KGCI: Real Estate on Air - 5 Lessons to Thrive in Real Estate in 2025

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Summary:This episode is a tactical guide for real estate agents on the five key lessons needed to thrive in the coming year. The discussion covers critical topics such as mastering time management, improving conversion rates, and the importance of having a clear business plan. It emphasizes that success is not about working harder but about working smarter and being intentional with your actions. The episode provides listeners with a clear roadmap to a more productive and profitable year.

Welcome to the Real Estate Survival Guide, the show that teaches realtors how to create a thriving real estate business. What is up, guys? Welcome back to the Real Estate Survival Guide podcast. I'm your host, John Shookman. And today, we are on our final lesson in our series, five lessons to thrive in 2025. And this episode is all about time management, something every real estate agent really struggles with at some point and very thankful. So I ended up reaching out to, I don't know,

a few dozen people. And these were like the five themes that, you know, the questions centered around, right? You know, mastering the basics we talked about in episode one of this series, generating leads without social media and kind of doing social media on the back end and what else you can do. Creating great systems and workflows two weeks ago. Last week, we talked about outsourcing for a good return on investment and then today closing it up with time management. So guys, this is so important and something every realtor struggles with at some point. If you've ever felt like this, there aren't enough hours in the day, you are not alone. But here's what I want you to hear. If you want to excel in your business, if you want to grow, if you want to take your business to

the next level, and that means something different for all of us, right? That might mean your transaction count is higher, your volume is higher. Maybe you're growing the real estate. estate side of the business and you want to serve more agents and connect with more agents. You know, I shared a few weeks ago how actually I intend to hopefully actually do less volume in 2025 than 2024 because I want to give opportunities to agents around me. But here is the good news. If you can manage your time better, you can be incredibly successful and really love what you do in this real estate industry.

You know, a few weeks ago I was talking to somebody close to me. I won't give all the details, got really sick, was in the hospital. and they were a realtor. And I basically said to them, like, you can't keep doing this. You have to outsource. You have to manage your time better. You have to do all these different things, really, that we've talked about in this series where you are going to burn yourself out.

And maybe you won't just be in the hospital for a few days. You can end up killing yourself if you just work 24-7. And I don't want anyone to work 24-7. I don't want to work 24-7. I certainly don't. But here is the good news. Time management isn't about doing more. It's about doing the right thing.

consistently. And so today I'm going to share simple strategies to help you structure your day, stay focused, and achieve a better work life balance. So why does time management even matter? Why are we doing this? Well, if you're doing a good amount of volume, even anything over $2 or $3 million, you know that managing your time well is so important. In real estate, it's easy to feel like you're always on, right? You're juggling client calls, showings, paperwork, social media, and more. And then that's without your life. outside of work, right? Your family, your friends, your church, your faith, whatever, those things that are important to you. And here's the thing, right, as realtors and any of you out there

with kids know this, it can be so great that you get to basically work from home and be with your family all day. Until it's not, right? Until you've got kids that don't really understand that you're home, but you're not really home. You're working 24-7. And so I've learned, especially, you know, with a five- and three-year-old, that I, soon to be four-year-old, holy cow in a couple weeks, but I have learned that I don't want to just be home but work all the time. I want to really outsource like we talked about last week, right? And all the things we've talked about in this series, right? Outsource time management as we're talking about today, systems, mastering the basics. All these things are important to this. So here's the truth. If you do

not control your time, your time will control you. That is why time management is critical, not just for your production, but for your mental health, emotional, physical, spiritual, your relationships, your long-term success. All of these things are important. So before we dive into the solutions, let's talk about the biggest time management challenge that agents face, okay? I think there's a few things. One is you're reactive, okay?

You're always responding to fires instead of proactively managing your day. We'll talk more about that in a moment, right? You have poor boundaries, right? You have a difficult time saying no to things. that don't align with your goals. You don't prioritize well, right? You spend too much on the low value task instead of focusing on income producing activities.

Sound familiar. We discussed that last week. You need to outsource some of those tasks and low value, things that need to get done, but you might not be really good at. Constant distractions, right? Text, email, social media, right? All pulling you in different directions.

As I was recording this episode, I got about a minute in and had to start over because my phone was not on Do Not Disturb. as I've recorded, right? So there's always something trying to grab our attention. Okay. So let's talk about a few different strategies on what can work. But I want to start before I go into that by saying, you know, you've got to know yourself. If I'm honest with you, I wasn't really good at this. Really kind of midway through the year, I put a focus on this in my business. But the first one I shared, I want to go back to really quick before I share these other strategies.

I felt like I would go to bed and I'm a night owl, right? And then I'm getting up at 8, 9 o'clock in the morning, okay? Because I'm working later, whatever, okay? I felt like I would wake up and always be putting out fires right when I get up. If that's 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock, whatever, I was in put out fires mode. So here's what I want to tell you guys first and foremost and then some other strategies. There is, and I don't want to hear it from all you Android people that you've had this for 12 years. I don't care.

Okay? But as an iPhone user, this just came out and then Android people you have it, you think you're the best thing since Slayspread, so whatever, okay? But there is a feature now where you can respond to text and schedule them. So I want to tell you guys something. So right now as I look at my phone, I have six unread messages, okay? A couple of those are probably spam. A couple of those are things I need to handle. One of the best things in my business has been when I go to bed, before I get in bed, I will respond to all of those messages and schedule it for the next day at about 10 or 11 a.m.

I want you to hear that. So whether I'm going to bed at 11 p.m. 12 a.m. 1, 2, whatever. I'm normally up late. No matter what time I go to bed, I respond to all those messages. But here's the kicker. You don't respond right away, right? And I schedule it for the next day, 10 or 11 a.m. So here's the great part, guys, right?

when I wake up at 8 or 9 a.m. tomorrow, I don't have any unread messages. I don't know about some of you. When I see that little red dot telling me how many unread messages I have, I get stressed out. You know, I have like my most used items. So phone messages, workplace and workplace chat for EXP Realty and then Facebook and Facebook Messenger, Instagram, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp. Okay. Those are like my most used communication tools. I want them all cleared out, all. the time. So here's what happens. When I then wake up, nobody's, you know, I might have one or two text messages, but anything I'm handling, I handled the night before. And the people didn't even get that response yet if I get up at 8 or 9 a.m. They won't get that for an hour or two, right? And so then it gives me that I really feel like that reactive work mode I've been able to stop this year,

you know, 2024 into 2025, because I'm not all. always responding to fires immediately. I'm scheduling it the night before and it responds nine, 10 hours later. Okay. Now, if it's actually an emergency, I'm going to handle it. If you are telling me that you need a piece of paper by Friday and it's Tuesday, I will schedule it for the next day at 11 a.m. 10 a.m. noon, whatever and say, sounds good.

I'll get it to you, right? So that is a big strategy that you can use, schedule these messages. Okay? And then let's talk about a few strategies. A few other strategies you can use to maybe buy back your time. Time blocking. Schedule specific blocks of time for key activities like lead generation client follow-up, administrative work.

So example, like block 9 to 11 a.m. for prospecting, no exceptions. I've tried to block when I get up. So that 9 a.m., whatever it is, 8 a.m., for doing one hour of giving like I've learned from Vincent Poclesi. Okay. And guess what? I make more connections when I do. this. I serve more people. That's really what I want to do. Okay. So time blocking, number one,

number two, strategy, the big three methods. So each day I want you to identify your top three priorities, right? What are the tasks that will move your business forward? Focus on those big three before anything else, okay? I will share mine just to give you an example. Each day, I am posting on social media. It's a non-negotiable. Each day, each day I'm interacting on those And then spending time, it might not be an hour, but 20, 30 minutes interacting with people on Facebook, checking in, sending messages, telling people happy birthday, things like that. Right. Then each day I'm making sure I'm checking in with the people in my downline, right?

The 30-something agents that I get to serve, each day I'm checking in with a couple of them. And here's the deal. Those agents really feel like they get served and they're valued in my organization because they don't go weeks or months without speaking to me. I'm checking in with every single one of them. Okay. So that was time blocking, big three. Let's talk about batching task, right?

Group similar tasks together, okay? I love this because I've rolled out voice coaching for people, you know, some in the membership, some outside. One of the cool parts is I can be going on a walk, taking a drive, going to run errands, and replying to voice messages, is replying to, you know, audio message coaching that I've been doing. And I can do that while I'm out.

Okay. So if I have to run an errand today, instead of getting up, doing my social stuff, and then sitting around for 40 minutes responding to these messages, okay, well, you're doing an errand at noon, just while you're in the car at noon, batch those tasks together, respond to those audio messages. So another huge one, number four, use a digital calendar. I feel like this should be simple. easy, but not all of you do it. Like, you should be using Google Calendar or even something like

Callenly to help you visualize your day, set reminders, prevent double booking, et cetera. So again, when an agent wants to talk about social media, if they're not available right now or, you know, I'm busy, I'll send them a Calenly link where we can connect. And that just, the nice part is, it takes some of that administrative task off my plate. It automatically sends an email. It automatically sends a text. It automatically puts it in my calendar. So that digital calendar tool like Callanley really helps me save time. So number five on kind of strategies that can help you reclaim your time, 80-20 rule, right? What's the activities that generate 80% of your results?

This will help you identify what's important. So for me, why am I so big on posting on social media? Because I've seen results from it. I'm not going to spend three hours today cold calling when 80% of my results come from the organic stuff that I post on social media, okay? So you need a daily schedule. You need to do these things, time blocking, the big three, batch your tasks, digital calendars and then following the 80-20 rule.

Okay. Here's what happens. I feel like so many of you when I talk to you. You've got a plan. Oh my goodness. I want to make this much money in 2025. I want to sell this many houses. But when we talk about how you're using your time, you don't know.

You really don't have a schedule, right? And so time management isn't just about being busy. it's about being intentional, right? When you can control your schedule, you will reduce your stress, you'll avoid burnout, you will create space for the things that matter most, right? Both in your business and in your personal life.

So here's the deal. This is possible. I want you guys to absolutely crush it here in 2025. And I really think these five lessons from mastering the basics, generating leads without social media, creating systems, and workflow outsourcing some tasks that you know, you're not good at.

And then managing your time, if you can do these things, you will absolutely crush it in 2025. You will. And time blocking can help you stay focused and productive. And, you know, I want you to prioritize those big three. I want you to, you know, batch those tasks. These are ways to kind of, it'll feel like you have more time in your day. Use tools and systems to stay organized as well. So appreciate you guys so much. Thanks for joining me on this journey through five lessons to help you thrive in 2025. I really hope these episodes have inspired you, challenge you, and equipped you to make 2025 your best year yet. If you found value in this series, and I know some of you have, I'd love to hear from you, send me a message, share the podcast,

let's connect. Until next time, I hope you continue to thrive and grow this year. I'll see you guys next week. Thanks for listening to the Real Estate Survival Guide. If you you enjoyed this episode, we would appreciate it if you'd leave us a review on iTunes. It helps others discover the show. Thank you so much, and we will see you on the next episode.