There was a time when I skied two or three weekends per month. Those were the days before kids and other family stuff. I was even a volunteer patroller who rendered first aid and emergency sled transportation to fellow skiers who needed those services. Sorry to say, I retired from patrolling years ago and rarely find time to ski at all these days.

 So…what has that to do with real estate? Well:

There were days when skiing was the best thing that I could imagine doing. Same with helping my clients buy and sell homes.

There were days when poor weather, high wind, blowing snow, wet and freezing conditions made me rethink my commit to  skiing. Same with real estate, but nothing to do with the weather except for the black cloud that seems to settle around things from time to time.

I can remember starting to ski down many runs where I expected the snow quality to be light and fluffy and it turned out to be heavy and wet. In those conditions, skiing was much more challenging than expected. Same with some real estate transactions. Same with going into some houses for the first time. Same with meeting new clients.

When I was a patroller, we trained to maintain and upgrade our skiing skills, our first skills, and make sure that our other related and necessary skills were up to standard for such things as search and rescue, avalance awareness, chairlift evacuation, etc. Obviously, as a REALTOR, I need to be on top of my game, also. I am, as all REALTORS are, required to take continuing education courses to maintain my skills and my license status. But, in addition to the required classes, I have taken courses that have led to several additional REALTOR certifications or designation.

At the end of the skiing day, I usually had a great sense of fulfillment combined with fatigue because I enjoyed skiing with gusto all day long. I also looked forward to the next ski day. Same with real estate…I work hard, I enjoy what I do and I look forward to the next client, next house and next transaction.