As a real estate investor, it can be difficult to find a good balance in your life, regardless of your experience in the industry. From inside your business, trying to balance your time spent on lead generation, appointments, follow up, transaction coordination, etc. to your balance between work and personal life… it’s not an easy task.
Before we go any further… take the time and think about how you’re spending the hours in your day. Break it down by hour and truly be honest about where you’re spending your time. Write down everything.
- Sleeping
- Working out
- Time spent with family
- Time spent on yourself (getting ready, eating, etc.)
- Time spent on social media/TV/Phone
- Time spent with friends
- Time spent on business
This is a very broad list but it provides you with a start. My guess is that you’re spending a good deal of time on social media, TV, and your phone each day. Are you happy with the amount of time you’re on these? If not, commit to making a change.
Now onto your business side, you need to break down what you’re doing within your “business hours” of the day.
- Lead generation
- Setting up marketing to go out
- Building marketing lists
- Answering lead calls
- Attending appointments
- Following up with motivated sellers
- Checking your analytics to know what’s working best
- Business operations
- Transaction coordination
- Documenting your systems and processes
- Implementing automation
- Securing financing
- Bookkeeping
- Property management (if you have rentals you manage)
- Managing your team
These are just some of the tasks that might be eating up your time. By really being honest and seeing where you’re losing valuable time and what areas of your life are being neglected, you’ll be able to create better balance.
Ask yourself what your priorities are in life. How much time should you be dedicating to your spouse, kids, extended family, and friends?
A lot of us get sucked into work because as real estate investors, we don’t have a “9-to-5” and the weight of the business’ success is on our shoulders. This leads to us working while we’re at family functions and staying up at odd hours to get work done.
Balance will take time to achieve but it’s important to start making changes now. Be vulnerable with yourself and hold yourself accountable to creating more balance in your life.
