When NOT To Work On Your Business

I have terrible allergies. Right now my left eye is practically swollen shut and my nose won’t stop running. I take Zyrtec every single day and it usually does the trick, but not always. I’ll be fine in about 48 hours, but it’s a huge pain in the butt.

Why? Because I get very little done in my real estate business. And I actually do this intentionally. You see, I love to work. I love real estate and don’t mind working a ton of hours and working hard. (What my fiancée thinks of this, is another story.) But I know when I’m sick I make bad decisions and I’m not on my “A” game.

For example, I’ll do little tasks, which don’t require much thinking and are easy to do such as sending out a thank you note or two. But I won’t talk to any motivated sellers or make any large decisions because I know I’m not thinking clearly.

Why in the world would I get on the phone with a seller – who could potentially be worth a d$30,000 deal – just to lose it because I sound like I’m on death’s doorstep? Or, why would I go meet with a seller in person, just to scare the heck out of them because it looks like somebody just punched me in the face?

I wouldn’t. And I don’t.

It’s not easy to do for me, because I can’t sit still, but I force myself not to take any drastic action with my business when I’m not feeling well or thinking clearly, and I encourage you to do the same.

I know folks who’ve gone through a divorce, or had a death in the family, or another tragedy and have made rash decisions to sell all of their rental properties on a whim because they didn’t want to deal with them anymore.

I’ll admit, when I was dealing with personal tragedies I thought about doing the same, but thankfully, I talked myself out of it and was able to look at the big picture and still own those properties today.

My point is, real estate is a very serious business with high stakes.

We’re dealing with properties that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and we should never forget that. If you come home from a bad day at work and you have motivated sellers to call, perhaps you should do it the next day, or what until you’ve calmed down.

Or, if you just got in a car accident the day before and aren’t doing well, perhaps you should reschedule all of your seller meetings for later that week. After all, as I mentioned above, if you don’t show up with your “A’ came it could cost you a lot of money in lost deals.

So, take this business seriously, make sure that you’re feeling good before you call a seller or meet with a seller. And make sure that when you do get sick or aren’t feeling well, that you take the necessary time to get yourself back together.