Part of the reason you became a REALTOR® was to “be your own boss,” right?

But then, “being your own boss” turned into “not having a boss,” which is not very productive.

As a solopreneur, you alone are in charge of how you spend your time and how much money you make.

It turns out that everyone needs a boss, but being the boss of yourself is something you need to learn, just like any other skill.

Let’s explore a few different ways to improve your “boss” skills.

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For starters, it’s important to know your hourly rate. Simply divide your gross income by the estimated number of hours you worked last year.

For example, a typical busy REALTOR® probably works close to 2,500 hours per year (50 weeks x 50 hours/week).

If you made $250,000 last year, divide that by 2,500 hours. Your hourly rate is $100/hr. 

That’s not bad, but once you deduct all your expenses and taxes, let’s face it: You’re not getting rich. 

If your goal is to make $500,000, and you’re willing to work 2,500 hours to get it, here’s the most critical mindset shift you need to make:

Start behaving like your time is worth $200/hr.  💰

It’s as simple as that and as difficult as that.

It’s simple because there’s no reason you can’t make $500,000 or more if you’ve got the right knowledge and skills  and you learn to use your time wisely.

It’s difficult because it requires personal discipline to become a good boss of yourself.

Do you spend most of your time doing highly-productive income-generating ($200/hr) activities?

Or do you spend half your time doing $20/hr work that you could easily pay someone else to do?

If you spend your time doing $20/hr work, that’s precisely what you are worth.

More importantly, how much time do you waste every day doing useless, unproductive things like scanning your social media feed, browsing the Internet, or sitting around gabbing with your friends?

If you had a personal productivity manager who looked over your shoulder every minute of your working day, would they be impressed by how you spend your time? 

Or would they be appalled at how much time you waste?

If you want to make $500,000, wasting two hours per day is like tossing four $100 bills out your car window—every single day. 💸

That’s $2,000 per week (M-F). You could hire a full-time, experienced assistant for half that money, and stop doing $20/hr activities, forever.

Don’t get me wrong. If you are earning $500,000 and you make a conscious choice to spend $400 of your time doing something unproductive, go for it!

I’m not suggesting that you should work continuously and never have any downtime to recharge. That leads to burnout.

However, you do need to stop running your life haphazardly, and start actively managing your time. Be conscious of what you are doing and what you are not doing during your regular work hours. 

For one single day, be your own productivity manager. Write down how you spend every minute of your day. How many hours did you waste? Two? Three? Six?

If you’re afraid to do this, you already know you have a problem, and you know you need to shift your mindset.

Here’s the good news:

If you think that shifting your mindset means you have to start doing things that you hate, and that you’ll never have any fun ever again, this is the ridiculous success-preventing part of your brain trying to sabotage you.

The opposite is true: Shifting your mindset is exhilarating and confidence-boosting and freeing, not to mention that it’s great for your bank account.

Only one person is stopping you from achieving your goals. It’s YOU.