Many of us get into real estate with an initial thought: What a flexible job! And it can be. No one will tell you when to work. You aren’t technically required to attend any meetings that you don’t want to. You schedule your appointments when you want. You work as much or as little as you want. But you quickly realize that to earn consistent money, you need to grind.

A certain amount of determination and discipline is required to make real estate a job with full-time earning potential. You will earn some deals by luck and by who you know, but to create consistency in your income, you’ll need to work it like a full-time job, and sometimes an above full-time job, especially in the early years of your real estate career.

I remember my early years in real estate. I was transitioning out of a corporate job and my children were little. It felt like a scramble to do “all the things”. Still, I did them. I went to every meeting, attended as many classes as I could, farmed, marketed, etc. etc. etc. Those things are necessary. You’ll need to try a lot of different options to see what routine works for you, which types of marketing works for you. You’ll work hard, and at times you’ll be tired, and may even doubt if this career is for you.

After you’ve “paid your dues” and start to have some consistency, it will be important to create processes to avoid burn-out and maintain proper work-life balance. Here are a few ideas that have worked for me:

• A solid morning routine: Get into the habit of handling your personal things in the morning, like getting the kids off to school and having your coffee. Then quickly getting to work to handle administrative type tasks. Checking emails, confirming appointments, drafting/reviewing contracts, etc. Avoid social media and other distractions.

• Know your peak times: I’ve learned that my mental acuteness has peak times. Schedule any pressing tasks around this time frame. Whether it is drafting/reviewing contracts, a stressful phone call, scheduling showings, whatever it is- if possible, do this during your peak mental time frame. There will obviously be things that cannot wait, but for things that can, schedule them during your peak time.

• Set boundaries: Not every text or email needs to be answered immediately. If you receive a text at 10 p.m. (and no one is on fire), return that text first thing the following morning when the day starts. It is important for you to allow yourself those boundaries, not only for mental wellbeing, but for you to have downtime or to be present with friends and family. I suggest starting this at the very beginning of your client/colleague/vendor relationship to create expectations early on.

• Be with the people: We are in a relationship-based business, so be careful not to get stuck behind your computer. Schedule lunch, coffee, and appointments with people that you genuinely want to spend time with and feel authentic to you. Not only will this be good for your work-life balance and be enjoyable, but it will also help keep you top of mind with your friends and family.

• Get the support you need: You will get to a point in your career where you will need to outsource some tasks. Whether its help with social media, marketing, or administrative tasks, trust your gut when it tells you that you need help.

• Align your business with a brokerage that values work-life balance: Not all brokerages are the same. Some brokerages will drive competition within their agents, some will set production goals for you, some will structure their commission splits up and down depending on yearly volume. Other brokerages listen to their agents personal and work goals and support them in achieving those goals. Some brokerages limit the number of emails and meetings scheduled. Take this into consideration when trying to establish work-life balance to see what structure works best for your growing business.

Work-life balance is possible! The grind never goes away, but there are big and small areas where you can take back control that will support your business while also supporting your wellbeing.