132: Your Minimum Standard: The One Thing to Fall Back On When You’re Burnt Out

Let’s talk about the days when you just don’t have it.

The motivation isn’t there. The to-do list feels overwhelming. And the idea of doing everything in your business makes you want to do… nothing.

In this episode, we’re breaking down what your minimum standard should look like not on your best, most productive day, but on the days when you’re tired, stretched thin, and just trying to keep it together.

Because your business doesn’t need perfection. It needs consistency.

If you’ve been feeling off, overwhelmed, or like you’re falling behind, this episode is your reset.

Because on the days you don’t have it in you… you don’t need to do everything.

You just need to do the one thing.

Like what you heard? Make sure to follow and review the podcast, and shoot us a message with your thoughts at 

contractsandchaos@gmail.com

@YourHomeGirl_CLT 

@Real.Life.Brenna

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

I love that we have options though because oh see, I told you. We just started recording with my eye patches on. That's fine. It's okay. I don't know that many people are doing it watching.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

We are recording earlier than we normally do. And what we've normally been doing recently is earlier than we used to do. So we're both a little like, ooh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

I know. I know. I think we started originally recording at 9 30 because we both thought that we had to drive to Mooresville to do this. Right. So that's neither here nor there. So this one, this episode, stems from a training, a coaching call that Ellis and I were both in, where our one of the coaches was basically saying, What is your minimum standard? And that's not, there's a million ways to take that phrase, right? Minimum standard in how you treat your clients. Minimum standard, uh, what you charge, minimum, there's a million different things. But in this instance, she was talking about how she is in a season of life where there are some days that we are just not firing at 120%. Sometimes we're not firing at 100%. Some days we're firing at 35%.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

I was gonna say, there's a some days I'm not even at 50. So right.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

And recently, like exactly. And I felt that very deeply in that moment. I know Alyssa has felt that very deeply in the past few months, you know what I mean? That sometimes it is not about checking off every item on your to-do list. And in those days, do you have a minimum standard set up? Do you know what your and we've talked about the one thing before, but do you know what your one thing is? That if you could not bring yourself to face your laptop or desktop or a client for five more minutes, what is the one thing that you need to do today to feel like you succeeded in moving your business forward? That you made a difference, you moved the needle, and if you continue to do that 1% thing every day, that your business would not fall apart.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Right? And I like I feel this to my core because you're right, during everything, and I was just having this conversation with someone, I don't know, two days ago, about how like I didn't hit my goals last year, but my business kept moving forward. And this because I at least did that minimum, I still have business at the beginning of this year because last year and I I'd have to pull my numbers specifically, but I don't think I had any closings until March or April. Like it started slow. So this year, I'm already two closings in, I have another one under contract, and I have a listing coming up, which for some agents they'd be like, girl, I do that in a week. But for me, that's a busy start to a year, like normally. So I feel this to my core because my one thing at that point was like, okay, at least do the social media. The uh the minimum is a post. If you don't have stories and I didn't get all like the reels for like the podcast and everything, and I'm working on getting back in that song, it was like at least something like that's easy, and even if it wasn't a post, it was engage with someone else's social media because that will, when I do post, it will help my algorithm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Um so this this episode is not about like adding more to your plate. And I think that I mean, we we share so much value and so many ideas and so many things that you could do more. You can try this. Like, if you can't find something to try to move your business forward if you listen to this podcast, gosh, I don't, I don't, I don't know how to help you. You know what I mean? But this episode in sp specifically is more about looking within and being like, listen, I know that I was planning on doing a hundred expired mailers today, right? And dropping off my pop buys to my 10 top clients. And I was gonna do that, and sometimes you wake up in the morning, you're like, oh no. And whether that be a mental day, right? I have I've had some of those, whether it be a sick day, right? Like if you have a headache, like all of those, like there's things that just throw your day into a loop. If your kids are sick, right, what there's so many reasons for a day to fall apart, but do we let it fall apart and be like, oh, well, that was chalk that up to a loss. We'll try again tomorrow. We're like, okay, well, this is not going to plan. However, like for Alyssa, I need to get a social media post up. I need to interact in those social media groups, I need to have some conversations, right? For somebody else, maybe it's five cold calls, right? Maybe it's sending out an email newsletter. Maybe it's I'm trying to think of different ideas that like well, like yesterday for me, I woke up at 2 15 with a crushing headache.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Like I was fetal position in tears. Um, and yeah, it was like Diet Coke did not help yesterday. Oh no. But my one thing was like I knew I needed to respond. I I had three things, but I had to respond to an email from an agent or check to make sure we had heard from her. I needed to get my client's transaction stuff in the computer so my TC could take over from there. And I needed to finish my St. Patrick's Day cards. Like, I was like, they have they have to go in the mail today. There's no and so though that was my minimum, also maximum yesterday because I was like, I just can't. Like I'm struggling. And and in all honesty, like I didn't start working yesterday until 11 a.m. Because I couldn't push through that headache. So maybe that was my one thing was I took the rest. Right. I took a very slow morning trying to feel better so that I could do the other things.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

And sometimes that's the most important. And I love how you said that minimum was also my maximum. And knowing yourself enough to say, like, I succeeded today. I have a hard time looking at a to-do list and it not being checked off and being like, yep, well, that was a failure, right? Like that was terrible. Why couldn't you get it all done? And I don't think that that's fair. We do, we operate in so many capacities, especially those of us who have um like families and pets and responsibilities, and we're traveling to take care of people. And like, there's just so much that goes into this business, as well as taking care of our clients, our transactions, our, you know, friendships, gosh, all of those other relationships. But the point is like, it's not about having the perfect day. We all work towards the perfect day. I know you you've had to have been in a training someday, somewhere, where they were like, let's just talk about what your perfect day looks like, right? And that's great, but I can tell you, I don't think I've ever had one that's gone exactly right. You know? So being able to be flexible and pivot and be like, gosh, I didn't get all 4,300 items that I've written down on my to-do list, but I did the most impactful thing for my business on that list. And that's that's important. So I think, I think your example for yesterday was great, right? Like getting your cards out. Um, again, if you're in it, like you don't want to make calls. So we're sending five um DMs to people, right? You saw somebody got married, somebody had a birthday, somebody's kid is graduating this year. And we're not talking about, again, we've gone over this where it's like beating a dead horse at this point. Like it doesn't have to be, hey, do you know anybody looking to buy or sell real estate? That's not the idea. Have a conversation with somebody. Follow up with somebody you've already talked to, right? If you already have leads in the pipeline, buyers that have been kind of sitting on the sidelines, send out, copy and paste that text message to follow up with them, be like, hey, how are you? Things are starting to warm up. I've seen an additional 30 listings hit the market in this area this week, right? Like, I think we're gonna have some new inventory to look at and send that to your to your buyers, right? And see who responds. It's great. That's great. Clean out your inbox, right? That's a good one too.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

You don't have to talk to anybody, which is funny you say that because like that was one of the things I could like my personal email had like 1700 emails in it, and I was like, okay, and I needed wait was waiting for vet results, and I was like, Oh, where is this? You know, and it was a good thing I checked it because they were missing something, and I was like, No, I definitely brought that in. Do you need another one? And I was like, Oh, I don't want to do that, but yes, like those, it's that consistency. It's even if it's not consistency with the same thing daily, which it could be, maybe you have to pick that one thing. Your one thing every day is this. But I also believe if you're doing one thing, even if it's different every day, that it's still a level of consistency in your business, and that consistency pays off. Um, whether it's the social media or it's the conversations or whatever it is, if you're at least consistently in your business every day, um, like it you're gonna see the fruits of your labor.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Yeah, I think your business responsibilities change day to day, right? So, like for me, or like you said that you were uploading, so your transaction coordinator, our transaction coordinator could go to work, right? Those things affect your business immediately. Those things have to be done, right? But as far as like um, I don't want to say an extracurricular because it's not, but something that's going to bring in new business, I think for me, it's easiest to know that like, listen, I get so most of my people, most of my leads from social media, right? So I need to spend 20 minutes in the local Facebook groups. I need to make one post. Like I know where my money comes from, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

And I need to do something in there in addition to whatever has to be done.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Right. And that's like that's why I got my cards done because I do have such a sphere of influence-based business that to me, like my social media is very important, but I also consider that my sphere. I don't think I've ever closed someone I didn't know from social media. Really? Oh my god. I got my first lead from TikTok a couple weeks ago, and then they decided they're moving to a different area. But anyway, um so for me, those cards are like a pop by. They're a touch. Like it's a cute little St. Patrick's Day card, it had like a little clover thing in it. That to me was super important yesterday because I was like, this is touching my sphere of influence, my clients who send referrals, you know, and like I was talking to you about it yesterday. I had clients who didn't use me on their last sale and purchase, but I still sent them a Christmas card. And guess who called me yesterday to sell their house? Yeah, right. So that to me, I was like, all right, get these done, like get them out the door. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Well, the sad part is I have had them. Of course you have.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

You can put them in the beginning of February. I was gonna say you order them like in January.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Right. I had because I because earlier this week I was like, oh, well, if I don't get these out, at least it's Amazon, I can return them. Nope, outside that 30-day window.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

So I had them, but I just didn't get them done. That's funny. So and then, okay, so that leads into this, right? The the guilty part of it. Okay, so raise your hand. If you're driving, don't raise your hand. But if you are the person that's like, like me, that's like I didn't get everything done, I suck, right? Let's start giving our ourselves some grace, right? You start to look on Instagram and you're seeing that agent that's closing 150 deals a year solo, right? You look on um Facebook and you see stories of somebody who's like out and they've showed 10 houses today, right? Listen, we all have those days. We have days where we are massively wildly productive.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

And then Can you imagine 150 closings solo that's that's another conversation? But that is like that's closing every like two and a half days or two and a quarter days.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

But there's a team of people behind them that make that happen. You know what I mean? And I don't mean like a that they're part of a team, but that I'm thinking of one agent in particular, and they have like, you know, an operating system. They have a like a client concierge, and this is all like I'm not sure of the actual names, but they have people to help them perform at that level, right? And God, I'm not at that level, and I don't know if I ever want to be at 150 solo, but that's that's neither here nor there. The point is is you start that that comparison game, right? Where you're feeling behind, you're looking at everybody else, and you're like, wow, I really could have done more today. And maybe you could have. There are there are instances where I feel like sometimes we could have done a little bit more, but maybe that's also just me being the person that I am. But there is a point of of telling yourself you didn't do enough. And I feel like having this, we're like, no, I did, because I did the thing that brings me business. I did the thing that I need to do to make my next transaction happen faster, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:54

And that's that's a small win. And when you have multiple small wins, they stack up. So well, and one one right thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

I'm gonna give you the alligator jaws, right? Because that's how my kids learned it. Better, worse.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Alligator eats the jaws. Wait, wait, do that, hold on, do that again because I couldn't see you. I had Trello open and I have no idea what you just did.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

So it's the greater than and less than, right? But it's an alligator, right? The alligator eats the greater. Okay? Yeah. So it's great. So the biggest thing is like do I have kids, Alyssa?

SPEAKER_02 14:31

And I like to think I remember that from elementary school. I was gonna say 35 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

So I like that math, the alligator math, way more than this like comparing algebraic equations with solving for the unknown that we're doing this week. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Was it you the other day that made the post about the letters and the math is gonna be the death of me?

SPEAKER_00 14:50

And I was like, oh, send me over. Oh my god, send help. Oh god, you do letters with math? Great. Yeah, I'm gonna get Violet on the phone with Aunt Ya.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

I also like when they switched to Common Core and everyone was complaining. I was like, I really don't understand why this is wrong because like that's how my brain works. Like, circle math makes sense to me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Oh my god, that's hilarious. Okay, back to my back to my alligator. The biggest thing is like you want doing one intentional thing to move your business forward is always going to be greater than just sitting on your couch watching Bridgerton because you're overwhelmed and you are tired and you are just have no idea what to do, right? That's why I say, like, I I do agree that there are things that change in our business that we have to do, right? But in this instance, I think pick one, I want to say lead gen activity, one business activity that you're like, today is one of those days, but that means I know that I have to do this and I will feel like I succeeded today.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Right. And but do it well. Like, I think if it if you are only able to do one thing, you need to do it well. So, like, I I'm bringing up the cards again, just as an example. Like, I could have just signed my name on every card, stuck it in an envelope, and and mailed it. But I and then been like, oh, I'll just use these little shamrock things next year because I had to assemble the shamrock things. But I was like, no, I'm going to do this the way I intended, and so that it is more than just a card with a signature in it. And I put it like I made sure I did it well and I was intentional with it so that you know it looked really good. And I went and I got the correct postage in special stamps, so it wasn't 800 stamps on the card to get these things mailed. If you're gonna do one thing, do it well. So if it's you know what, I I don't have the energy to do my Facebook content today, but I do have the energy to go through everyone with a birthday on my friends list. Don't pick the canned messages or use them as a starting point and expand on it. But don't just be like click, click, click, click. That's just like they know people know because guess what? They get the same prompts on their social media.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah. So and they got 487 DMs that say the same thing because it's the easy, it's the easy click button.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

So I think that's really, I was just gonna say, I think that's really the end of that story. You know what I mean? Like just doing one thing for your business will massively change. It will help you build a successful business. The more excuses you allow yourself to not do anything, that's when we start seeing those gaps of like, oh God, we have no closings, right? Right. So, and listen, there are times in life where you need to step back and you need to take care of yourself and you need to take care of your family, and depending on what situation that looks like, but come back to it, you know, do that one thing. And that way you're not trying to pick up all of the pieces and start over. Nobody wants, nobody wants to start from scratch with an empty pipeline.

SPEAKER_02 17:56

So, Brennan, I know you have a busy day today. What is your one thing? Because and busy because like we rescheduled, and I know I had I can tell you what my one thing was because I was like, I'm not, I can't not be at this knit thing. So what's your one thing today?

SPEAKER_00 18:13

I am putting together my May, or I'm sorry, my April. We're not in May yet. My April. I would say post. Sorry, sorry, my April postcard because um that has to be uploaded so I can get it started in the mail circle. So we'll start, it'll show up in in April. So that's the one thing that has to be done today.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

I mean, I have I have an in those.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

I don't uh oh who do you use again? Uh super agent marketing. Oh, okay. For some reason I thought you were using reminder because you had the magazine. So no, I quit using the magazines this year. So yeah.

unknown 18:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Super agent marketing, I can get an eight and a half by five and a half, like the jumbo postcards with postage for 65 cents a piece.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Nice, and you just send those to your database? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

So that's the big thing today. Um, I mean, I have a massive to-do list, I can tell you all four of it.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Yeah, I have like a roll, and this is like a mix of like personal and work stuff, but I just have like a rolling in addition to like in my calendar, I have my daily tasks not time blocked, but on the um reminders.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

You have a side list of things that you could squeeze in if you have the time. Yeah. Stop it. I do the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Yeah, so it's like I need to call ATT, I need to schedule branding photos, um, I need to edit a video for another agent. Um, yeah, stuff like that. But um, so my one thing today is South Carolina just changed most of our forms. And our I never go to our state meetings um because I'm like, oh, I can catch the replay, but we're going over them in the state meeting today. So I when you asked to reschedule, I was like, I can accept I have this and I have to be there. I've even printed them all out. I have my pen and my highlighter ready because I'm like, I know they've done so much in here and rules have changed with it that I was like, if I don't know this and I can't present it well to my clients, they're not going to trust me and come back. And I literally this week I wrote an offer for clients of South Carolina Carolina last week. We ended up rescinding it, and I had to write one for them this week, and I said to them, Bear with me. It's completely different. They just changed this on Monday, and all of us, and they were like, Oh, like they understood, but I don't want to continue that practice. So that is my one thing. I will sit in that meeting at 10 o'clock and then everything else will get done around that. So I I think my point also is like the one thing may not be prospecting, it might be something like this, so that you're more confident when you're having those conversations and doing the other activities.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Um go win the day, you guys. Go do your one thing and we will see you next week. Bye guys.