Back to School

I spent the better part of last week in class with 40 other central Texas Realtors, taking the first step toward earning my GRI designation.  You may have seen those funny little 3 or 4 letter acronyms on Realtor's business cards or email signature blocks and wondered to yourself what the hell they were.  

Well, GRI stands for Graduate Realtor Institute.  I equate it to graduate school for Realtors.  Its a step toward gaining extra expertise and knowledge to further help me guide and consult with buyers and sellers.  It is geared mainly toward agents who have been in the business for 3 years or more.  There are many other designations that professional Realtors pursue over time (hence the acronyms) but the GRI is where most start the extra education process.  

To achieve the GRI designation, a Realtor must attend and complete 3 separate 30-hour courses.  Yep, that makes for a long 4 days. However, in my opinion, you cannot go wrong with investing in continuing education, especially if you plan on sustaining success in any given career path. 

Given the time of the year and the typical slow down of business right before the big Holiday, I figured it would be a good time to get the first class under my belt.   What I didn't know was that I was going to gain 3-4 pounds in the process.  Each day, there are 2 breaks (morning and afternoon) and a lunch break.   These breaks are all "sponsored" by local businesses who want to partner with Realtors.  And, they all bring their little goodies - I'm talking cookies and ice cream and brownies - you name it.   Those things are hard to resist, especially when you are trying to stay awake and need a little sugar fix.  

I was joking to Kristin that an unintended benefit of attending this course was that I remembered how extremely thankful I am that I have chosen a career that provides me with freedom.  This past week I felt like I was stuck in corporate America.  I had to sit at a desk and follow instructions for 8.5 hours a day.  I couldn't use my cell phone, I got a short break in the morning, an hour and lunch, a short break in the afternoon, all the sweets I could handle in the "break room," it was dark when I left and I had to fight rush hour traffic.  

All in all though, I really enjoyed the course and I look forward to attending the next one.  Id really like to get all of the course work knocked out in the coming year.