Becoming an Unstoppable Agent Through True Accountability

Are you feeling completely overwhelmed, stretched too thin, or like your real estate business has hit a plateau? You might be missing the one invisible thread that ties highly successful agents together: accountability.

In this episode of the Unstoppable Real Estate Agent Podcast, we're diving deep into why being held accountable isn't just an industry buzzword—it's an absolute game-changer. We'll unpack exactly how it keeps you fiercely focused and gives you the instant momentum you need to scale your business and crush your goals.

Tune in to discover three no-nonsense, actionable steps you can execute today to start racking up wins and moving the needle forward. Plus, we'll settle the debate: do you need an accountability partner, or is it time to invest in professional coaching? We break down the differences and help you decide which one you need for your current season of business.

If you're ready to trade in the burnout for renewed clarity, massive motivation, and a clear path forward, this episode is your roadmap!

Inside this episode, you'll discover:

• The Catalyst for Success: The undeniable reason accountability is the ultimate secret weapon in real estate.
• Quick Wins: 3 simple actions you can implement today to instantly build momentum.
• The Power of Focus: The magic of time-blocking and how it multiplies your daily productivity.

Resources & Links:

Real Estate Accountability Partnership: https://www.kimhughes.com/real-estate-services/accountability-partnership/

Read the Blog:  https://www.kimhughes.com/becoming-an-unstoppable-agent-through-true-accountability/

Watch the Video: https://youtu.be/oUrM4bNwjoo

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Join Real Estate OS Accelerator | Building the Operating System Behind Your Success.  The hands-on coaching program that gives you the structure, systems, and accountability to finally run your business like a pro.

Real Estate OS Accelerator - Kim Hughes

Additional Resources:

📩 FREE RESOURCE: Download my Complete Checklist – 72 To-Do’s to Dominate Success in Real Estate to supercharge your strategy! https://www.kimhughes.com/72-to-dos/

Visit my website for FREE Templates: https://www.kimhughes.com/resources/free-downloads/

Power Strategy Call – Best 30 minutes you will ever spend discussing the struggles in your business as we create solutions that will set you up for unbelievable success! Go to http://www.TalkwithKimHughes.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi everybody, it's Kim Hughes, and today we are going to talk about accountability partnership or accountability coaching. So if you are ready to really focus on your business, your personal life, this is going to be a podcast that's going to really give you some tools that you can walk away with that you can start out the new year really strong, and hopefully you'll have an accountability coach to help you along the way. Welcome to the Unstoppable Real Estate Agents Podcast. I'm your host and real estate productivity expert, Kim Hughes. Join me as we focus on real strategies and implement real solutions designed for you to achieve major success in your business and life while getting you organized. So the one thing that I always hear agents talking about is oh, I work so hard, I work 15-hour days, and I work seven days a week, and I'm always on my phone and everything. And you know, you you think that you're working really smart, um, but you're really not. You're just spending a lot of time in your business doing the things that you probably shouldn't all have to do. Um, if you are a single agent, then you need to really kind of think about what all you do in your business that brings in the income and what doesn't. And the things that don't bring in an income, you need to delegate. So that's the first thing as an accountability partner that I tell every agent is that if you are doing everything in your business, then you need to delegate and release it. Um, and and make sure that the person that you have it going to and they're handling it for you, that they're aligned with the way you want things to go. Um, but it's really, really important for you to know that you don't have to do everything in your business. And you shouldn't have to. That does not make you successful. It just makes people look at you and think, oh my God, that poor person, you know, they work so much. And a lot of the time it's just you spinning your wheels and not sure how to get things accomplished, right? So, and that's not a fault of anybody's, it's just with the way we are. You know, we always think that nobody can do it better than we can. And that, oh, by the time I showed somebody or explained it to someone, I could have already done it. But think of it this way: you show them once, you train them once, and then you let it go. So, yeah, it might take a little time up front, but in the long term of that relationship, that that person is going to help you, that's gonna be a huge nugget for you to spend the time at the beginning to train that right person and so that you can delegate with confidence and then let it go. Okay. Um, you can find some great people to help you. You just have to find them. And that's gonna take them a little bit of time, and it's gonna take time to train them. But if that's one and done, then you know the whole year is gonna be great. So, accountability is where we are not just checking the boxes and crossing off the lit things off of your list. It's more about staying in align with your goals and creating intentional progress. Um, we always want to become the best version of ourselves in both business and life. And so this is where I want you to be able to can take control, grow your business, and reclaim the life that you want or the one that you already have, but you want to be better at it. And then accountability coaching, you know, it's a it's a huge game changer. So let's explore why this matters and how you can take action immediately. So we have three actionable steps that we're gonna share with you today to help you build momentum right now. So if you're feeling stuck, here's some three simple actions that you can put into place after this podcast and then start reaping the benefits of accountability. So the first thing you're gonna do is you're going to review and prioritize your list, you know, your to-do list, your goal list, um, your brain dump, whatever you call it. And then what we want to do is get some clarity on where you stand with each item. So this could take 10 minutes to review your current to-do list and then create one that you don't have to identify all the little details. So, what I do is I have a brain dump, and that's what I call mine. I put every idea that I can think of, I put it on a piece of paper, and um, you know, I either write it down, type it up, write it in my notes on my phone somewhere that I know at the end of the day that I can go and gather all that information because one, I may not carry my planner with me every day. I may not um have something to write with every day. So my phone, I use the notes on my phone to keep a running list of things that I want to accomplish. And then when I get back to my office, then I put it down on my planner. I create um, I use Trello. So I put it on my Trello board and then I create the action steps that need to go with it to make sure that that gets accomplished in the the time frame that I want, as well as I don't miss anything. And so therefore, when that timeline comes up, I can say, yep, I finished that task and I followed the steps, check, check, check, let's move on to the next thing. It is literally that simple, but you have to be motivated. Um, one of the things that I tell people is that if you have all these ideas running around in your head and you're writing them down and you're creating a list and you're doing that, that's just busy work. Um, it's important work because you've got to know how you're going to accomplish whatever it is you've set out, whether it's a goal, um, a strategy, um, you know, something that you need to do. So it's kind of like when you go to um, you know, when you sit down, you write it out, and then I a lot of agents fall flat, is right here, is they will make goals. I want to sell 24 homes this year. I want to um, you know, have, you know, 10 buyers this year. I want to get my uh CRS designation, I want to do all these things, and it sounds great, and it's really going to be important to you, but then you have to sit down and say, okay, in order to get that CRS designation, what do I need to do to do that? So you have to write out the steps. You know, first you have to contact CRS and see when you have to take the class, what all the materials do you need to study for? You need to look at the dates that it's available, how much does it cost, schedule that time off so that you can do that. If this is online, that's going to be even more of a struggle because a lot of people do struggle with um holding themselves accountable to get that done. And so for me, girl, I own every program I think out there. No, I'm kidding, but I do own some really good programs. But what I should have done is set out and said, okay, I want to be, I want to be here by June 1st. So in order to do this by have this done by June 1st, I have to do A, B, and C D E F G to get it done. And then who can help me with that? Um, do I need to purchase anything? Do I need to um tap into any resources? So there's a lot that goes on in accomplishing a goal. And it's not hard. It's just you've got to know what the goal is and then how you're going to accomplish it. And that's where accountability comes into play. So if you've ever heard of um, you know, the the Eisenhower matrix is one that you can look at. It's it's a really good one to, you know, take a look at. It's it's been around for a while, so you may not, um, you may have something better, you know, but everybody is going to be different. But what I want you to do is tackle each priority immediately. So what I mean by that is whether you're following up with a lead or you're posting on social media or you're scheduling a showing, um, you know, whatever that priority is, you need to tackle it immediately. And then by completing each one of those tasks, then you're gonna help, it's gonna help you build the momentum that you need and create a sense of accomplishment in order to carry out the rest of your day. So that way you don't have it hanging over you. So I will share. Well, let me go into the next one and then I'll share with you. So the next action that you need to look at is how you time block. And what we want to do is like maybe 30-minute intervals. Now, we know that working with a seller and a buyer, that's not what I'm talking about. This is where you need to um take care of your business, take care of your personal life, and things like that. So the distractions and the procrastination, you know, those are huge productivity killers. Um, you could sit down and say, okay, I'm gonna get ready and I'm gonna work on this right now. And then you see a squirrel and you get on social media and you just start scrolling, and then an hour has gone by. So, what you want to do is when you're sitting down to time block, you don't want distractions. You put your phone up, turn it off, whatever. Nothing's gonna happen in one hour that you can't that can't wait. So, what I want you to do is really focus on your high priority task. I want you to set a 30-minute timer. I want you to commit to being uninterrupted so that you can focus on that task. And then during that time, you can also turn off your email. You might even just put your computer to sleep. You could tell everybody in the office, hey, I need to focus, don't interrupt me. Um, when I worked in corporate America, I had a sign on my office door and it said, do not disturb. And it was just a piece of paper. I read it with a black magic marker and I taped it on my door. So anytime I needed to focus, I needed to put that up because people would just come and knock on the door, walk in. People didn't realize that they were distracting me. And it wasn't their fault, it was my fault because how would they know? So then I thought I was talking to my superior one day, and I was telling him, I said, Lord have mercy, I'm here 10 hours a day. I can only get maybe one or two hours worth of work done. And he was the one that said, you know, put a note on your door and shut the door. And so I did. And what I'd even did was I put, do not disturb, leave your name and the time you came by, and I will get back to you in the in the order that you come to me. And so I may be busy for an hour trying to do something, and then when I got finished, I would look at my piece of paper on my front door and I would go around to other people's office and let them know, hey, I'm here if you need me, you know, if you still need me, or you know, I don't want to interrupt your time. So you let me know. Let's put it on the calendar and schedule some time that we can talk. And that worked out so great because I was able to start leaving and work, you know, by 5:30 every day. Um, you know, get home, cook dinner, get my day things done. I was in college for a very long time. So sometimes I'd have to go home and do college work, you know, and I would do, I would have a class, or um, I mean, I was in college until I was, what, 27, 26, 27. Um, and the reason is because I put myself through college, nobody helped me. So I was budgeting and I was working a lot to make sure that I paid my tuition, paid for my books. And there were times that I would have to take off a semester because I had to save up my money, or I had to, I knew of a project that was coming up that next, you know, um during that semester that I knew I wouldn't be able to focus. So yeah, it took me six years, but I got there. Um, nobody really cares. They just know that I did it, and that's what I'm proud of. It didn't matter how long it took. But that kind of got off track there. But so it was very interesting that how you can make sure that you have that time. Another way that you can do that is, and this is something that I'm really excited that I've I've discovered. Of course, you know, I used to get up early in the mornings, you know, because I had children, or I had to drive to work or something like that. But then when I became self-employed, I had to work in the evenings after my kids went to bed on projects because I didn't have enough time in the day. I was a one-man show starting. I had no one to reach out to to show me anything. I was learning on my own, developing systems that nobody knew how to do. So everything that I did, I couldn't jump on YouTube. I couldn't go to Chat GPT, I couldn't do those things. And so, did it make me a better person in my business? Absolutely, because I had to rely on me. But what I found is that I became a night owl. And then when my kids left home, I stayed that way. I kept that same schedule. But then this past year, I started a different routine where I got up at five in the morning and, you know, didn't work late at night. You know, I kind of made myself say, you know, you you have to stop at some point. And um, but where you're gonna find that time is getting up early in the morning. So if you're not a morning person, try that routine. I would say that should be a new routine for you is to go to bed earlier, get up earlier, and focus on the things that you have to do that day and write out, you know, okay, I've got to pick up a prescription. I've got to um run this buyer package over to Sue. I need to run by the title company. And you've got to look at your calendar, I mean your daily schedule and say, okay, well, if I have to go here and then I have to go over here, and then I go here, and you know, because agents live in their cars. So you need to kind of start mapping out, you know, a way that you can just go around the cul-de-sac, if that makes any sense, instead of going in and out, in and out. And then set a timer for 30 minutes so that you can work on that task and get it done. And that's the beauty of me finding that 5 a.m. to 8 a.m., that two and a half to three hours that I get every morning before the world wakes up. It's shocking to me how much I can get accomplished. So, my recommendation is to readjust your routines. Try to get up earlier and go to bed earlier because we want you to get you a good night's sleep, but at the same time, you've got things to do and you need to find a day, a way to do that. And when you wait until the evening, you've already done things all day long, you're tired, you may not feel tired, but your brain is tired. You need your body is automatically shutting down. So, therefore, it takes more energy to work in the evening than it does in the morning. So get up in the morning at 5 a.m., make that coffee, feed the dogs, um, get your calendar, get your your little notebook, write out what you need to do for the day, and then start doing it. And if it's a task that can be done while you're in your 5 a.m. routine, then do that. Don't save it for the evening. Get as much done by 8 o'clock as you can. That's gonna be a huge win for you if you could do that. And then don't turn on your phone, not at 5 in the morning. Nobody's trying to reach you at 5 in the morning. Um, I would say turn your phone on around 7:30, 8 o'clock in the morning if you need to, but you're a real estate agent. Most people are not wanting to call you at 8 o'clock in the morning. So utilize that time and time block when you take phone calls. That's another thing. You do not have to pick up your phone every time it rings. Um, I certainly don't. And I would say if somebody really wants to talk to you, they'll leave a message or they will hang up and text you. And then if you recognize that number or if you don't, you can still send them a text and say, Hey, thank you for reaching out. I mean, I'm not available at the moment. I will get back to you at this time. Um, please confirm that that's a good time for you. If not, look what tell me what time works for you and let's see if our calendars can't meet. And that is how you do that. You do not have to jump every time that phone rings or a text message comes through. Um, you just don't. People don't expect you to do that. Um, I am a really good person to get back to you through text. I'm not a big phone person because if I don't see who that is, I'm not gonna answer it because I think it's spam. And then I'll look at the number and then I'll just then I'll call you back or I'll text you back. So that's something you really need to look at because those can be time killers. Texting, emailing, and social media are definitely time killers. So let's make sure that we focus on value and get the value out of your time. And then um the third thing, and yes, I'm looking at my notes because this is such an important topic. I made sure to write my notes down. So um if you have an accountability partner already, then you need to check in with them and you need to find out how y'all work together. So I'm gonna go over a couple of ways that um you can take some action steps to help. So you can share a goal, um, maybe just one goal with your accountability partner. And when you share that goal, you may not have the action steps, you may not have a timeline, but that accountability partner is gonna help you with that. So, what we're gonna do is, for example, when you work with us on accountability, we are going to hold you accountable. So be ready for that because a lot of people think, oh, yeah, I want accountability. Yeah, I can do that. Somebody needs to hold me accountable. But then what can happen is you get resentful because we're holding you accountable. So you have to be in the mindset to accept it, okay? So one of the things, and I'll share this with you. We had a client that wanted accountability coaching, and it was just very simple, you know, just remind me I need to do A, B, and C every day. That is not accountability. I mean, it's telling you what you need to get done by the end of the day because you've you told me that. But I really want you to think about what you can be held accountable for? Are you needing to are yours, are you setting your goals to sell to sell 24 homes a year? Okay, as I said earlier, you can do that, but you have to know what steps to take in order for you to close 24 homes in a year. And it can be done. You can close more than that if you want to. But a number, that's two a month. So let's just hypothetically say that. And then you need to go over that with your accountability partner. Well, in order for me to get 24 listing, I mean 24 closings a year, I need to find sellers, find buyers, I need to update my marketing packages, I need to make sure my email sequences are in place for all the leads that come in. I need to touch base with all my past clients. I need to look in a new community to farm. So these are the things that you have to do in order to meet that goal. But let's just say hypothetically that you um say, oh, you know, I'm just gonna reach out to my past clients. I can get 12 closings right there. Okay, great. Let's do that. What steps are you gonna take to reach out to those uh past clients? What are you gonna do to make them remember you, think of you, and enjoy having conversations with you? And this is about building the relationship. So you have to build the relationship with the past client as well. So, what steps do you need to take for those past clients to give you the listings that you want so that you can close those properties or even your buyers, you know, whichever one you want to do. So that's what I'm talking about is you kind of have to dive deep. And to do that at the beginning to accomplish the goal, then you are like, hey, you know what? Okay, this is what I got to do. I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna set my timeline, and this is how I'm gonna accomplish it, knowing you can tweak it as you go through it. Okay. But you do need to know what you're doing in order to achieve that. And that's where your accountability partner comes in. And we're going to give you the push that you need. We're going to um help you celebrate all the wins because that's that's what's interesting is that you when you say to us, I have this goal to sell 24 homes a year. And so throughout the year, we're helping you, we're holding you accountable. What is it you're doing? Do you are you doing it all by yourself? You need to delegate, you need to free up your days, you need to be able to focus. So this is where we are working with you every day of the week of the year. And so let's say we set that in January. So mid-year is June. So we're gonna re-evaluate, okay, where are we? How many closings have we had from January to June? And then how many do we need to close between June and December to meet that goal? And so therefore, we can evaluate what we've done in the first six months, make some adjustments to make sure that we finish in the year at the goal that you want to have or you want to accomplish. And that's the beauty of it, because then you don't have all this stuff running around in your head, oh, I'm not gonna meet my goal. I've only sold two homes in the last three months and things like that. Mm-mm. We're gonna help you, we're gonna help you strategy, create a strategy, we're gonna help you implement the strategy, and we're gonna help you stay focused, and we're gonna hold you accountable as well as give you the clarity that you need to understand everything. Um, you know, agents are great. You know, they're great at setting goals, and but this is one area where they really need to kind of fill in that gap. And that's what we're here to help you with. So then, you know, my next thing is, you know, if you're ready to take that step of being held accountable, then I would say reach out and let schedule a call and talk. Um, there's a link below. You can click on it, look at the calendar, pick whatever time and day works for you, and schedule about 20, 30 minutes, and we'll definitely be able to give you some tools to work with and find out if we would be a good match for you to hold you accountable. And then I would say at the end of this pod, if after you read, listen, watch, or read any of this, the first thing you're gonna do is pick one thing that you can do to take action on immediately. Okay. So what we have for you is we have a questionnaire. It's a Google form. So click on the link below, fill it out, and then when we get it, we will review it, come up with some ideas, and get back to you. And then we also have an accountability template that you can download, print it, use it every day. You know, and I always say print out several at once so that you always have them on hand, so that you don't have to grab sheets of paper and then lose all the sheets of paper or the post-it notes and all that stuff. So um the bonus tool here is you've got to be organized and you have to know what your week is going to look like. Some of us have weeks that are just crazy. Every week is a crazy week. And then we have some week, some people that they don't have a lot going on. Like with me, I am an empty nester. My three sons are grown, they're gone, they um have their own families now. So it's just me and my husband. So I have more time than the real estate agent who has children at home, and they have to get up in the morning, get them to school, you know, pack their lunches, help them with their homework, get them to their activities and all of that. I don't have to do all that anymore. I've paid my dues, enjoyed it, I miss it, but my life has changed. I'm in a different season now so that I have more time. So now what I can do, instead of for the past 25 years, my goals have always been more focused on the business to build the business. But now that I've done that, now I can sit back a little bit and go, you know what? I don't have to be somewhere at three o'clock every day, or I don't have to be at the dance practice at 6:30 every night. Um, I don't have to go to the football games. I don't have to go to the baseball or the basketball or the track meets and all of that, even though I enjoyed them. And I will be honest, I truly miss all of that. But again, my life is now a little bit more calm and quiet, and things that I can focus on that I wasn't able to, I am now. So my thing is I do have business accountability, but then I also have personal accountability. And that is really a win right there, is because like me, I'm not much of I'm not a um an athlete, never have been, never wanted to be. I'm happy sitting and you know, cross-stitching. I love to journal, I love to um scrapbook and do crafts and stuff like that. So I need accountability to get my rear end up and move it. And so um I do that now. I have somebody holding me accountable to do what I need to do every day. And if I promise you, if I didn't have that, I probably wouldn't be doing it because I'm like, oh, I don't want to let them down. You know, I'll let myself down, but I don't want to let somebody else down. So this is where I would like for you to sit back and think, how could accountability partner help me? Um, write it down and fill out the questionnaire and then schedule a call with us and let's talk. You know, there's no obligation. Um, you've got 30 minutes of me talking to you and giving you tools that can, when we hang up the phone, that you can go and implement. But if you need that accountability, then we have that. So, you know, Megan and I are your accountability partners. And, you know, so when you're ready to go and you say, Yeah, Kim, I want y'all to hold me accountable. What I want you to understand is that we're very serious about it. We've seen our clients succeed. Um, we're very excited about that. We've had a couple of clients that were able to take time off during the holidays because they were held accountable throughout the year. So they were able to enjoy that because they accomplished all of their goals. And right. There was one that we didn't accomplish with one client, but it was a huge project. So we now have moved it instead of by the end of the year, now we have it for the first quarter, it'll be completed. Because it's almost, it's like a four, almost, I think we have about a fourth of it left. And so keep that in mind is that even though you set the goal, and you've heard this a hundred times, set the goal, set the timeline. And if you miss it, then just res reset it. But don't get in the habit of doing that with everything. Some things you don't have that you cannot be justified in extending. Some things can. The bigger projects, the bigger things in your life can be adjusted, but the little things don't need to be. They just need your time on them and get it off your plate, delegate it, let somebody else do it, whatever it is that you need to do. Okay, so let's make accountability your best year yet. Now, I'm gonna tell you that it's not about being perfect, that it's about the progress that you make. Um, it's using the right tools, it's being focused, it's getting the support that you need. It's um how what can you achieve in 12 months that you never thought was possible? Um so let's start there. Let's just have a great year and get started with accountability. And then um let's see how you, your little rocks throughout the year or your nuggets, let's see how they play out, right? So then um, you know, the final thing that I will say is that you have so many tools right here at Kim Hughes and Company. If you go over to the website chemhughes.com, we have freebies. I mean, I can't believe how many freebies we give you. We give you um a store to shop in so that you don't have to recreate the wheel. You have us to help you to take things off of your plate. Um, you have the podcast, you have the YouTube, um, my YouTube channel, you have my blogs. Um this is 20, almost 26 years of information that can be implemented into your business. So I just want you to walk away from this podcast knowing that you do have a solution. It's what do you do with the solution now? Okay. So I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to this podcast and make sure you go read the blog and go watch the video. I think that it's it's healthy for you to do all three because you can hear me going down the road. You can read while you're sitting in front of the TV, but watching a video is pretty much going to be a visual one-on-one. So make sure you do all three and see which one works for you the best, and then just start doing it or watch all three, listen to all three, read all three. And, you know, if you have a topic that you need some help on, then put it in the comments or send me an email or put it as a private message, and I will make sure to touch space with you, and then we'll do a podcast on it. And maybe we'll have you as a guest. So if you would also like to be a guest on the Kim Hughes um podcast, Unstoppable Real Estate Agents, I welcome you to reach out to me. I would love to talk to you about what you have to share with other agents. So we will talk to you next week, and you have a great day and hope to hear from you soon. Bye. Thank you so much for tuning in. And if you know someone, and I bet you do, who would appreciate this podcast, please share it with them. As a reminder, this podcast can be delivered directly to your favorite device by using the subscribe links you can find in the show notes below or over at Unstoppable Realestateagents.com. Remember, it takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. Have a great day.