THE MYTH OF BEING "BUSY"

WELCOME

Good morning, y’all! By the time you’re reading this, I’ll be in Nashville, getting ready to speak at my In Charge event, standing in front of a room full of women who are serious about building their businesses.

Now, if there’s one topic that always gets people fired up (myself included), it’s the difference between being busy and being productive. Let me be clear: this industry is full of busy agents. Oh, my stars, are their calendars packed! Every damn minute, they’re posting, filming, networking, attending events, checking their likes, and refreshing their comments. They go on and on about how slammed they are. But when you look at the scoreboard at the end of the month, the closings don’t match the activity.

Activity can make you feel productive. It can even make you look productive. (Maybe that would even be okay if you had a corporate job and a salary.) But the truth is, there’s a huge difference between doing things that look like work and doing the things that actually generate business. So today I want to talk about agents who stay busy all day long… and the agents who actually get deals done.

STORYTIME WITH GLENNDA

Busy Is an Activity; Productive Is a Result

There’s an ocean of difference between being busy in real estate and actually being productive. A lot of agents get the two confused. Too many, because I see this every single day. People fill their calendars with activity and convince themselves they’re working hard, but when you look at the scoreboard at the end of the month, there’s a big ol’ goose egg.

Maybe you’re asking, “What’s the actual difference, Glennda?”  Well, being busy is doing things that look like work. Being productive is doing things that actually lead to a closing. So, let’s get into it.

You’ve Got to Go Deeper

I see so many agents who focus on the surface work. They’re creating content, talking about luxury properties, branding themselves as luxury agents, filming videos, counting likes and views, and calling that their job. But when you peek behind the curtain, they haven’t actually previewed any luxury homes, save for the one they filmed on caravan for TikTok. They don’t know who built these places and they couldn’t tell you the difference between laminate, LVP, or hardwood flooring. They’re curating an image that makes them look like they’re working instead of doing the work that actually builds expertise and generates business. OMS, does this make me crazy! People will crow about how many views their video got, yet they can’t tell you how many houses came on the market in their area this week, or how many went under contract.

Of course, social media has made this problem ten times worse because we all feel pressure to go along with it. Listen, I get it. We don’t want to feel like we’re being left behind. The problem is that often in content creation, people perform being successful instead of actually becoming successful. It’s so easy to create the illusion of a thriving business online. You see agents calling themselves number one in their market and selling courses about how to build a real estate brand. But when you fact-check how many houses they’ve actually sold, the answer is sometimes one or two. That’s not productivity; that’s writing fiction. (FYI, I prefer sexy cowboys in my fiction.) A lot of newer agents fall into that trap because it feels safer than doing the real work.

Productivity Makes Lousy Content

The real work in this business is uncomfortable sometimes, and it sure as hell isn’t glamorous. Productivity means asking people if they want to buy or sell a house. It means learning the inventory inside and out. It means understanding why buyers are buying and why they’re not buying. It means analyzing how many homes it takes to show a buyer before they go under contract. It’s studying your market every single day. I promise y’all that productive agents aren’t obsessing over their Instagram engagement metrics. No, ma’am. They’re paying attention to the data that moves their business.

One of the simplest examples of productivity is something people overlook completely: answering the phone. I was sitting at my desk working on my presentation for In Charge and my phone rang. I could have ignored it because I was busy, but I picked it up. The person on the other end was an investor who found me on social media and wanted to talk about a property he’d just renovated. That phone call turned into a million-dollar listing appointment. If I hadn’t answered, he’d likely have called the next agent on his list. That’s the difference between being busy and being productive. Productive agents do the small, simple things that create real opportunities.

Another huge part of productivity is raising your real estate intelligence. Every single day I look at the houses coming on the market. All of them. “But what if there’s 200 houses, Glennda?” you might ask. Then I look at 200 houses; it’s just that simple.

I do this every single day because I want to know what’s new, what’s interesting, what’s overpriced, and what’s an opportunity. When I look at what’s new, I’m constantly asking myself, “Who could I sell this house to?” When you comb through what’s new consistently, something powerful happens: you can speak intelligently about real estate anywhere you go. If I sit down at dinner, at a soccer game, or at a PTA meeting and someone asks what I do, I can immediately start talking about a property that just came on the market around the corner and why it’s interesting.

That kind of knowledge builds credibility instantly. People can tell that you know what you’re doing, and credibility is what turns conversations into clients.

How It Works in Real Life

A man called me one morning and wanted to see a listing. I couldn’t get there right that minute, but I told him I could meet him later that day. So, we’re chatting a little on the phone and I ask where he lives now. He tells me his neighborhood and that his house just went on the market this week.

Now here’s where the difference between busy and productive shows up. Because I look at the homes that come on the market every damn day, I already knew exactly which house he was talking about. I said, “Oh, is it the white brick one around $1.7 million?” There was a pause on the other end of the line, and then he said, “How do you know my house?”

He assumed I must have looked it up after he told me his name. But the truth was, I hadn’t. I already knew it because I study the inventory. I knew his house had come on the market earlier that week. I remembered thinking it was a beautiful property and unusually large for that area. When I told him that, he was stunned. He said, “My house didn’t come on the market today.” And I said, “No, but it came on the market this week. I remember it.”

That moment right there is where credibility is born.

What’s ironic is that I hadn’t sold a house in that exact pocket recently. I didn’t have a billboard in his neighborhood. But because I could immediately speak intelligently about his property and his market, he knew he was dealing with someone who truly understands real estate.

That’s the power of doing the real work. It’s not glamorous. Nobody’s filming a reel about it. But when you consistently study the inventory, when you understand what’s happening in your market, you can walk into any conversation and demonstrate expertise without even trying. One of the biggest advantages a productive agent has is something that costs absolutely nothing: knowledge. When you truly know your market, you walk into every conversation with authority. That authority turns casual conversations into business opportunities, even if you’re just sitting at the bar at Canoe, having dinner.

Because nothing accelerates trust faster than proof.

When people see that you already know the houses, the prices, the trends, and the opportunities, they don’t wonder whether you’re the right agent. They’re confident that you are.

The Three Things That Actually Grow a Real Estate Business

If you’re committed to stop being busy and start being productive, here’s where to start today:

• Ask for business. Talk to everyone you know and ask if they’re buying, selling, or know someone who is.

• Preview homes. Five houses a day, five days a week.

• Study the market. Know inventory better than anyone else in the room.

That’s it. You don’t need another ring light or another “day in the life of a luxury agent” video. You just need real estate. Case in point, one of my friends did $153M in sales last year and I suspect she couldn’t even tell you what an Instagram is. Now, that’s not to say that I don’t sometimes sit up at night in a cold sweat, calculating the commission on $153M and wondering what the hell I’m doing. But then I recall that I really like what I’m doing and that we have different business models.

My point is, busy agents are chasing activity, whether it’s posting, networking, attending events, or creating content, and they’re calling it work. They are doing themselves a disservice if their goal isn’t to become a social media star. Productive agents are building knowledge, relationships, and opportunities that lead directly to transactions. They know their market better than anyone else in the room, they talk to people about real estate constantly, and they ask for the business.

When you focus on those things, you don’t have to pretend to be successful. The results speak for themselves.

@glenndabaker

If you’re trying to figure out how to be productive, try the 20/10 rule… #Glen#GlenndaBakerl#RealEstatea#AtlantaRealEstatee#TimeBlockingg#... See more

GLENNDA’S GURU

Welcome, Quiana Shonté Watson!

Today I’m just thrilled to welcome my friend, Quiana Shonté Watson! Quiana is a true powerhouse of a broker, a team leader, and an industry advocate. She’s known for combining sharp business strategy with a deep commitment to mentorship and community impact. She’s the founder of Watson Realty Co., and she’s helped hundreds of families navigate the path to homeownership.

Quiana’s the kind of leader who’s shaping the future of the whole industry. She’s served in leadership roles with the Atlanta Realtors Association and the National Association of Realtors, advocating for professional standards, housing access, and opportunities for the next generation of agents. Quiana’s story is about vision, persistence, and using your success to open doors for others, so please enjoy!

Thank you, Quiana!

GLENNDA BOUGHT GRANDMA’S HOUSE

The Finish Line Is in Sight!

Quick update on Grandma’s house: we’re in the final stretch, y’all! Let me just say this: renovations always find one more way to keep you humble. The latest surprise was that new fence to the tune of about $5,600, which was not exactly the line item we were hoping to add this late in the process. But otherwise we’re getting very close. The stairs are going in, the bathroom is nearly finished, and the rest of the punch list is getting shorter by the day.

The thing is, when I’m done? I’m not actually done. Because I look at every single listing that comes on the market every day, I have a very clear sense of what’s happening around us and what buyers are responding to right now. That’s one of the biggest advantages when you’re doing a project like this—you’re not guessing about the market. You’re watching it in real time. So while Grandma’s house has had its share of surprises along the way, the timing of this project and the momentum in the surrounding area make me very optimistic about where we’re headed once it hits the market.

GLENNDAISM

Today’s Words of Wisdom

GLENNDA BAKER & ASSOCIATES

The Smartest Buy

Let me tell you why this house at 1649 Beecher Street NW in Atlanta, GA, is such a smart buy right now. When people talk about real estate being about location, this is exactly what they mean. Westview and the greater West End corridor are in the middle of one of the most exciting growth stories in Atlanta! I’m talking historic homes, a real neighborhood feel, and at the same time you’ve got serious investment pouring into the area. Between the BeltLine’s Westside Trail, Lee + White Food Hall, the new pickleball club, the Enota Park expansion, and the massive One West End development, the energy over there is undeniable. When you buy into a neighborhood that’s gaining momentum like this, you’re not just buying a house; you’re buying into where the city is headed.

What I love about this particular home is that it gives you both character and peace of mind. A lot of charming older bungalows come with a long list of “someday we’ll need to fix that.” Not here. The big-ticket items are already handled, meaning a tankless water heater, newer HVAC systems, roof, encapsulated crawl space, so you can actually enjoy the house instead of constantly budgeting for the next repair. In a neighborhood that’s rising this fast, finding a move-in-ready property with this much space and this much charm is exactly the kind of opportunity buyers should be paying attention to!