OK, the truth is my mobile phone was stolen (pickpocketed!) out of my purse on Day 1 of my 10-day vacation in the Mediterranean.
After getting over the shock of once again being back in 1999, I realized that I had been given a gift: time and space to enjoy excursions throughout several different countries, plus time and space to contemplate my real estate business now that I was disconnected from it.
So here are four fresh perspectives I gained — Mediterranean edition.
4 fresh perspectives I gained from losing my phone
Pick the ripe olives
Much of the Mediterranean olive production comes from family-owned farms, where workers pick the olives by hand so they can select ones at ideal ripeness and leave unripened ones on the tree. It surprised me that, since now I could not call any of my clients or prospects, those I suddenly wished I could call were not necessarily the ones I had been considering “ripe.”
I realized that some prospects I had passed over as not ready were in reality ready and ripe, while others I had been spending time and efforts on were nowhere near making a move — so very “unripe.”
Fresh perspective: Take time to pick through and reprioritize those olives.
Find, define, refine your culture
From architecture to art and tapestries to music to food, the Mediterranean is lush with beauty, history and culture. Being immersed in it all gave me time to reconsider the culture of my real estate business.
It inspired me to consider the ways I define it, ways I can refine it and contemplate new ways to serve my clients and build relationships.
For instance, I had an epiphany about two new, creative ways to stay in contact with past clients. I reflected on how I could refresh and strengthen my social media video content. Plus, I had time to consider how my signature client experience should evolve to better serve clients in today’s economy.
Fresh perspective: Business culture is dynamic, so seize the opportunity to find, define and refine it.
Aqueducts and cisterns: the original pipeline
In ancient Mediterranean cities, aqueducts carried water from distant sources, flowing into cisterns that stored that water so there would always be a reserve, even during dry seasons. And that is how maintaining and growing a real estate business also functions.
Prospecting and nurturing relationships, having conversations and leveraging opportunities are the activities that flow into your pipeline and ultimately convert into transactions. Without a mobile phone, I was able to pause and think about how I have been so caught up with the immediacy of the spring housing market that I might be going thirsty in a few months.
Not good — real estate professionals should never have their cisterns run dry.
I realized I needed to get back on track by launching new engaging social media and targeted marketing, recommitting to my AI prompt playbook and, most of all, making those calls and connections.
Fresh perspective: Keep those aqueducts flowing and those cisterns full so business remains strong through every season.
Heads-up!
I classify this final fresh perspective as just “one half” because it’s the most obvious revelation: When your head is not down over your phone, it is up, and you’re freer to explore the world and experience new adventures and new small joys.
Let me give you two specific examples: I noticed a couple carrying a bag with the logo of a local business in my hometown, so I introduced myself, and we got talking. They were indeed from my town, and guess what? Their son was just that week telling them he feels he is ready to go from renting to purchasing in our area. I didn’t even need a mobile phone to book that appointment.
Also, on a bus transfer through the countryside for one of our excursions, I was the only one who saw the camel farm we drove past because everyone else was looking down at their phones.
Fresh perspective: Heads-up because often new adventures, connections and inspiration appear when you least expect them.
I do not recommend losing your mobile phone, and I hope you never have yours stolen. Talk about the ultimate business disrupter.
But it unexpectedly gave me fresh perspectives on the opportunities I should be cultivating, the culture I want to create, the pipeline I need to maintain and the importance of keeping my head up and my eyes open — all very valuable souvenirs to bring home from my Mediterranean vacation.
As we move into the second half of 2026, remember: The olives won’t pick themselves, the cistern won’t fill itself, and new opportunities won’t always announce themselves. Keep cultivating, keep connecting and keep looking up!
Karen Boyd is an agent with Long and Foster in the Greater Philadelphia region. Get connected on Instagram and LinkedIn.
