Friday, October 18, 2013
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
One Shoe
One of the things I always struggled with as a working mom
was whether or not I was doing the right thing for my kids by not being at home
all day, every day. Being one of four
kids, my mom had her hands full, and was a stay-at-home mom. (I grew up in the late 60s, early 70s, so
this was pretty common at the time.) She
stayed busy not only putting food on the table, clean clothes on our backs and
keeping a spotless house for us to come home to, but getting us to and from
dance lessons, football practices, cheerleading practices, swimming and diving
practice, piano lessons, and the like.
Then she made sure she and my dad attended and/or chaperoned every
single game, meet, recital and performance for all four of us. I watched her do all these things, in what appeared to me, effortlessly.
When I first got out of college and started my first
professional job, I did a pretty good job balancing a career, husband and
making sure the bills were paid, food was on the table, clothes were washed and
the house was clean. Several years later, adding a child to the
picture made it necessary to tweak my schedule and change a few things here and
there to still get it all done. My mom
had set the bar pretty high to begin with, and adding a full-time job into the
mix made for a challenge I was determined to conquer. I managed to pull it off, but it was
exhausting. I always felt like rather
than letting anything slide, I had to keep up the same standard I had been
raised to expect and had maintained up until then. The biggest problem was that I could not seem
to shake the guilt I think a lot working moms suffer from: Should I make some major adjustments and stay
at home, or is it ok to work outside the home?
As my kids are older now, (two of them are in college, and
one is in middle school), I have finally decided I made the right decision. I am proud of my family and the lessons we
have learned from watching each other. I
taught my kids a heck of a lot along the way, and I did it as a working
mom. All three of my kids can cook,
clean, do the laundry, mow the yard, socialize with adults and children alike, have
manners and respect for others, and know right from wrong. In addition to juggling schedules and multi-tasking,
my kids unknowingly taught me not to doubt myself and that that they really do
pay attention!
I love sitting back, watching and listening to my kids. I love it when they repeat something I have
taught them when I thought they weren’t paying attention. I love it when the
girls call us from college to report great news about their grades or
classes. I love it when my son asks me about a
particular Bible verse that he can quote, but can’t remember exactly where to
find it. I love that the girls call me to get recipes for a favorite meal
because now that they have their own apartments, they want to make it for
someone themselves. I love it when my son plays
baseball and when he makes an amazing play, he acts the same as when he
doesn’t. (Even though Mom and Dad are in
the stands acting like obnoxious fools, screaming and yelling on the great
plays, “Yep! That’s our boy!” He acts like he’s done it before. Yep, he
keeps it classy even if good ole Mom and Dad don’t! Now come on---You know you do it, too!) On the not-so-great plays, he just smiles and
goes back to the dugout until the next time.
And I especially love that he draws a cross in the dirt every time he is
up to bat, recognizing how he got there in the first place.
So what the heck does this have to do with real estate?
Well, a LOT of what I do in my real estate career, I learned
by raising my kids, running a family household and working a full-time job at the same time. And a lot of what I learned in the business
world I do at home and with my family. Balancing
a family and all that goes along with it is similar to running your own
business: There is a lot of
responsibility, endless hours of work but the reward is completely worth it
when you feel the unbelievable sense of accomplishment when you can sit back
and see everything come together better than you ever imagined. But the most important thing I have learned is
something that I tell my kids all the time:
You never know who is going to be watching you.
A couple weeks ago, we were listening to the sermon in
church. Our newly appointed pastor was
asking each and every one of us to go out and set a good example, emphasizing
that people see who you are by HOW you are.
Then he said MY magic words: “You
never know who is going to be watching you.”
Ah, cool! Confirmation
that someone else, especially someone of high leadership and standard, says the
same thing I do! If I have said it once,
I have said it a thousand times: You just never know when someone is going to
be watching you.
In baseball? You
practice like you intend to play, and during games you play like the best
recruiter in the country is attending your game. You always strive to perform better than
even YOU think you can! In business? You are ALWAYS at your best because you never
know when someone that can really make a difference to you is paying attention
and is either going to be impressed with you or not, and take your business to
a new level. In school? Just because it may seem like just another
assignment doesn’t mean it won’t be the winning essay that gets you chosen to
go on a three week trip to France! (This,
along with playing like a pro in all your volleyball practices where the right
person was obviously watching, can make a difference!)
I had a very dear client that passed away last
Christmas. He was 94 years old. He was someone who was watching when I didn’t
know it. I unexpectedly gained a mentor and friend as a result of him watching
and paying attention to how I handled my business. I met him at an Open House several years
ago. He ran into my broker one day and
said, “You know that agent you have in your office, Janie Pugh? I want her to list all my properties for me
when I die.” A bit blunt, but he was
always very straightforward. I met with
him later that week, and I became the Karate Kid: I would meet with him often, and in our
conversations, realized I was learning from the best, absorbed every word, and put it into practice. He had amazing work ethic and work/life
experiences that were almost unbelievable.
During our first conversation, he
told me he wanted to meet with me because after the Open House he attended
where we met, he was impressed with my follow up and how I handled my
business.
Consequently, I ended up
selling him 2 houses and listing and selling 3 three he already owned. I completed a total of five transactions from
one person in a period of 6 years. What
I didn’t realize until much later was that had I not made a good first
impression, I would have missed out on spending time with one of America’s greatest
World War II Army veterans who consequently helped me develop and polish my
business skills and practices.
So I will say it again:
You never know who is going to be watching! Just
as one shoe changed Cinderella’s life, one impression can change yours!
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Friday, April 12, 2013
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing!
I got a call from my daughter the other day, (she is out of state attending her third year of college) and heard what every parent of a college student dreads hearing: “Um, I think I just need to take some time off to figure out what I really want to do with my life.”
What I very calmly replied was something to the effect of, “Um, over my dead body!”
Now, I didn’t REALLY say that----at least I don’t THINK I was thinking out loud. Instead, I gave her some advice, suggestions, ideas, counsel… Since she goes to school out of state, I can’t just say, come on over, sit down and we are going to talk (some sense into you) about it. I have to accomplish powerful advisory sessions long-distance which can be a little tricky.
After talking for a few minutes, I realized the bottom line: She is burned out and doesn’t know how to handle it. Fortunately for both of us, I have been there, done that, and have a dresser full of t-shirts to prove it!
College students are certainly not the only ones that suffer from burn-out, and sometimes it is not just from keeping a busy schedule and having high expectations of themselves (and pleasing their parents). Sometimes, you just really don’t like what you are doing, and want to get out, even if you are right in the middle of something---A process, a project, a career, a college education. Or, it may be that you don’t like the subject or industry, or you don’t like the people you are around every day. You may despise chemistry (or autoCAD!), or it may just be that you aren’t crazy about the professor and his/her style of teaching. (Some classes are just impossible to make exciting and fun.) You are probably burning the candle at both ends and are just plain exhausted. You may be depressed or you may just need a break. You may be at a point where you just want to call it quits and go do something different. You may be at a point where nothing is going your way and you are tired of trying, wondering why you are spending so much time and effort doing something that isn’t producing any positive results. Day in and day out---you are frustrated that things aren’t working out the way you want them to, and the level of anxiety increases.
At this point, so many people make the biggest mistake of all: they just give up. But you can’t just throw in the towel and say, “I’m done!” You have to make a SHIFT happen, and change the way you are doing things. Shift gears and do things differently---You don’t have to completely stop what you are doing and go find something different, you just have to continue doing what you are doing in a different way. Shift your “how” and make it more fun and exciting. Change the music. Adjust your "vision." Just don't start bedazzling your beakers or using your chemistry test tubes for Saturday night’s party shooters.
2012 was a challenging year for me. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, there were roadblocks everywhere that kept me from reaching my goals. I felt like I was taking one step forward, two steps back and it was a dance I didn’t know, or WANT to learn, for that matter! I couldn’t get the steps right to turn the dance around to rock to the beat of my kind of music! Yes, I was ready to throw in the towel and try something totally different. I felt like I had no control over my career due to the state of the economy and floundering real estate market, and I felt completely defeated. I thought maybe all the challenges were a sign that it was time to move onto something other than real estate.
However, (and fortunately for me) there were just as many roadblocks preventing me from finding something else as there were keeping me frustrated with what I was doing. I was not happy, and everyone around me knew it. I didn’t like being around myself, so I am quite sure no one else did, either.
Then I experienced shift, and it was a big one! I attended a technology and marketing class in August. The class was taught by Juanita McDowell with InMotion Real Estate Marketing, and everything changed. I re-evaluated my business, changed my vision, took a different approach, incorporated several new business techniques, and it became fun again! I realized that part of what I had been learning all these years, to focus on the parts of your job that you love and delegate or hire out the parts you don’t, I wasn’t doing. I was also getting too caught up in what was WRONG that I couldn’t do what was RIGHT! This way of thinking was all on me---I was the one in control.
So, according to my amazing technology instructor, the “Social Media Diva” was born. (Although I felt more like the Social Media Spongebob---SO much to learn and absorb!) I learned about social marketing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, business websites, personal websites, maximizing the use of video and photography, and on and on. (This is when my original Facebook business page, www.facebook.com/JaniePughofGoldenKeyRealty really took off, and my other Facebook page, www.facebook.com/365ThingsToDoInWarnerRobinsGA was born and took on a life of its own.) I couldn't wait to get home and develop my plan of action. I stayed up after mignight, and got up at the crack of dawn....EVERY day. I couldn't WAIT fo get on my computer and start putting my newfound knowledge to work. This was the music I needed to hear to get me back out on the floor! (I just love to dance....)
I have always been a HUGE fan of continuing education, and Juanita’s class certainly didn’t disappoint---It just made me want to take even more classes! When it comes time to renew my real estate license, I always have a LOT more continuing ed credits than the state requires, but I love to learn. I take every class I can, whether it is for marketing or not. I take classes in real estate law, ethics, contracts, real estate tax, business development, environmental hazards, technology, marketing, and so on…..I am like a sponge in these classes. I think knowledge is power, and I want to seize every opportunity I can to learn what’s new in the real estate industry. Being caught like a deer in the headlights and having to say, “Um, I am not sure about that, but let me get back to you on that…..” is no fun. I need to have the answers before the question even come to mind. Technology is advancing at a staggering rate, and I don’t want to be one of the professionals in my industry that gets left behind because I didn’t stay in the know. The thing is, continuing ed is another shift that you can control and make happen! Learning new techniques, methods and trends puts more great music in the room to get you moving into a more exciting career. I attended a week long series of classes a couple weeks ago that was the first in a series of three toward getting my GRI designation. It was an all-day, every day, jam-packed-with-information experience that left me with an “information explosion” going off in my head. By the time I left on day five, I could hardly drive home---I was so excited to have so much new info that I couldn’t wait to use! We had ended the week with a motivational speaker that had me ready to jump on the table and start screaming, “I love my job!!!!” (Of course, there would be with some KC and the Sunshine Band playing loudly in the background. After all, I gotta dance, right?!?)
So you see, I actually dodged a bullet---I almost pulled the plug and left the industry I love. I felt like my daughter does right now---burned out, frustrated and ready to give up. Fortunately, though, I didn’t give up, and neither will she. I had a lot of people that believed in me and had the confidence that I would get through it. In the long run, life is just a series of choices. Each choice either takes you closer to your goals, or leads you away from them. You can either take charge of your life or let your life and circumstances take charge of you. But by taking charge, you put yourself in the driver’s seat, and you will prosper as a result.
And of course…..you will dance!
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Monday, April 8, 2013
Let's Play Ball!
WRALL baseball and softball games started in March and will continue through mid-May when the various All-Star teams start preparing for the tournaments that will play through mid-August. If you are not familiar with WRALL and the success of this local program, in addition to numerous District and State championships over the years, in 2007, the 11-12 year old division won the baseball World Series, in 2009, the 11-12 year old softball team won the World Series and in 2010, they won the 11-12 year old softball World Series.
The success of this program is largely due to the hundreds of dedicated players, parents, coaches, and team moms that spend countless hours preparing to play in these games. There is a lot of "behind-the-scenes" activity before the first ball is pitched, and all deserve a big THANK YOU for all the hard work!
If you are interested in attending these games, the schedules and field info are posted on the website at: www.wrall.org. Parking and admission to the games is free, so it is the best entertainment deal in town! If you are hungry after the game, you can find several nearby restaurants such as El Jaliscience or Casa
Here's to a wonderful baseball season! Good luck to all these great kids!
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Monday, April 1, 2013
It's Not How You Look, It's How You SEE
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Federal Employee Appreciation Days
At
the "Community Sequestration Update" that was held a few
weeks ago, Bob McMahon, President and CEO of the 21st Century
Partnership, strongly encouraged communities to publicly show support
of how much our government and military employees mean to us. He
recommended that each and every business make every Thursday in April
"Federal Employee Appreciation Day", and offer a discount
or special deal on those days. I am happy to see one local business,
Olympia Skate Center in Warner Robins, taking it to a higher level,
offering a 1/2 price admission discount, not only once a week in
April, but every day for six months! Kudos to Olympia----I hope to
see this catch on in our community, as well as other communities
across the country that are being impacted by the sequestration.
If
you know of other local businesses that are offering such benefits,
please let me know and I will post the details on my Facebook
page, “365 Things to do In Warner Robins, GA.”
(https://www.facebook.com/365ThingsToDoInWarnerRobinsGa)
My website: http://www.janiepughsellshomes.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/365ThingsToDoIn...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaniePughofGold...
My Blog: http://www.janiepughsellshomes.blogspot....
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