Morning Headlines.
Back to top
Only 3 days left to register for Inman Connect Las Vegas before prices go up! Don't miss the premier event for real estate pros.Register Now ×
Limited Time Offer: Get 1 year of Inman Select for $199SUBSCRIBE×
Log in
If you created your account with Google or Facebook
Don't have an account?
Forgot your password?
No Problem

Simply enter the email address you used to create your account and click "Reset Password". You will receive additional instructions via email.

Forgot your username? If so please contact customer support at (510) 658-9252

Password Reset Confirmation

Password Reset Instructions have been sent to

Subscribe to The Weekender
Get the week's leading headlines delivered straight to your inbox.
Top headlines from around the real estate industry. Breaking news as it happens.
15 stories covering tech, special reports, video and opinion.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
It looks like you’re already a Select Member!
To subscribe to exclusive newsletters, visit your email preferences in the account settings.
Up-to-the-minute news and interviews in your inbox, ticket discounts for Inman events and more
1-Step CheckoutPay with a credit card
By continuing, you agree to Inman’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

You will be charged . Your subscription will automatically renew for on . For more details on our payment terms and how to cancel, click here.

Interested in a group subscription?
Finish setting up your subscription
×