The Style House

Hi! Hello :)

Today, we're getting serious. Laying it ALL out there.
The lovely Janna had this wonderful idea for a link-up.
But not just any link-up.
A productive link-up.
A link-up to really make you think. To make you plan. To hold yourself accountable.
And thus, 'I Define My Own Perception 2013' was born.

You know what I said to that?
Heck yeah, I'm in.
This is where we say screw the resolutions and bring on the expectations!

How I will OWN 2013

My Business
Here goes. So ya'll know I'm a real estate agent. That means I'm responsible for 100% of my income. That's right, folks. 100% commission. Right now I also have side hustles, including my Etsy shop, where I sell my handpainted glassware, and my home cleaning & organization business. I make a little extra each month from the shop, and cleaning pays me pretty well at $25-$35 per hour [glamorous work, I know], but it's not something I want to continue forever. That's why it's time to OWN real estate in 2013.


I've come to learn that taking risks pays off. I've also come to learn that planning pays off. I'm such a planner in all other aspects of my life, but I've been guilty of somewhat flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to my business. Biggest mistake I could ever make. This year I go in with a plan. A written plan. A business plan.
I'm setting goals and holding myself accountable. Getting myself out there & making things happen rather than waiting for things to happen for me.

Here are just a few things I plan to impliment in 2013.
-Reach out to 2 past clients per month with a phone call, face-to-face chat, or hand written note with a small gift. Think $5 starbucks card.
-Contact 4 expired listings per month with a hand written note, followed up with a phone call or visit.
-Contact 4 FSBO's per month. Ditto as above. Bring food or small gift. [win people over with food   my knowledge]
-Facebook 'house of the week' featuring unique local homes for sale.
-Blog series highlighting consumer questions.
-Quarterly newsletter sent out to sphere.
-Visit local businesses & introduce myself.
-Reach out to builders. Work on creating business relationships.
-In general, get out there. Talk to people. Learn about other people.


My Relationships
Focus on keeping my relationship on track with Jason. Learn new things about each other.
Try new things! New restaurants, new weekend roadtrips, making new types of cuisine at home.. build something together. I'm making it a goal for us to try something new every month. I'm taking him on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail [one of his xmas gifts], so that will be one of the new things we try together. We are also going to Mexico later this month [thanks to his work! Really- thanks!!!]

We are going to make this jar to store memories for 2013! Then on New Years 2014, we will open up and reminisce! Read more about it here.


I also need to work on setting boundaries with some of my family members when it comes to my life & my relationships. I'm do not enjoy controversy or confrontation, but I need to be better about setting boundaries & standing up for myself in this regard. I've heard great things about the book Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud & plan on making this a must-read for January.

My Health
I already consider myself to be a pretty healthy person, so this doesn't really need a ton of attention this year, just maintenance. I plan to continue with my weekly workout plans incorperating bodyrock and blogilates, plus my random youtube exercise videos. Also, hiking & walking with Kobe is a must. I really want to work on trying new forms of exercise. I'm going to make it a goal to try one new or different exercise class per month. I plan on searching groupon & living social for deals, and picking places to try with friends. Think rockclimbing, zumba, pilates, pure barre... I want to try them all! Not only will it give me an excuse to hang out with friends, but it will also give me an opportunity to meet new people that might become friends or future clients!
My workout plan will look a little something like this...

Monday - Bodyrock & Walk Kobe
Tuesday - Blogilates
Wednesday - Zumba
Thursday - Bodyrock & Walk Kobe
Friday - Blogilates
Weekends - Hit or miss :)

As far as eating goes, I am already a pretty healthy eater. I allow myself the occassional indulgence, which I plan on continuing. I really just want to incorperate more veggies into my diet & learn to cook new dishes at home. I also will try more crock pot meals, as these are super easy!

My Blog
Boy do I have some dreams for this little blog baby... Boy, oh boy.
I'm reading Blog, Inc. as we speak type, and it's getting my creative juices flowing.


A few things I will work on in 2013 include:
-More photos. Quality photos. I have a freakin' Cannon Rebel T3 for crying out loud, but you wouldn't know it.
-More consistency. Planning posts ahead of time, scheduling posts. Um, yeah.
-More me. I feel like during this past year of blogging I've held off from posting too many pictures of myself. Maybe it's for fear of coming off a little self indulged or something.. I don't know. I always sort of make fun of the people that post self portraits on facebook all the time and I haven't wanted to become one of them. But blogging is different, right?!
-Weekly real estate geared posts.
-Sponser & guest post for you other lovely bloggers. Possibly down the road start accepting sponsers of my own.
-For now, swap buttons with other bloggers.
-New weekly series that spotlights interesting products, gifts for the home... more to come!

My Finances
One good thing, I have no debt. Zero. Zilch. I had car debt for my lovely little Scion TC, but I'm so happy to say that I paid that off in December. No more car payments for moi and definitely no new car either. Since I have no debt, I really want to focus on getting my income up & rebuilding my savings to $20K. [I took some out of savings to pay the rest of my car off]. To do this I plan on saving a minimum of $500 per month, hopefully more if possible. Once my savings are rebuilt, it's time for investing. 2013 will be my year to begin a Roth IRA. I plan to deposit a minimum of $250 each month. I think I can do it!

So.. there you have it, 2013. What do you think? Are we on the same page? Let's make sure we're on the same page, I OWN you. I am going to make you my bish.

Now who's with me?
Thank you Janna for this amazing link-up! See her blog right here.

xo
Sam

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