What is the trick to enjoying your life as a successful real estate agent? Setting boundaries!! But how do you set boundaries from the get-go? Let’s talk about how to make sure you’re not taking phone calls at your child’s birthday party or when spending routine time with family.

First, set boundaries right away by creating a start and stop time for your workday. This means that anything and anyone, including clients, can wait if they reach out outside of your work hours. Over the course of time, as you become more successful, you get to earn more boundaries. For example, when you’re first starting out, working weekends might be necessary in order to get your business going. But as you expand your business, you may want to take a Saturday or Sunday off. Once you’ve reached the point of earned boundaries, you need to take it!

Next, setting boundaries up front sets the expectations but allows clients to communicate on their timeframe. It teaches people how to treat you. If you don’t set boundaries, people will treat you like you have none. In the real estate industry, we are competing with technology. When you compete with technology on accessibility and speed to the lead, you will always lose. Focus on the customer service aspect that technology can’t give, and you’ll be in a good position.

Family and personal time need the same reverence that you give your business. As a new agent, this might be hard to believe, but there is no such thing as an emergency in real estate. To be the agent that you want to be for your clients and other agents, it’s important to take time away. Doing so will ensure that you are present when you choose to show up as your full self when you are with your family and clients, as well as yourself.

Lastly, let’s redefine what hustle and success mean. As an agent, hustle is the focus time spent on your business and on your family. Hustle, in that context, means fully present. It doesn’t mean that you don’t work hard, it means that you’re intentional about when and how you work. And that might change as you grow your business, but you should never stop hustling. Success, and its meaning of it, is different for everyone. Maybe it’s a number in the bank account or being able to close a certain number of transactions a year. Whatever it is, it must mean something to you and be worth it. But if you’re always focused on chasing the dollars and nothing else, then it’s time to reevaluate. 

Business is a spiritual practice and real estate is not who you are. It’s what you do to become who you are. Whatever you’re doing is creating the person you need to be next. Don’t waste that opportunity. Be intentional and thoughtful about the person you are letting yourself become and do it on purpose. Whether it’s intentional or not, you’re going to become the next version of yourself, so why not be intentional from the start?