We just passed the 2013 mid-year mark. Have you taken a look at your 2013 goals to make sure you are halfway towards completing them? If you are like many agents who have been caught up in the harried pace of the recovered and hot market, you may not even know where that goal worksheet is, but you probably are sitting back feeling much better about the balance in your bank account.

You certainly owe it to yourself to celebrate. You made it through one of the worst periods in real estate history and are not only still here, but you may even be thriving! And it is exciting to be out working and helping clients and feeling comfortable spending money again!

Not so fast. I want you to take a second look at your 2013 goals. Sure you had earning more money on there as a goal. Who wouldn’t? But how many hours are you working? Are you feeling out of balance? Have you cut your vacation short this year or skipped it entirely because you can’t keep up with business? Are you checking emails until the wee hours of night and spending your weekends driving around buyers in the hopes of finding areas with a greater selection of inventory? Or doing open houses with sellers who are still unrealistic?

How are you doing with your lead generation goals? Sure you may have dozens of leads at the moment and don’t have enough time to work them all, but what are you doing to secure tomorrow’s leads? Are you spending time cultivating the buyers and sellers who are not ready now, but may be in a year? Are you staying in touch with your database and doing a great job of client care so those referrals will sustain you when times are lean?

I think of our current market like a hockey game. Right now agents are like a team celebrating a big win. The goal horn sounds and the players knock the ice or the boards with their sticks to celebrate, but if the team does a little too much celebrating after the game, they are not setting themselves up to win the next game.

“Denise!” I can hear you saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me! I am barely standing upright let alone celebrating into the wee hours of the night! I am working almost as hard to keep up with business as I did when I was working to jump-start it!”

And that is exactly my point. If you have to jump-start it to keep it going, then you aren’t doing enough to maintain it now. This is the time to look at some of those other goals and make sure the maintenance is fitting into your business life somehow.

Believe me, I know it isn’t easy. I was selling over 100 homes a year at the peak of my real estate career and I felt every day that it was a struggle to keep up. I had made my monetary goals and then some, but I had no quality of life. I didn’t take time for myself. I didn’t take enough time for my family. I had to learn the hard way how to make some rules around my time and the type of clients I would work with. I had to make sure that I had systems for lead generation, lead cultivation, and client care that would sustain my business.

Denise Lones

Next week I will share the wake-up call that changed my business forever.

If you are struggling to find that balance, to set some rules in your business, and develop systems for lead generation, cultivation, and client care, then please join me for my upcoming Safari, July 24^th and 25^th . Attending Safari may be the best thing you do for your business all year! You will walk out with a fresh perspective and the tools you need to create the business you want and a clear roadmap of to get there. Click here to find out more!

I hope to see you there!