Latetia and I recently took a few days to reflect and plan. It is a challenge to set aside time for this. Especially in real estate where you never know what each day is going to look like as offers are negotiated, new clients are contacting you, or that perfect house your buyer has been waiting for finally hits the market. Every time I do set aside time to really reflect I am amazed at how productive and helpful it truly is.

So, what does this look like for our little company of two to have a retreat? This year we went to our Athen’s Airbnb instead of the mountains. Even though we had this time set aside, we were able to list a home and negotiate on a new home for a buyer. I learned last year when we went to the NC mountains for our retreat that being close to home is a necessity for a realtor because clients’ needs are often on a deadline. Isn’t that contradicting what I just said earlier about blocking out the time though? NO. It doesn’t have to be perfect or isolated to work. Not being in our homes meant that our delightful pets weren’t interrupting us nor were our delightful families (or at least not as much - we had a broken foot and a botched refrigerator delivery to coordinate from afar). We had a list of big picture topics and goals to work through that would’ve gotten lost in a normal work day. Being in a different setting helped us prioritize and focus on this agenda. Plus we took some time to celebrate our first year in business with little treats like dinner in downtown Athens.

I’m proud that in our first year of business, C. Tucker & Co had a profitable year even with the market slowing considerably the second half. We have a relevant and visited website with up to date blogs. We started some educational videos. We started an Airbnb Consulting part to our company. We sent out bi-monthly emails with helpful tips for past and present clients. We weathered our social media nightmare when everything got permanently shut down in the Meta universe. We navigated the whiplash of a market that kept prices rising and buyers doing anything to get a house that suddenly changed with rising rates to stagnation and then on to a more balanced market. We went to the National Association of Realtors Annual conference. We created and made print guides to help both buyers and sellers. I navigated how to be an employer for the first time in my life while Latetia patiently learned how to prioritize my many ideas. All of this happened with the “boring” behind the scenes activities like building websites, getting E & O insurance, setting up a trust account, and creating an office manual. Instead of just rushing on to the next thing which is my tendency, I am taking the time to celebrate what we have done.

This coming year we hope to make more helpful video content so we really are a resource for all things home. We plan to be more consistent on social media because we want to genuinely connect with people. We are each setting aside chunks of time each week to truly reflect, think, research and write. We hope to help more clients this year than last year sit at a closing table. We will continue to create city guides to help those relocating to the Athens/Watkinsville area discover the riches of our neighborhoods. We hope to fine tune our processes.

I am writing this to remind myself to look back on these goals and accomplishments when I am tempted to skip my time to reflect (my own mini retreat) each week. I encourage everyone to somehow carve out time to reflect and plan, whether it’s for several days or four uninterrupted hours. Celebrate the amazing things you have done and are. Tweak the areas that are causing you frustration. I wish I had done this when my kids were little and I primarily stayed at home with them. I am going to buck up against my cultural programing that tells me I have to go and go and go. Sometimes stopping is the best way to get things done.