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jen fisher
The business of being a real estate agent, like any self-employed business, comes with advantages as well as disadvantages. On the one hand, it's great to be able to set your own schedule, but if you want to be successful, most schedules include at least 5-6 working days of 8-12 hours. But on the other hand, there are no sick days, no vacation days, no mental health days, etc. The latter day is most needed in this business. There is no vacation for bereavement.
I mentioned this as I was leaving the funeral home where we had just finalized the details for my mother's funeral. On the way there, I scheduled two viewings with him for listings, spoke with a developer about an addition to the property we were purchasing, and spoke with an interested client about his three showings on another property. I called two builders. The previous morning, I had attended my weekly scheduled team huddle call with a brokerage firm and had been putting in a good word for my agent to keep working, but I was interrupted by a phone call. “I have to hang up and take this call, guys. Sorry to cut it short. Let's go pick it up that day,” I said as I hung up.
It was my stepfather, George. My mother has been rightly blessed for the past 32 years to be a generous, humble, and sometimes humane man. “Jen, this is the phone,” he said. It was certainly not surprising, but my mother, an elementary school teacher by profession, could no longer put words together to form sentences… Pure and cruel irony for this “reading expert” is. She stopped eating, couldn't sit up, and even had trouble swallowing. The demented tyrant had dug in his merciless claws, only attempting to release his grip when there was nothing left to hold on to. We were there now. Still, it was still a shock. I went into the bathroom and cried.
After a few minutes, I had to pull myself together, let go of my sadness, and get on with my day. My heart was broken, but I had a deadline to meet.
This is not the first time I have mourned in 5-7 minute intervals throughout the day, nor am I under any illusion that I am mourning alone in this way. In my career, and many of us row a similar make and model to the proverbial boat, I have experienced a fairly shocking divorce (27 years of marriage), another less shocking divorce ( (embarrassing rebound) and tragic death. A son-in-law, a child hospitalized twice, two surgeries, several illnesses, and yes, a second marriage (although this marriage didn't work out). Gradually, the sobs, wailing, and heartbreak were overcome. I learned to hold sadness in one hand and joy in the other. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Knowing all this, I would not choose anything other than real estate. Often “inconvenient” and certainly all-consuming, but so worth it. The people, the process, the fast-paced environment, the unpredictable nature, the networking, the lead generation, the advertising, the home visits, the booking of listings, the lead generation, the phone calls, and the exorbitant car mileage…I'm all about it. I'll accept it. After all, as American entrepreneur Tom Preston Warner said, “When I was old and dying, I looked back on my life and said, 'Oh, that's certainly a relief.' , that was an adventure.''
Jen Fischer is an associate broker and real estate agent. She can be reached at 801-645-2134 or jen@jen-fischer.com.
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