'TIS THE SEASON

WELCOME

Happy happy and merry merry, y’all! This time of year always slows me down in the best possible way. I am so excited for Christmas and I have it planned to a tee, where I’m making nothing but Instagram recipes. And because it’s Christmas, I’m doing what I love best: not serving green vegetables. (I believe salad is a waste, but that’s a topic for a different newsletter.)

Anyway, the lights are twinkling, the calendar is full of fun plans, and before we all charge into a brand-new year, I like to pause and take stock. That’s why I want to discuss gratitude. For me, gratitude isn’t just a warm-and-fuzzy feeling. Oh, no. It’s a whole strategy. Gratitude is how I stay grounded in a business that can be unpredictable, emotional, and (let’s be honest) sometimes crazy-making. When I look back at what real estate has given me, from the people to the opportunities, I credit gratitude as what keeps me showing up with clarity, confidence, and heart. So that’s our topic this week!

STORYTIME WITH GLENNDA

Gratitude Is a Gift That Keeps on Giving

This isn’t always the most wonderful time of the year, regardless of what that song says. The holidays can be a trying time for people, whether they’re having issues with their families, their health, their work (or lack of), etc. I guess that’s why I’ve had gratitude on my mind lately, because I understand how blessed I am. Now, I’m not talking about gratitude as a platitude. (I know I rhymed, but let’s move past that.) I mean the real kind of gratitude that shows up after you’ve been knocked around a little. I mean the kind you earn in a trial by fire. The kind that comes from the folks who stick by you through all the highs and lows.

In the beginning, if I had to guess what real estate would give me, I’d have said, “Probably some financial freedom, flexibility, and a career I can build on my own terms.” And I was right; real estate has given me all of that. But it’s given me so much more, too.

Of course, I didn’t know what I didn’t know back then. Baby Glennda had no clue that real estate would give me confidence before I knew I needed it. Real estate would give me a voice before I realized how powerful my story could be. It gave me the chance to be in front of people I couldn’t imagine, in rooms I was never supposed to be in. And then? Then it asked me to speak up once I got there! On top of it all, it gave me these amazing friendships.

Maybe the most important thing is that real estate has given me perspective on why I should be grateful. It’s so easy to default to thinking about what’s wrong, and not what’s right. So I want to be crystal clear to the universe that I’m grateful for the team I get to work alongside every day. I’m grateful for the trust people place in me during some of the biggest, most emotional decisions of their lives. I don’t take that duty lightly and I never have.

I’m also grateful for the fact that I’m excited about this business. After all these years, I still believe in it. I still believe in agents. I still believe in the process. I still believe there’s a right way to do this work, meaning with integrity, transparency, and heart.

But let’s be honest: that gratitude didn’t come without cost.

Some of the things I’m most grateful for today were forged during the hardest seasons of my career. I’m talking about the market shifts and those times when deals fell apart at the finish line over something as petty as nail holes or TV stands. And I mean those when times I questioned whether I was doing enough, whether I was enough, or where I’d even gotten the nerve to enter the rooms I’d found myself in. Those seasons taught me resilience and how to trust my gut. The hard times taught me how to stand my ground when something didn’t feel right. 

Now, the lesson I never asked for was humility. That showed up like a lump of coal in my damn stocking. I swear, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in this business, the market will always be ready to remind you who’s really in charge. (I know the quote is, “Man plans and God laughs,” but it sometimes feels like it’s real estate who’s doing the laughing.)

One of the unexpected byproducts of those tough years was being invited into bigger conversations about the industry itself. That’s how I found my way into spaces where leaders, innovators, and decision-makers were wrestling with where real estate was headed, and how it needed to evolve. I didn’t get there because I had all the right answers. Hell, I got there because I’d lived the wrong answers to the questions.

I’m deeply grateful for the mistakes that helped forge my career and my perspective. I’m so very grateful to have had a seat at the table. I’m grateful to be able to speak not just for myself, but for agents everywhere who are in the trenches every single day.

Gratitude, for me, isn’t passive. It’s something I actively practice each day. Every morning, before the emails and the texts and the chaos of the day kicks in, I take a few minutes to ground myself. I thank my mother and my Lord for guidance. Before I even open my eyes, I name what’s working in my life. I remind myself who I’m thankful for. I tell myself that even on the busiest days (especially on the busiest days) this career is a gift. And no matter what, I speak kindly to myself. It doesn’t matter what I’ve done—whether I’ve given myself a good hair day or I’ve gotten the Wordle in three tries—I am sure to give myself those words of affirmation. When you speak affirmatively to yourself, you rewire those neural pathways in your brain. That means you’re literally speaking yourself into greatness, your truth into power.

That’s not to say that things never feel heavy. When they do, I am armed with the gratitude that I’ve survived worse, I’ve learned from it, and I’m still standing. So if you’re an agent reading this and feeling discouraged this time of year, completely out of gratitude to grasp tightly to, let me speak directly to you for a moment. If you’re frustrated, pause, but don’t lose faith. This business has seasons and some of them are wildly rewarding. Sometimes the pendulum swings back and it can be punishing. But none of this experience is wasted because it’s all a lesson. You are building up to something, even when it doesn’t feel like it. You are learning skills that will serve you for the rest of your life. You are becoming stronger, wiser, and more capable than you were last year, even if your numbers don’t reflect it yet.

That’s why I want y’all to understand that gratitude doesn’t mean ignoring the hard stuff. It means acknowledging how far you’ve come despite it all.

As we move through the holidays, my hope for everyone is that we don’t rush past the good. That we don’t overlook what we’ve learned in lieu of what we’ve lost. Please take a moment to honor the lessons, the growth, the relationships, and the unexpected gifts this career keeps offering us.

Please keep going. You’re doing better than you think.

And just as a reminder that there can be a silver lining, here’s me at my most ignominious:

GLENNDAISM

Today’s Words of Wisdom

GLENNDA BAKER & ASSOCIATES

Be Alone… Together

One of the things I love most about this home at 2792 Achillea Way SW in Marietta, GA, is how brilliantly it solves real life. The fully independent in-law suite gives you the gift of togetherness and privacy—something that’s incredibly rare to find done this well.

Whether it’s parents, adult kids, long-term guests, or even a roommate you actually like, everyone gets their own space, entrance, and rhythm, while still being close enough for dinners, holidays, and everyday connection! This home is the absolute best of both worlds: under one roof, but not on top of each other. And once you live with that kind of flexibility and freedom, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it!