How To Achieve Work-Life Balance In Real Estate: Advice For Women From Kasie Cook

Source: LinkedIn

Working in the real estate industry is demanding. Regardless of your position, it can be hard for women to balance work and their home life, especially if they have children to care for.

Kasie Cook is a mom to two children. She is also the successful owner of an independent transaction coordination business called K.C. Business Solutions in Columbia River Gorge.

Balancing being a full-time mom and running a transaction coordination business is challenging for Kasie. However, she has discovered helpful strategies to balance both these aspects of her life effectively.

In this article, we’ll discuss Kasie’s top work-life balance tips for women working in real estate. 

The Big Leap to Go Independent

Kasie worked for several real estate brokerages throughout her career, and has built a wealth of knowledge and experience.

However, she took a break from real estate when she learned she was expecting her first child. 

When Kasie began thinking about starting her own independent transaction coordination business, she knew she had the passion and drive to make it work.

Her motivation behind this was to achieve financial independence and be able to spend more time with her children.

“It was a big life change, mentally and financially."

What Life Looks Like for Kasie Now

Now that Kasie has transitioned back into real estate by starting her own business, she works from home and has her children with her.

“What I love about this industry is that I can be at home with them, especially with them being so little,” she says.

Currently, Kasie focuses her efforts on one brokerage with six agents—another two will be joining soon.

She’s also passionate about giving back to her community and actively volunteers with local nonprofits. For example, she currently helps organize the Fort Dalles Fourth of July celebration.

Her day revolves around finding a balance between spending quality time with her children, running a business, and giving back.

Achieving Work-Life Balance the K.C. Way

We asked Kasie how she does it all. How does she manage being a mom to two small children and run her own transaction coordination business?

Here is her advice:

Automate your services

Kasie has automated every aspect of her business, from transaction management checklists that cover more than 150 tasks to project management using Paperless Pipeline.

She says that automation is key. It gives her the time and freedom to create a schedule that works for her and her children.

Kasie explains that implementing automation means you put minimal effort into admin tasks, get things done, and save time. “It just makes everything so much easier,” she says.

Having extra time available also makes it easier to handle challenges that arise. 

For example, if your transaction checklist is set up and automated, you have more time to handle an email that requires several hours of focus.

“If you have more time, then you can overcome any other obstacles that pop up."

Time blocking

Time blocking is the most important tool Kasie uses to manage her time. It’s how she ensures she gives attention to both her business and personal life.

Kasie takes her day and breaks it down into blocks of time. Each block has a specific task and goal assigned to it, whether that be responding to emails, preparing a nutritious lunch for her kids, or analyzing every detail of a transaction.

Time blocking her work

Time blocking is useful when you have a long to-do list and minimal time. When you go about your schedule in an intentional way, you’ll manage to get everything done.

For example, Kasie carves out a block of time from 10 a.m. to lunchtime where she focuses on being in front of her computer and managing her business.

Time blocking at home

However, time blocking isn’t only useful when running a business. It’s also helpful when you’re trying to manage your responsibilities at home.

“There are very specific blocks of time throughout the day where I shut the computer off so that if something does pop up, I don’t see it,” Kasie explains. During this time, she prioritizes connecting with her children intentionally by playing together and coloring. 

“When you do that, it fills their cup. And then that gives me another chunk of time for working with light connection,” Kasie says. ‘Light connection’ to her means having her children at home with her while she’s working on her computer. 

“And then a few hours later, I chunk out that block of time again for direct connection.” With time blocking, she knows that her work will get done and her children’s needs will be taken care of.

Kasie does the same with her other responsibilities.

“When it’s time to cook a meal, I chunk out at least an hour of time,” she says. Once the meal has been prepared and cooked, she spends the rest of that time block cleaning the house. “That way, I can go back to hyper-focusing on work or my kids.”

Time blocking for boundaries

Time blocking also helps Kasie ensure she doesn’t spend all her time attending to her business. “I’m a workaholic. If I could work all day, I would,” she says. 

Using her time-blocking strategy means she has a set time each day when she logs off.  

“I set limits on what I consider to be reasonable chunks of work time,” she explains.

This tactic helps Kasie maintain boundaries. When it’s time to work, she’s focused. When she wants to spend quality time with her children, she blocks time out specifically for them. 

Use a paper schedule

Kasie says that while she relies heavily on automation through software and apps, a paper calendar helps her with time blocking.

She pointed out that she is visually orientated and finds that if she writes something down physically, she retains it better.

Writing out your schedule may also help you be more intentional about sticking to each time block you’ve created.

Identify natural rhythms and routines

Before you start time blocking, you need to figure out what will work best for you and your children, Kasie says. “Every kid is different, and every family is different,” she explains. 

Her advice is to step back and observe the natural rhythms and routine your family fall into and build your schedule around that.

For example, when Kasie first started experimenting with her schedule, she wrote her children’s routine down in red on her paper schedule as nonnegotiable time for them. An example would be their lunchtime, she says.

Then, she plans the rest of her schedule around their natural rhythm. 

Kasie told us that managing her business and caring for her children are easier when you work around the routines that already exist in your household.

Connection is vital

For Kasie, the deep connection she has with her children keeps her going, especially on difficult days.

“If I don’t have that connection with them, I get very sad in my work instead of being motivated."

Shut down your devices when making intentional connections

Kasie explains that ensuring you connect with your children means switching off from work entirely.

“It’s hard to stick to, but when it comes to my kids especially, I have my computer off. Otherwise, I will get distracted,” she mentions.

For example, each day between 7 and 8 a.m., Kasie blocks out this hour to focus on her children.

Her advice is to shut down your digital devices while you’re spending the time you’ve blocked out for connection. “Nothing is so important that it can’t wait an hour,” she says.

Get focused early

Many productivity gurus recommend that you should start your day focusing on yourself before starting work. But Kasie finds quite the opposite works best for her.

She sets her children up for breakfast first thing and then logs on to check her emails once 8am hits.

Her advice is to start focusing on work early—according to your time blocks—so that you can get the most out of your day.

However, this may not work for everyone. Find what works best for you and stick to it.

Work on your business

Kasie says it’s easy to just work in your business and forget to prioritize working on your business. 

She explains that if she has no immediate tasks to do, she makes time to work on her business.

This includes strengthening business relationships, getting her brand out there, and updating her blog.

Take time to decompress

Kasie’s advice for mothers working in real estate is to intentionally decompress at the end of the day.

For Kasie, that means putting her analytical mind to work and picking up a book on mythology to dissect at leisure. She also loves water coloring as a way to unwind.

Manage your expectations

Kasie says keeping your expectations in check is crucial to finding balance.

“I found that most of my frustrations came from unmet expectations, even if that expectation was something I put out there."

She mentioned that when her children wanted to stay up late at night, she used to become frazzled. This was because she expected them to go to bed at a particular time. 

She then realized, however, that if she simply expects them to fall asleep when they’re tired, she feels far less frustrated. 

“If your expectation is ‘I’m going to work between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. every day,’ and you can’t meet that expectation, that’s going to be very frustrating, she explains. 

“But the expectations you can meet are the nonnegotiables for your family,” she explains.

Kasie says that this mindset change was a pivotal moment for her. As soon as you let go of excess expectations, everything changes, she explains.

What We’ve Learned from Kasie

Being a mother and an independent real estate transaction coordinator is challenging. However, there is a way to balance both these responsibilities and do it well.

By applying the practical strategies that she’s refined over the years, Kasie has found a way to achieve work-life balance. 

Her advice is to experiment with time blocking and then slowly build your way up to a more balanced schedule.

It may seem impossible to find a balance between your work and personal life, but it is achievable.