Maybe it’s just me — or maybe all agents out there go through chaos when trying to leave the house each day. Here are 10 reasons I can’t leave the house on time:
1) Because I really do try to carry only the client folders I think I will need, but for some reason Mary has three folders, one labeled with her name, one labeled with her address, and one labeled with her name and address, so when I’m running late I grab all three.
2) Because I’m better at charting my course daily rather than weekly, so my morning decisions feel more like picking out the stuff I don’t get to do instead of joyfully figuring out what I’m going to focus on. I hate to acknowledge that I won’t get to everything, so better to stuff one extra folder into my bag.
3) Because as a result, my bag is so full of folders it makes my spine hurt, and I have to drop everything to make a chiropractic appointment.
4) Because as I am trying to leave the house, my phone inevitably rings with a follow-up call from someone who called me just 12 hours ago. (I’m not a morning person, but in the morning, the caller is never anyone I want to hear from, or even anyone who has anything important going on. It’s always someone who is checking up on something too small too quickly — and no matter how hard I try, I can’t train those people to call in the afternoon when I am actually at my desk.)
5) Because I have to wait for outlet space to charge the a) laptop b) BlackBerry c) headset. Trying to remember to charge everything up in the evening is the high-school version of laying your clothes out the night before — it’s nerdy and efficient and almost never happens.
6) Because I typically make PDFs of the faxes that other brokers send me (people with a big carbon footprint, you know who you are) — but having made them to forward on to my clients, I have to remember to e-mail them back to the original brokers, who can astound their clients with their paperless wizardry. That’s lil’ ol’ me, saving the planet one pdf at a time.
7) Because having claimed to be ecological girl, it would be really hypocritical of me to leave the desk lamp on.
8) Because, like so many people who are good at marketing things for other people, like their properties, I hate marketing myself and I procrastinate about it. The only way I like to approach my marketing is sideways, so when I’m getting ready to face the day is the one moment that I suddenly feel inspired to do a new direct-mail piece. (Note to all you coaches out there: Yes, I realize that this is a flaw. Working on it.)
9) Because I still am not really resigned to the fact that I work in all kinds of weather. Once I have a small portable umbrella, sunscreen, sunglasses (if I’m wearing contacts), sunglass clips (if I’m wearing glasses) and a windbreaker, I feel like I might as well add a sleeping bag and just go camping.
10) Because once I actually look like I’m going camping, when I’m in that disheveled state is the time I’m going to run into an old friend who needs to sell an apartment, so I have to remember to breathe and replenish my sense of humor, not to mention reaching for extra business cards and pens.
Alison Rogers is a licensed salesperson and author of "Diary of a Real Estate Rookie."
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