Block out everything you need to do for yourself as if it were a client appointment: 2:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M., haircut; 3:15 to 5:00 P.M., soccer game; 6:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M., dinner. Block out time for continuing education so that you can keep your license current. Block out time to cultivate new business: 8:00 A.M., Rotary breakfast; 9:30 to 11:00 A.M., prospecting calls. The time that is left is the time you will have for your clients. Your weekly schedule may look like this:

Weekly Schedule

If you allow your clients to manage your time for you, you will find yourself working a 24-7 schedule. You will have clients who want to see you on Sunday morning and you will be getting calls at 11:30 in the evening when your seller wakes up worried that his house hasn't sold. You will find your time gets filled up because you have an empty calendar. You must take control of your schedule before your clients do.

This is where time management becomes very important. You hear about real estate agents who work seven days a week. They arrive in the early morning to make their calls and organize their day. They work on paperwork and then the phones start ringing. They field calls and put out fires until late in the evening. They may show property when a client gets off work, and they skip dinner. These agents are always available. Their cell phone or pager is always going off as they jump from one thing to the next. This is not a controlled schedule and it is definitely not flexible. You need to make the rules.