Planning and the Planner

I am a serious planner! I business plan starting in October for the next year. I have researched, taken classes, conferenced and coached business planning for 5 years now. Here is how I break it down.

Life List…Reflection…Revision…Last Year…This Year…Each Month

It’s a method called “design down” that I took from my teacher days. Start with your end goal and work backwards. What will it take to get to that place on a yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily basis?

A few weeks ago a friend whose new business has met with a few struggles lately asked for my help in marketing ideas. She texted me one day and asked what kind of planner I used. I told her, “I’m so picky I have to make my own!” After I said it I realized how weird that sounds. But it’s true. There is one planner out that does all the things I need for my business, but it’s bulky and boring (the Ninja Planner)! I wanted something pretty, functional and minimalist. When I can’t find what I want, which is most of the time, I make it! I have been doing that my entire life. I used to even make my own prom dresses because I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. Now I do it with farm, house, and business stuff. It definitely is how I grow my business. I don’t pay a service to market for me (I’m sure you’ve noticed – hahaha). I DIY just about everything around me, including the plans and planners I use. I thought I’d share some of it here! If you like it, I can share it with you too.

I start by creating a “Life List” of things I want to do with a perfect life! Then I make 3 or 4 goals for each section of my life, Career, Family, Relationships, and Self, that will help me get there or get closer to a piece of my perfect life. Then, a separate page for every Goal inside every Category allows me to design down…what steps will it take me to get to the goal? Setting a Target Date helps me align my 2023 planner to achieve those goals. I can put each Action Item on the Monthly Goals in my Planner. At the beginning of each Month I break those goals into steps for the weeks of that month. It may take one week or it may take all month. For Example…if I want to sell 24 houses this year, what do I need to do every month, week, day to achieve that goal? When can I schedule time in my day to do those things?

But what’s the point!? In real estate especially, do you have to plan your month or day or social media or marketing?

In the years that I have been training other agents, I have heard every excuse in the world. My favorite is, “even if I plan it something comes along and changes my plans.” Well, no shit! Life happens! But flying by the seat of your pants doesn’t effeciantly affect change. I will admit, talent and maybe even luck, will get you places. In real estate, your personality and past life or career will likely get you great places. But it won’t get you ALL of the places. And it won’t get you any of those places with consistency.

The Real Estate industry is in a weird place. I have divided agents into 2 categories…Before and During COVID. If you were licensed DC (During COVID), your definition of “business” is very different. Things just fell in your lap! You could literally do minimal work and get maximum profit. You were able to sell a house by working very little. Maybe you built a business with little to no effort at all. And there were so many people looking to sell, clients were easy to find. Being licensed BC (Before COVID), I know that agents have to work hard to get, keep, and help your clients. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to talk to a friend or acquaintance that bought or sold a home recently without asking for my help! I think it happens once a week, maybe even every day.

My biggest suggestion to agents is to treat this like a business (because it is)! If you were the CEO of a large company, there would be procedure manuals and schedules to follow. You would have marketing plans and calendars and promotions. You would schedule trainings and conferences and meetings. There should be all those things in your own business. Here are my most important tips for Sole Proprietors and Entrepreneurs:

• Make yourself a marketing schedule.
• Make yourself a social media posting schedule.
• Plan time to plan.
• Create a Daily Routine
• Time Block

I made a schedule that I share with agents in my firm to use for working ON your business because working IN your business is the easy part. It’s called The 15 Hour Work Week (which I’m happy to share). It’s a way to block time in the week for the pieces of growing your business that are most important. And when life and your schedule blow up, you know that things were missed that need to be taken care of later. But writing it down is super important!

Whatever force you believe in, when you speak things into the universe they have a much better chance of happening! I’m not sure if its the speaking or the being heard that makes it so, but it is true. I’m not big on telling other people what my goals and dreams are, but I do write it down. I believe wholeheartedly in vision boards and daily affirmations. Any one else?? One of my favorite quotes is “Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself!”

Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself!

I don’t care what kind of goals you are trying to achieve this year…it’s going to take a plan and a planner!

In the last few years, I have been a bit more minimalist about my planner, but I do have very specific needs. I used to buy big 8.5X11 size planners when I was a teacher. Now I prefer half-page size ones that I can carry in a large purse or stylish bag instead of a bulky backpack. I need a month, week, and day planner. All three need a place for goals, focus, and tasks. The daily portion needs a time schedule so I can block hours or half hours. The Design Down concept from earlier works the same for every month…what are the monthly goals and how can I break those down each week and every day? I wasn’t able to find something that really met my needs this year, so I made my own.

Here’s my WEEK

And my DAY (obviously for the winter months)

Do you like any of these? I’m happy to share! Digital or Print versions. And if there’s a particular theme you’d prefer, let me know!

The only way that I can get so many things accomplished in my life is by being hyper-focused on one task at a time. I am a mother, run a horse farm, raise chickens and children, run a business, care for my family, and volunteer with a non-profit. It’s a lot to keep up with! We had an instance this week, because of exam schedules, where my calendar didn’t match my teenager’s schedule. She swears she told me she had an exam on that day, but it was definitely not on my calendar, so she couldn’t have because I would have written it down. Luckily, my husband had the day off and could take her to school, but she missed a practice exam that counted as a grade. I may be good at planning and organizing, but I am still not great at mind reading! If I ever figure that one out, I’ll let you know!

Does the Coach need a Coach?

Coaching and Mentoring are a continuum of activities in business.

I made a big-girl business decision this week! And I’m still a little nervous about it. All entrepreneurs, especially sole-proprietors, belabor the business decisions they make because our entire success does depend on it. I can’t blame anyone else but me if I made the wrong one. And I have made some wrong ones.

A year ago, I decided to join forces with a company called Homes for Heroes. It was a cool concept that fit right in with my “why”, to help people. They give cash back to “heroes” when they purchase a home. It’s done through a non-profit so it’s legit. The Real Estate commission does not allow buyers to walk away from a transaction with cash so this company came up with a work around using a donation to a 501c3. I especially liked it because their definition of hero extended to teachers, healthcare workers, and fire, police, EMT and military. But the program as an investment did not work out for me. I did not close one single hero in my first year, and I spent $150 a month to be a “member”. I made the decision to walk away from the program to save the monthly fee. But I did learn something! I truly believe the majority of people do business with friends, people they “Know, Trust, and Love”, before they even consider those types of programs. I decided to put all of my efforts into growing a referral business.

For things to change for you, first you must change.

~ Jim Rohn

The decision I made last week involves paying a little bit of money, actually quite a bit of money. Twice that of the failed, give-back program! But I can do it for half the time if I get into it and don’t see a true benefit. I’m not signing a contract, so that’s great!

I hired myself a coach! I’ve never done anything like that before! I danced my whole life. I had teachers and choreographers, not really coaches. I guess they sort of do the same thing. They want you to improve. They give you pointers on how to do things better. I just picture a coach as a person that yells and pushes, and I don’t respond to stuff like that. I’ve also worked in the management side with coaches who want to hold their agents “accountable” or they can’t be helped. It seems like it is motivated from a different spot than I ever really stand on. I’m not competitive at all. I don’t need to make a million dollars. I want to create a successful business, build a new house on my property, take care of my girls and my animals, but I don’t have to be rolling in dough to do that. Further more, I’m not going to work 80 hours a week. It is not even possible between #farmlife and #momofteenagers.

Furthermore, I am a “mentor” myself! That may be a favorite part of my management job. I really enjoy helping people get deals worked out and see their own success. They should feel cared for and supported in my “girl gang” (even though there is now 1 guy). Is it crazy for me to ask for help while I’m helping?

I have always believed that asking for help is a sign of intelligence, not weakness. I am smart enough to put in words or on paper what I need help with. Also, I am reflective enough to know that I need guidance. I am humble enough to know that I do not hold all of the answers. And I am smart enough to find the right person to help me. I had the option of many people. Even “free” people. I found it very important to find just the right person. I wanted a woman, a mother, and a successful entrepreneur. I needed someone that I could look up to, emulate, learn from. I was looking for someone that had a similar climb to the top as I do. No offense to men, but it is very different being a working mom or a “mom-treprepeur” than it is being a dad.

Don’t “kid” yourself…whether it’s working from home or in an office, it’s really like 3 jobs!

Do I need a coach? Maybe. Do I need guidance? Sure. Do I just need to talk to a person like me or like I want to be? Abso-freaking-lutely. I think we all do! Whether that person is in your family or your company or your church or your neighborhood, without guidance I feel like I’m flapping in the wind like a lost fabric of some greater piece. I search for guidance from many different places. I don’t think people can actually be better unless they spend time working on it.

The Art of Being Thankful

It is literally my favorite time of year!! Other people like other holidays, but I love Thanksgiving. What could be better than a whole day dedicated to food, family, and being thankful. I love planning that big meal. It is fun for me to strategize how to cook for two or three days. I get immense joy from making everything and having everyone in my home. But the best part of the season is forcing people to be thankful.

Are you happy?

This is something I do everyday. My prayers start with “Thank you”. I start my day with writing 2 thank you notes. But it isn’t a skill that humans innately have. I have discovered this over the last few years with my children. Every year I come up with some weird way to force them to express their thankfulness. We have had thankful baskets, thankful trees and thank you lists. It’s all the same idea. The girls have to right down things that they are thankful for. When they are young, the answers are hilarious, but as they age, they have become more generic. More surprisingly, people look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them we do these things, because they do not with their own children. So why is it that people have such a hard time being genuinely thankful?

The idea of having a thankful heart has been discussed in many publications. I realized it as a business practice while reading Larry Kendall’s Ninja Selling. It follows this concept that putting positive energy into the universe will yield you good results. I have been through and steeped in enough negative energy to never want to feel that power again. The concept spoke to a part of my “hippy-dippy” soul that believes there is good in the world. Furthermore, speaking that good outloud conceals some of the ugliness. Take the way you get news on a daily basis. If it is just from the evening news shows, it may be only the bad stuff. That leaves you with a negative feeling about the world. These shows have picked up on that idea and usually include a careful balance of feel-good stories and happy endings.

Don’t be fooled. This is not an easy practice, in life or in business. Real Estate is tough! My favorite Superior School of Real Estate instructor has a saying, “Rule #1, People Suck”. It may sound counter to the argument of putting positive energy out, but it’s really not. It gives me permission to accept that real estate agents do not follow the rules, and clients can be treacherous. I have had numerous “friends” in the last year and a half of this career tell me that they wanted me to sell their house, only to turn around and list it with another agent or sell it by themselves. I get personally offended, because this is how I feed my family! But if I remember that “People Suck”, it becomes less personal. I don’t suck! I am great at this! I take great care of my clients, do everything in my power to represent them, know all the ins and outs of the process, and have a great team to help us. I have to force myself in those situations to be thankful for the experience. Thank you, friend of 20+ years, for selling your home through another agent and not answering when I asked why! You taught me that I shouldn’t give out free information or count on anything until it is in writing. Thank you, former boarder at my barn, for selling your home to some guy off the street for dirt cheap because you didn’t want to clean it! You taught me that I need to think outside of the box when discussing solutions to clients problems. And all of these situations have taught me that just assuming something will happen will not pay my car payment, so I have to make these things happen, or in these cases, make other things happen. With my thankful mindset, I can appreciate the lesson and heal from the knifing stabbing in my back.

Maybe it sounds too kumbaya for most people. But being thankful is literally the thing that saves my mind from all the anger, hatred, and darkness in society. I choose not to deal with and dwell on that. I choose to focus on the light. There is good in everything. If I spend time taking a bad experience and finding the lesson or the good in it, it is still a bad experience and I still can’t pay the car payment, but I can focus my energy on something that will. If I force my teenagers to do dorky exercises trying to find the things in life they have to be thankful for, maybe they will grow up with an introspective soul. So when their friends stab them in the back, they can learn and grow instead of shrink and hide. Introspection is the key to change. Whether you want to change yourself or the world, you must have the ability to look inside of something, separate the good from the bad, and choose which one to focus on.