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The 2021 Vision…

I LOVE goal setting. Every year in November, I begin to plan out goals for both myself and my team for the following year.  This past November was a bit trickier – 2020 was a year that nobody could have anticipated, and it has kind of clouded my ability to think proactively about what to plan for in 2021. After many discussions with the team, we have decided that 2021 will be a year of getting out of our comfort zones.  For the majority of us, this means putting our faces out there more. And by putting our faces out there, I don’t mean the perfect, photoshopped, and pretty side of us.  I mean the raw, vulnerable, imperfect shots that show just who we are at our cores. To that end, here is an imperfect shot of me and our son, Asher, born June 30, 2020.

Realtor Mom in Winnipeg Manitoba





This year, we plan to put out a lot more video content.  Answer me this, does anyone actually like being on camera?  I sure don’t!  It took me 8 years and about 100 comments that I didn’t look like my original head shot from when I started in the business, to finally agree to take a second round of headshots.  We did a new round of these headshots and family photos in 2019 and now have a goal to do them annually with 2020 being an exception because, well, social distancing of course! Toward the end of 2020 we hired Simon, who has a background in Broadcast and Television.  For people that don’t like having their photo taken, trust me, being on film is a whole new ball game.  He has already had us each film 15 different segments which are going to be airing throughout the year across our various social media platforms.  It is funny how easy it is to talk to someone in person, but the second lights and a camera are pointed at you, you can’t even remember your own name!



This year, we also plan to give back to a community that has done so much for us.  It almost seems unfair, that our businesses were booming in 2020 when so many within the community suffered.  We have all increased our efforts to support small businesses whether it be regularly ordering take-out from our favourite local joints, creating jobs for those that were impacted within their own industries, curating prize baskets and closing baskets from local artisans - but it truthfully still doesn’t seem like enough for us.  In 2021, we plan to highlight many of the small businesses so that they too can have a booming year.  We rise by lifting others, right?  So, if there are any businesses out there that you feel may be suffering and could use a spotlight on our social media, let us know. 



This year we also plan to work more heavily on the education component side of our business.  In some of our discussions we discovered three things:

  1. We handle a lot of relocations to and from Winnipeg.
  2. There are a lot of unknowns out there for both the selling and buying process
  3. Some people find Realtors kind of scary and intimidating.  Like if you give them your number, they will never stop calling you.


Realtor Family in Winnipeg ManitobaTo that end, we plan to generate more content that helps to address all of these concerns.  For instance, in the works currently is: a series on what it is like to live in Winnipeg, an educational segment highlight FAQ’s for buyers and sellers alike, and more in-depth interviews with our agents just to demonstrate that we sincerely do have your best interests in mind and won’t spam the heck out of you if you reach out!  Are there any questions you would like addressed by us?  Please reach out.  We plan on generating content that our current and future clients will find useful, and always appreciate the input!





This blog is admittedly scattered, pretty much as scattered as 2020 was, so I do apologize. In trying to sort what my takeaways were from the past year, I did find a few recurring themes. Going into 2021 I hope to take some lessons learned in 2020 with me.  Namely:

-          Money can’t buy what matters the most

-          Slowing down is not a bad thing

-          Time with family should be treasured

-          Hugs are underrated

-          We are all more resilient than we give ourselves credit for



We have set some pretty big goals for 2021.  While the world may look a little uncertain right now, I am cautiously optimistic that we will achieve those goals no matter how bumpy the road may be. So, cheers to the year gone by and to the upcoming year: 2021 … we got this!



Happy New Year, everyone!



Top Realtor in Winnipeg Manitoba, Jennifer Queen

#AgentJen


Jennifer Queen

Phone: (204) 797-7945
Email: Jennifer@JenniferQueen.com

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2019: A Year in Review

Well 2019 was another banner year for the Queen Team! More sales, bigger sales, a larger team, more awards, you get it. But honestly, where did the year go?  As I sit down and look at my calendar from 2019 I see a lot of 14 hour days consisting of team meetings, client appointments, agent mentoring, home inspections, various committees, open houses, etc.  You name it, we did it. We give everyone the funny, the good news, the excitement and the “pretty” on social media. We choose not to post the ugly, because we aren’t expecting people to feel “sorry” for us – it’s part of the job!  There are peaks and valleys in any job and that is what we signed up for! But in truth, the hours can be long, VERY long. There is no “closed” sign for clients – we’re here for them 24/7.


Sometimes we give more to our clients than our own family. We understand that there is a reason and a season, and the simple fact that they chose US, is what keeps our business going.


Milestones for the Queen Team in 2019:

Amy McDermid Top Realtor in Winnipeg#AgentAmy returned from maternity leave! In October, Amy returned to work full time after taking some time off to raise her sweet son, Gavin.  We are so glad to have her back.  She was the first person to ever agree to work with me – the poor soul.  She is a full time licensed realtor that brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her clients and I know that this year will bring great joys and successes for her, both personally and professionally. Her dedication and commitment as a person shines through in all that she does, including now being a working Mom! She’s more than just a colleague and work wife, she’s become a great friend.


Real Estate Agent in Winnipeg#AgentAshton got married to her amazing husband, Mark!  She managed to handle showers, socials, and the planning of her wedding in 2019 and never broke a sweat! In fact, she had her own banner year in real estate and not only hit the sales goal she set for herself, she surpassed it by 25%.  She continues to astound me and I know that 2020 will bring even more good things for her.  She has a great work ethic, a fun and positive attitude, and her clients absolutely adore her for it.




Realtors in Bridgwater Winnipeg#AdminCarrie continues to be a rock for everyone – her team as well as her family. She is often the first in the office and she runs a tight ship. She has three teenagers; her son just graduated high school and is now in University. Her twin daughters just got their learner permits.  Bless her soul! She has a huge heart, whether it be going above and beyond for one of our clients or team members, fostering dogs, driving all hours into the night to get her kids to their extracurriculars, or working longer hours than she is supposed to just to make sure everything around the office gets done.  The Carrie’s of this world are truly a gift and we feel so lucky to have her.


#AgentLogan and I bought our first two rental properties. We’ve helped many investors over the years and watched as their wealth grew.  Finally we got the nerve to take on the endeavour ourselves!  We have hired a property management company that deals directly with the tenants.  So really, it is a steady stream of passive income.  The goal for 2020 is to buy another 1-2 rental properties. I actually thought that buying rentals was going to be more challenging than it has been, but we have a great bank that has worked closely with us.  All we needed was the down payment and proof that the property rents could sustain the monthly expenses, and we were on our way!  The most important factor is finding the right deal so that the numbers make sense. This is something we are quite capable of doing!


REMAX Realtors in WinnipegWe finally updated our pictures in 2020 as well.  It was time.  My headshot was from the day I got my license in 2011.  I had been reluctant to have new pictures taken as I had a couple of children in that time, gained a few (or a lot) of pounds.  With the picture date in mind I set a goal to lose some weight, and lost 50 pounds in 2020 doing a modified Ketogenic diet.  For a long time I knew that carbs were not my friend, but I love cake.  Knowing these pictures were looming got my butt in gear and kept me motivated.  The goal moving forward is to do more regular updates.  We aren’t secret agents after all!


We finally incorporated our real estate business.  I know this sounds like the most boring piece of information, but it is something I’ve been meaning to do for a few years and was a huge undertaking but now a weight off my shoulders. Fellow Realtors, if ever you have questions about incorporating your own business, please feel free to reach out. I can put you in touch with a good tax accountant as well as a corporate lawyer or just talk to you about my experience with it. There are many tax advantages and strategies that can be implemented to multiply your tax savings!  Some of these tax savings have gone to the down payments for our rental properties!


Realtor Family TeamsOn a personal level, #AgentLogan and I discovered we are pregnant.  Yep, you read that right!  We are expecting our third child.  A lot of people commented when we had our son that we now had the “Million Dollar Family”.  But to us, our family didn’t feel quite complete. I looked at my dinner table in the future and couldn't imagine my life without 3 children. We are both one of three children, and we liked the dynamic that having two siblings brought.  Perhaps that, or we secretly love chaos in our lives.  Being outnumbered by children while running a busy real estate practice – sounds completely sane, right?  RIGHT?


For 2020, we dare to push the limits. 

I’ve written a pretty aggressive business/marketing plan for the year and we want to accomplish more than we have in the past.  We will dream big and aim for the stars. There is no goal we can’t attain and no task we can’t complete. We have exciting new things to come, new members joining and, just like always, creative and innovative marketing strategies to WOW our clients. 2020 - Look out!



Top Realtor in Winnipeg Manitoba#AgentJen


Jennifer Queen

Phone: (204) 797-7945
Email: Jennifer@JenniferQueen.com

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A Letter to Myself  – How to Celebrate the Small Victories in Life

Typically, I love to write blogs about new real estate trends, or how you can maximize your real estate knowledge, but today I wanted to share with you something I discovered this last year that I owe a lot of my success to, in real estate as well as in life.


Last year, on December 4th 2018, I wrote a letter to myself, as my future self. It began, “Dear Ashton Augert…. What a year it has been”. I have to admit, I felt a little silly and not to mention skeptical as I wrote the first few lines. I thought to myself “There is no way ANY of these things are going to happen”. But before I go on, I should first let you know where I was a year ago…


I had just made the big decision to move from my previous brokerage to my current brokerage, and had just began my career with the Jennifer Queen Team.  I had always wanted to be on a team, and when the phone rang with the opportunity of the lifetime, I didn’t hesitate to jump on board. Although I was still fairly new to the business, I was starting to gain confidence in the Realtor I was becoming, and was so excited to be able to join a very successful team, but still had a lot to learn. I had also just recently purchased my first home and was newly engaged. Life was starting to go in the direction I wanted it to, but there were still so many unknowns and goals I wanted to fulfill in the upcoming year.


That was when a little birdie (cough,cough Jen), challenged me to write a letter to myself, as my future self, writing about all of the great successes I had achieved that year. So now here I was, sitting there, writing a letter to myself and thinking, what do I want to achieve this year? And this is what I wanted to share with you. Some of the goals I wrote were so small, that they almost seemed silly to write down on paper, others were so far-fetched at that moment in my life that they seemed more like dreams for another lifetime or at least not feasible in the next year! But the important thing was, that by writing these goals down, and visualizing them as my own future, I was now committed to, at the very minimum, attempting to try to fulfill them (even though I still felt a little silly for doing so).


When I was done writing, I read the letter one last time, signed it Ashton Humphreys (my future last name) and folded it away in a drawer to forget about until the next year.


As I’m sure a lot of you could agree, 2019 came and went in a blink of an eye. Life has a way of making you forget how in only a short period of time, so much can change. Sitting back and reading the letter I had written myself; I couldn’t help but feel proud. The person who wrote that letter a year ago would be amazed to see that I had actually done most of the things I had said I would do, not to mention blew some of them out of the park! We had done the renovations on the house we were planning on doing, our wedding went (mostly) as planned, I sold more houses then I had written down (which seemed unattainable to me at the time) and we did have our new little fur baby. The best part about all of it was it now gave me the motivation to dream bigger.


Motivational Quotes for Real EstateSo, here is my advice to you:

Celebrate the small successes: No goal is too small, seeing the small achievements throughout the year gives you the fuel to reach for those bigger ones. If you don’t quite reach that big goal you set at least you can see that there are so many other things you have achieved, giving you the motivation to keep going.  


Set achievable, yet difficult goals:  Push yourself, if you think you can put aside $5000.00 this year for a down payment, why not shoot for $6000.00? When I say achievable, I mean something that you realistically could achieve. If you are a real estate agent setting a goal of selling 50 houses this year, that is achievable. If you are a real estate agent and your goal for the year is to perform open heart surgery, not so achievable (you get the point). 


Make yourself accountable: By writing down your goals, you will now have to face yourself when the time comes. Just imagine how great you will feel opening that letter a year later and seeing it there in your own writing, all the great things you have accomplished. You may also want to give a copy of your letter to a trusted friend or family member if you need a little more accountability, whatever works for you to keep yourself on track.


Have a good support system: By surrounding yourself with people who also want you to achieve your goals and believe in you will make it that much easier. You don’t have to achieve these on your own.


Reward yourself: It is ok to be proud of yourself. You did it! Give yourself a pat on the back... or maybe treat yourself to that spa day you have been dreaming about. Whatever it is, you deserve it.


Keep going: If you didn’t quite reach the goals you set for yourself this year, keep going. Don’t set the bar lower now because you are afraid of failure. Use it as fuel to motivate you further.


We all have goals; some are smaller such as learning to touch your toes and others are so big that you may not achieve them for years to come. At the Jennifer Queen Team, we truly believe setting goals is the perfect recipe for success. Every Monday we go around the table setting achievable goals for our work and personal lives for that week. The accountability aspect, as well as writing them down motivates us to do the things we may otherwise have brushed off. Setting goals, whether it be weekly, monthly or yearly helps you stay on track.


So, if you are wanting to buy a house in the next year, write it down. If you are wanting to save $300 more dollars a month, write it down. If you are wanting to go see the Eifel tower, you guessed it, write it down. You never know what your subconscious will grab hold of. When you open that letter a year later, you may just be surprised with things you have achieved.


Without that letter to myself, I would not have realized all the small successes I have made throughout the year. It has really given me the fuel to give 2020 all I’ve got. Try it, what’s the worst that could happen?


“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.” —Mark Victor Hansen



Top Real Estate Agent in Winnipeg Manitoba

 

 

#AgentAshton


Ashton Augert

Phone: (204) 781-1767
Email: Ashton@JenniferQueen.com


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