There are no two ways about it: I am currently living the startup lifestyle. I say that not to glamorize anything, but rather to describe the 24/7 live, breathe, eat-mentality of my current season. Having worked for a startup many years back and well, being the spouse of a serial startupper, it’s times like these when I’m so grateful to be childfree. Seriously, if we had kids, they would surely starve and die bc my tunnelvision is no joke. Remember how I gave myself UTI as a kid? Yeah. Even now as an adult, I will forget to eat. I’m not bragging about it: it’s not a good thing, but I’m just crazy that way.

Part of it is that neither J nor I have ever been good at balancing and compartmentalizing. We are also chronic overthinkers and in some facets, we are perfectionists. So being in this place where the work and industry is new and I’m not knowledgeable or experienced, it taps into insecurities that I can only counter with work obsession. And then bc it’s like my own business, there are a gabillion other things to keep afloat, like what’s my next lead gen activity, what’s my marketing piece, how do I figure out closing gifts, what am I doing to cultivate existing leads, etc. Like I was supposed to start farming new neighborhoods with mailers, but I haven’t done any of that. And I need to be doorknocking again… it never ends. The good part is that I like working. The bad part is I can get very single-tracked when I’m in the zone.

For example, ever since J left his last startup a year ago, he’s wanted to hit up Europe. But I had that sales prospecting class in May and then things finally started to warm up… I just wouldn’t take the time off. Honestly, I just want to keep pounding. Thankfully, Bubs realized soon enough that he needed to make his plans without me, and he was fully prepared to travel solo. Then Susan decided to join last minute. They get along well together, and given the last year they’ve had, I’m happy she is accompanying him.

So while Bubs is on his European jaunt, I’m holding down the fort. Still scheduling open houses every weekend. I’m aiming for one in-office appointment per week. I’m also dogsitting Stormy (16 days). She’s a great dog, who is active and playful but also I’m so glad she’s super low maintenance. It’s working out well.

I have to say, I’m very excited for my first commission check coming July 10. I’ve been basically bootstrapping the business since late November: between association memberships and dues, office fees, equipment, infrastructure, gas, etc… it all adds up. After almost 8 months in, I’ve racked up about $8k in expenses. Yeah, my laptop crapped out and so I needed a new one. Same with our home printer. Plus gas from all that shuttling around… It’ll be nice to get my first chunk of change. That said, I’m already itching for the next deal…

Today is July 4. I already made a followup call to some potential buyers who came in for a consultation last night. Mind you, my colleague referred them to me earlier this week bc the clients wanted a Chinese-speaking agent. Wowee, they were REALLY Chinese. So the entire meeting was done in Mandarin. I felt like I communicated decently with them, but there was definitely a little bit of Taboo going around, where I didn’t have the specific real estate terminology so I had to describe around it…

In preparation, I had called my parents the night before and I had also consulted Google translate, but they weren’t much help. Today, the buyers are backing off a bit, a little gun shy, bc they are first-time homebuyers and the house they’re keen on needs fumigation (NBD for this area) and a new roof, among other repairs. My colleague wants to still put on the gas and retain them as clients… I dunno. We’ll see where that goes.

I’m headed to a BBQ tonight and while I’m down in San Jose, I’m going to preview a few homes in the area where the buyers are looking. Might as well be efficient about my travel time. 🙂