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Confessions of an Overly Digitized Real Estate Agent
By Ryan Ward | March 3, 2008
I have to admit, as an agent that focuses a majority of marketing and lead generation online, I spend a lot of time in front of a computer. Even at home, in the evenings, I usually have the laptop open. This is my fault and it clouds the line between work and not-work. Sometimes I think it’s the price you pay for the business model I use. Buyers and sellers want answers and they want them NOW! If I don’t answer them, someone else will and that’s a potential paycheck that I just gave away to someone else…such is the life with online real estate marketing as it is in many other aspects of American Culture today.
Enter one of my clients - one that I really have enjoyed working on behalf of who decided that they might like to buy a little vacation get away while their house is on the market. Close enough to home, but, far enough away that they can really get away from the hussle and bustle of a busy city life while raising a 5 year old. Something with a mountain, lake view or both. Atlanta is especially adept at offering these types of properties within an hour to hour and a half of Downtown. You really can feel like you are light years away from the big city and be within what some people actually use as a long commute.
So, we scheduled some appointments and hopped in the car and off we went. First it was north of the city and then northwest to a community called Lake Arrowhead. I’ve included some photos from their website because I did not have my camera with me while we were there. We drove in, past the lake and up a narrow winding mountain road with no railings to reach a quiet little mountain top overlooking the lake. When we arrived it was dusk and a clear day. You could see the lights from Downtown Atlanta shimmering in the distance. Then we got out of the car.
It was at that moment that I was taken back to my childhood and instantly swept back to a place and time that I have always had the fondest of memories; Boone, North Carolina where I would spend a few weeks each year in the summer with my grandparents. The silence at the top of that mountain in Lake Arrowhead almost hurt it had been so long since I experienced it. That lasted for about 10 seconds before I took one deep breathe and released all of that pent up always-in-touch-digital-world-that-we-live-in-today energy that has come to be my day to day life. I did not want to leave.
We stayed at that house for some time, all of us enjoying something that we know deep down that is missing in our lives. Call it it organic, call it in touch with nature, call it whatever you want. I call call it a moment of reflection that reminded me that sometimes the greatest things in life are just a bit of peace and quiet surrounded by the natural beauty of the world we live in. Alone I stood at the top of that mountain and felt a moment - if only fleeting - that I could relax and not worry about my email or new business or current contracts that needed attention or anything about work. At that moment I realized what a great life I have and that it was in fact my career choice that took me to the top of that mountain and gave me the time to reflect and remember. It’s something that I myself too easily forget sometimes while wrapped up in the rat race of marriage, family, work, business - well, just life.
This post isn’t so much about the natural beauty of Lake Arrowhead, although, it was truly spectacular, as it is about the need for us to just stop sometimes and take a look around and appreciate the world around us without the everyday distractions that constantly bombard us. I drove down the mountain and headed back home thinking to myself that I wanted to have a place like that for myself and my family to go. If only for a quiet afternoon walk holding hands with my wife and daughter.
Topics: Not About Work |
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Great post, Ryan! Sometimes it’s the simplest things that make you realize the most important things in life. Lake Arrowhead is a beautiful place. I go boating there a few times during the summer months.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
I look forward to having a place there one day
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Matt,
I thought about you guys while I was on my way out there. It really is a wonderful place - and affordable for what you get.
Sam,
You should post your tea website when you comment.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:09 pm
That looks like a beautiful place. I always find places on any kind of water relaxing. Hope you are able to get away more often.
March 4th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Wow that is just a breath taking site. I would love to come and visit that area sometime.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I can definitely relate to the overly digitized sentiments and have been telling myself I need to take a full day off sometime soon. It is often too hard NOT to work with a computer constantly in front of you.
March 4th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Ryan,
I completly agree here in Tucson Arizona the white mountains are just a few hours away but a world apart from the large city hustle. It’s nice to get away but clinets these days are like you said in demand for an answer asap, no acceptions most times (at least with a new client) established clients are a little different.
March 15th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Spot on Ryan.
I need to do more of that. So many times the electronic “leash” can be tied into a noose and it takes these kinds of times and experiences to bring us back.
Great post.
Eric
April 4th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Being in a digital world with all the computers around us, the speed of data travelling back and forth, the web, computerized cars, homes, phones, etc., I think we all forget what life is really all about. We all move to fast to notice anything around us. I live on the water and can’t tell you the last time I actually looked at it. The photos made me stop and realize that the best things in life are free!
thanks for slowing me down!