The week ends, the week begins...

"...He wakes up in the morning
Does his teeth bite to eat and he's rolling
Never changes a thing
The week ends the week begins..."

 I woke up this morning, or should I say I opened my eyes when I heard LC getting ready for work, as I had not slept most of the night... stupid mind turning cogs, and oh yeah dreaded heartburn! ANYHOO I woke up this morning with not much planned for the weekend. I had another Open House on Sunday (kind of a newbie staple in Real Estate) and my one client had two houses to see on Saturday. That's pretty light fare. I was still rubbing the exhaustion from my eyes, as I performed my morning ritual of laying in bed, reading the news, checking the social networks, etc. (Come on you know you pick up you iDroid, every morning too and check to see whats happening in the world too!) As I was saying, still in my boxers in bed, my cat Nittany desperate for attention, and I get a text from a fellow agent- "Goin outta town, can you help me out..." BOOM I had more activity this weekend that quickly. An hour later I'm in the office and another fellow agent- "He man I got this client that wants to see this place, can you help me out this weekend?" BOOM MORE action! That's how quickly things can change in the life of a real estate agent. My Saturday went from a quick two-home showing to three appointments spread across central PA. (Which for a newbie like me, has me ecstatic!)  I've had friends comment (on more than one occasion) since I've become a real estate agent that "I wish I had your freedom to do what I want," and comments of the like. 

I think this is the obvious reaction for folks that live in the 9-5 world. Let me explain, I used to work as a store manager in retail (hoping never to repeat that FYI...) you have a schedule, every day you know 'I am going to be working from x time to x time.' And your life is approached, and scheduled very much on a linear scale like that day in and day out. So from that perspective, yep I appear to come and go, in and out of the office, on the computer, off the computer, etc. The life and schedule of a real estate agent is not linear, if you were to draw out the day in the life- it would look more like a scribble or loopy madness, like a child's drawing of... well anything. This is because my (and even worse for seasoned agents) day doesn't start and end at 'X' time. Like today I got my first communication while still in bed. And I'm certainly not off the clock at 5:00 either. Nope, I could hear from my 1's of clients (a number surely to go up the more people read this blog and realize my natural born awesomeness! lol) and be asked to try and schedule a showing on a house they drove past on their way home from work... and can we see it tonight?! Sure lets make that happen! Family dinner? Yep might have to excuse myself from one of those from time to time. Agents make themselves available basically 24/7 360-ish days a year. (What you thought we'd give up every holiday too??) On the flippity flip, we DO have probably more freedom to decide what happens throughout the week, Doctor's appointment? Sure I can put that between my 10:00 and 1:00 on Wednesday! Dog needs to go to the vet to have open house keys removed from rectum? Yep probably going to need that done before Sunday... 

To put it simply, we trade linear work schedules for extremely open and flexible schedules. And for someone like me, it's ideal because I learned to work long hours in retail (where the corporate office had no problem mandating you work 60 hours but get paid for 50...don't ask, it was 'legal') so I don't mind working, but I love movement. I'm not a type that likes being grounded to the same spot for 8-10 hours a day. So today I'm sitting here in the office, but after I grab some lunch I can go throw up some open house signs, then I can head back to my home office and continue my search to find a client some more listings that might entice him enough to buy! Changes of scenery are great! The inherent downside to this line of work is- it does make it difficult if you, say, want to get a part-time job to continue your ability to pay the bills when things are slow. Then it's time to consider being even MORE flexible with your time and finding something 3rd shift so as not to interfere with the 'day job'.
If I want to be successful it may just be what I have to do. I've recently begun to respect and envy comedian Kevin Hart, I think he's immensely funny, but when I began to follow him on Facebook, I saw the man with serious drive to succeed. This was his advice on success:

The face you make when your friends think your job is easy.

"I think when some people win it’s very hard for them to lose. I’ll use Kobe Bryant as an example. Kobe Bryant is a winner.

Kobe Bryant loves to win. There is no in between. When he loses, there’s not a reason for it. There’s not an excuse. There a “I lost, and I need to figure out how to win again.

My will to win in amazing.

I’ve got a taste of success, and now I want more. But it’s not just about success, it’s about the brand. It’s about becoming a businessman. It’s about becoming an entity.  It’s about becoming a mogul. It’s really about setting things up so when you’re not here, the ones that love you most are taken care of.

I am a product of Nancy Hart, my mother. She was a worker and the word “can’t” or “won’t” never existed."

A long road ahead of me, but Kevin isn't the only celebrity one can follow that encourages not giving up, and sticking to your dreams. And the truth is, if being successful was easy, perhaps you wouldn't have an America with the 1%... if it were easy it'd be the 99%. Not saying I want to be a 1%, but I want to be near it! 

Thanks for reading! And have a great weekend!