Uncategorized November 6, 2011

Hmmmm… now what?

First… I’m absolutely ecstatic about selling something, not just for me but for my buyers. The anxiety of knowing they need a house soon, they want to be in quickly, they have a budget we need to stay in, want to be close to family and there are only a few homes that fit their needs/wants… is hard on me. Worse yet was when I Was Positive The Hunger Strike Was Over and Then… it wasn’t. I want people to be happy. Happy with me. Happy with the job I do for them. Happy with their new home. Yep, just happy.

We should have the signed paperwork back on Monday from the sellers & their Realtor and then it will officially be official. Still lots to do before closing, there’s the home inspection (and any negotiations depending on results), title opinion, abstracting, underwriting, final walk thru and then the actual closing. That stuff I can handle, the big question on my mind is… What do I do now that the Hunger Strike is over?

I’ve done a lot of thinking about the Hunger Strike. It only lasted 19 days and it didn’t kill me. If you consider I would usually spend about $8 per lunch, 4 days a week (I try to work from home a few days a week) then I saved nearly $100 just on lunch. Add in I didn’t bring home supper from Ames in those 3 weeks (not even pizza!) and that’s more savings. I cooked meals at home so I probably bought a few more groceries that usual but that can’t be much. I also made sure that I worked from home if I didn’t NEED to go to Ames/office for something to make sure I wasn’t enticed into eating out. Cory loved having real food for supper and leftovers for lunch. And I actually lost 2 pounds (not due to anything but not eating out) which I attribute to pure laziness… some days I just didn’t feel like making lunch! Other days making lunch wasn’t too bad, check out Hunger Strike Day 10 – Now I’m Getting Creative.

I guess I’d never really thought about something as simple as lunch, until now. So here’s the new plan…on Tuesday afternoons we have our weekly sales meeting and I will eat lunch out in Ames if I make it a business lunch. To qualify as a business lunch it needs to be with a client (past, present, or prospect) or business to business partner. Lunch with another agent doesn’t qualify unless it’s an agent from a different office or company. On Fridays I will eat lunch with agents from my office for Friday Fun Lunch.  Having these as my only options should encourage me to actively look for people to spend time with & eat with on Tuesdays, which equals good for business and I get to eat out! I feel Friday Fun Lunch is necessary for my own peace of mind and to keep me involved in the great team atmosphere we have in our office.

All in all this new plan should be good for my business, my pocket-book & my waist line!