Real Estate, Holidays, Engagement and Aggravation

[Eric Olsen]

This was my first Holiday season since undertaking this Real Estate adventure.  I figured that with the Holidays being so hectic for people, and with winter being a slow time (Chicago Suburbs) that perhaps I could get a jump creating more leads. I tried to step up my efforts and here is my take away from the chaos

1.  Ramping up my efforts was not an increase in work load as I had initially thought.  It was more of an increase in my focus on what I was already doing.  It was similar to practicing an instrument.  All you musicians out there know that practicing for 2 hours one day a week does not yield the quality results as practicing 4 times a week for 30 minutes.

2.  I was not properly prepared for the combination of my work schedule (full time - surprise week of travel), holiday prep (gifts, 5 separate school performances for the kids, kids sports/logistics, hosting new years party), finalizing my engagement plans, and the increase of contact with possible sellers (formulating my first offers ever).  It got interesting for certain.

3.  Due to incorrectly handling all these on goings, it negatively impacted my response time with the sellers that I was speaking with.  I feel that I could have been more concise with my notes in regards to my conversations with sellers. The result of this confusion was more time spent back tracking for clarity when had I not been in a rushed state of mind, things would have been smoother. This influx did not crush me, yet it did identify this as a weakness in my business that I am building.

4.  I took "off" from real estate from Christmas to New Years, and I would NEVER recommend this.  Out of everything that went on in the chaos the worst thing I could have done was take time off.  It feels that all the momentum that I had built up has vanished.  Yes, I will be able to create that again but lets be blunt about it, it was a dumb *** move!  Your car only gets you to your destination when it's in gear.  Put the car into neutral and you will lose speed fast!

Already I have my gears turning for this years holidays so lesson learned.  I will refocus my efforts to get my momentum back and create more problems for myself in real estate.  I heard some place that you can see if you are progressing by the amount of new problems that you are creating.  I'll take that!

And in case you were wondering....She said "yes"!

Keep getting after it everyone!

Eric