Feast or Famine

One of my favorite sayings is that I'd rather be busy that bored.  As the homeschooling mom of 2 kids I can never be truly bored but things can definitely slow down.  Especially when it comes to work.

For a period of a couple weeks, work has been kind of slow.  And when I mean slow, I've been able to do a lot of work from home.  I haven't had showings.  I haven't had inspections.  Until a week ago, all I had was a final walk-through and a closing.  Then I showed a client a house late one evening that meant I returned home later than I would have liked.

And now the flood gates have opened.  That deal is in the process of moving forward.  In fact, I'm in the process of trying to fit in an inspection for that house soon.  In addition, it would appear multiple out-of-state clients all decided now was a good time to come and look at houses.  I also have a couple local clients who've found homes they want to see as well.  So over the next week and a half, I will have showings on at least 5 days (a couple of them full days). 

Timing is an interesting thing.  During the slow time (specifically, at what I now know was the end of the slow time), I paid for access to a client list.  One of the draws for me was that I would be able to use that to try to get new clients when things were otherwise slow.  Well, here I am not having used that client list at all because I want to be able to do justice to the clients I'm working with right now.

So why am I not happy with a slow period?  Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE those slow times because it usually means I get to spend more quality time with my kids.  However, it would be nice to see money come in a little more consistently, so I'm also looking into working with one of my partners on rentals (diversification is a good thing in my opinion).

Whether I'm dealing with a feast period or a famine period, it was all put into perspective for me recently when I realized that I started working as a Realtor only 9.5 months ago.  And in that time, I've sold 8 houses.  According to the people I work with, that is unheard of for a new Realtor.  All I know is that without these sales, my family would be in serious financial trouble right now.  So I am going to be thankful for the sales I've had.  I'm going to be thankful for the down times as well.  Because in the end, it's all going to work out the way God wants and that's way better than anything I could come up with for myself.

That said, after going to an awards breakfast today where I watched the two agents I work with most closely win something, I'm going to do my best to get an award of my own next year (I wasn't eligible this year).