April 2025
April 2025
There is something so hopeful and joyful about spring to me. Each day I look out into the garden and something has poked through the earth and is reaching towards the light. The forsythia are in bloom and buds can be seen on the many trees in our yard. It brings me joy to believe that we have survived winter and we have better things to look forward to. The UW Quad is ablaze in cherry trees that look like they are raining pink snow when the wind blows. The produce section now carries local strawberries and beautiful asparagus grown closer to home rather than another hemisphere. Fiddlehead ferns sautéed and served along fresh halibut. Fresh oysters!!! I think of spinach and strawberry salads. Rack of lamb is calling along with baby potatoes. It is time to decide what goes in the garden bed. I am voting for a variety of lettuces, basil and small and cherry tomatoes. Nasturtiums to decorate baked goods and salads along with baby pansies please! I am trying to manifest a homemade strawberry/rhubarb galette to appear on my door the month of April.
I recently read this beautiful piece about spring by Maria Jesus Contreras, and I saved parts of it so I could share it with you.
“I think of this time of year as an unclenching, of letting go of that coiled,withholding winter self and opening up to spring. The unclenching can sometimes be challenging. Deliberately moving from a familiar place to an unfamiliar one isn’t without its discomforts. I was reading that when a chick is ready to hatch, it develops an egg tooth, a sharp little structure on its beak that it uses to peck its way out of the egg. How incredible. How do we grow our own egg teeth, generate our own tools to crack our own shells, escape our too-tight enclosures and emerge into the light?”
And while Spring is about looking forward it is equally important to look back and evaluate how you are doing against the plan you made. The things you promised yourself you would do to grow your business, maintain your physical and mental health, juggle all the needs of all the people in your life that need a piece of you constantly.
You started the year with an ambitious calendar and lots of colored pens and promises to yourself. Three months in, how are you doing? Did you know that statistically this is where the quitters quit? Well, in fact, many dropped off in January, but I see that many of you didn’t. So good for you! Almost NO ONE makes it past March with their resolutions and plans. THIS is your opportunity to be in the 1%. You know what the top 1%-ers do that the other 99% are not willing to do? They find a way to keep showing up.
Most have these four things in common.
They have a clear vision that is in High Def. When I do an exercise with my clients I make sure that vision that they lock onto has a taste, a smell, what are they wearing? Back up, what underwear are you reaching for? Details. I want details. Your vision has to be crystal clear down to the last detail & it has to be right in front of you. You have to go there in your mind many, many times during the day.
A plan in your Dropbox is no plan at all. It has to be visible to you, the family, your team. You must review it constantly. No frequent review = no progress.
No Stakes. No Rewards. No Results. The goal must be non-negotiable. Period. There has to be a serious consequences to falling short and also a reward that means something to you for achieving it. Cash in on the power of accountability.
It isn’t what you do once in a while that impresses me. It is what you do every damn day. What is your daily standard?
Both my businesses are right on track so far. My reward will be a trip to Japan in the fall with additional mini milestone rewards along the way. I know what leather booth at which Five Star hotel restaurant in Kyoto I will be at, sipping on my Hibiki and tonic. I have my outfit already picked out, right down to the details. I can feel the heavy silverware as I move it aside to place the exquisite linen napkin on my lap. This trip, Mr. 🦊 will be with me so we can share some special moments in Japan together. My dreams for 2025 are in HD.
My big leap or stretch challenge I have given myself in 2025 is to take the Transitions Certification I earned and turn it into the Transitions IQ Workshop that I will be hosting on April 24th. It is A LOT to put your neck on the line and rent the Seattle Yacht Club for the day in hopes that industry colleagues will sign up and come. This is open to agents, owners & managers from ALL companies and I am thrilled to see agents signed up already from KW, Ensemble, Lake, Windermere.
The workshop deals with the elephant in the room the industry has been avoiding for as long as I can tell. Why does it take a tragedy for so many Seattle Realtors to retire? Why do so many agents not have a plan for stepping off the hamster wheel? What are the consequences to the brokerage and industry standard for that. How does a brokerage accommodate this growing issue and maintain the market share of the departing agent? Is it not so much easier and less expensive to keep the business vs recreate it? Re-earn it?
If you do want to step off in the next 5 years, what does doing it with fiscal responsibility look like? Why do so many just walk away without a succession plan? What do you actually have to sell? What if you’ve been a “by accident” vs “on purpose” agent? I will help you get your book of business to sell in order.
What if you are not even thinking of retirement but rather GROWING your business? Do you know how to properly approach an agent who is contemplating retirement? What are they selling? What are YOU offering? What should be the legal terms of that written contract? We will have a section on contract language to be considered in a partnership or sale arrangement.
We will be covering ALL that and more with a panel of three agents who I have deep admiration for who have successfully stepped off and done it thoughtfully. You will have the opportunity to ask them questions.
If this interests you, you can register HERE. We will be closing registration well before the 24th, so don’t procrastinate. Invest in yourself and your future. Do this one thing today, right this minute to help you help yourself. No one else is going to do this for you!
XOXO,
Coach Diane
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