Real Estate Agents Are Like Stay-At-Home Moms

Ahhhh, to be a stay-at-home mom.
Hanging around, playing with the kids all day. Taking naps. Watching TV. Eating snacks… perhaps some bon-bons.
And then they get to have Mother’s Day. A whole day to be pampered and waited on. Like they need a day off, right?!
It’s not like they have a real job…
Must be nice having such an easy life, not having to work.
Oooooph.
That’s pretty rude to say, let alone think, right?
And it’s ignorant.
You probably cringed reading it.
Depicting a stay-at-home mom that way has become less common…less tolerated.
But you’ve certainly heard them depicted that way at some point.

It’s no walk in the park

If you do think the life of a stay-at-home mom is easy, you don’t even need to walk a mile in her shoes. Just offer to take her kids to the park for an hour or so. That’ll give you some perspective.
Sure, there’s fun and joy being at home with her children. But there’s also a whole lot of stress, worry, and frazzled nerves…and a whole lot of work.
Being a stay-at-home mom is no “walk in the park”.
It’s busy days sandwiched between early mornings and sleepless nights.
Often there’s an entire lack of understanding and appreciation for everything she does all day. Every day.
Sure, over the years, what it’s like to be a stay-at-home mom has become more understood. People tend to have empathy.
Yet, there’s the ever-present question moms often feel the need to justify and explain to others — “What do you do all day?”
It’s not like they need to answer that question, or prove anything to anyone. But it sure is nice when someone understands, empathizes, and respects what she does — and not just another stay-at-home mom.

It’s similar to being a real estate agent

While stay-at-home moms have gained understanding and empathy for what they do on a daily basis, real estate agents have not.
Not that it’s an issue most people have on their minds. But real estate agents certainly do.
It’s not uncommon for a real estate agent to hear someone say how nice it must be nice not to have a “real job”, and so much free time. It’s not unheard of for an agent to hear someone ask them if they are ever going to get a “real job”.
But it is a “real job”…and a tough one at that.
Not that agents need to justify, explain, or answer these questions for anyone but themselves…
…but it sure is nice when someone understands, empathizes, and respects what they do — and not just another real estate agent.

Like a mom

Most real estate agents aren’t rolling in dough, despite what many on the outside seem to think. Sure, some do. But very few…
But all real estate agents work tremendously hard for whatever amount they earn. Most work much harder, and much longer for every penny they earn than they would in a “real job”.
More often than not, it’s busy days sandwiched between early mornings and sleepless nights. Every day of the week, month, and year.
Sure, their days can be filled with fun and joy. It is fun to be with different clients every day, and go in and out of houses. It’s fun not to be tied down to a desk every minute of the work day. And there’s tremendous joy in getting a client’s home sold, or getting them into their dream home.
But there’s also a lot of stress and worry.
There’s stress and worry for their clients, their family, and themselves. (In that order for most agents.)
Yet, like a mom, they keep their cool, calm, cheerful demeanor. No need to worry their “children” with how they feel, or the weight of the world they help others navigate.
Not to refer to clients as children at all. But the care and concern for a client is much like a mom’s concern for her children. There’s a care for their clients that comes before their own needs and concerns.

Walk a mental mile in the shoes of an agent

Going back to the beginning…
At this point, it’s cringe-worthy to portray the life of a stay-at-home mom as easy and not a real job.
There was no formal movement that got people to start seeing things differently…just growing awareness and consideration. Bit by bit. Year by year. Decade by decade. Who knows who or what day that started?
While it may take years to get the same sort of growing respect and appreciation for what life as a real estate agent is truly like, let’s start it today.
Walk a mental mile in the shoes of an agent. Picture the stress, worry, and lack of guarantee they deal with every day.
And, in time, perhaps we’ll all cringe whenever someone claims it must be nice being a real estate agent, not having to have a “real job”.
Maybe, just maybe, someone will create a holiday called “Real Estate Agent Day”. But it better not be held on Sundays… ’cause they’ll probably all be working.