Locked Out, Burned Out & Breaking In

It was a Sunday. The kind of Sunday every real estate agent knows well: Running on caffeine and crossed fingers, juggling open house signs, crumpled flyers, and text messages that just keep coming.

We were hosting an open house for an out-of-town client. The type of client who had a list of “special requests” that read more like a novella:

No lockbox.

Both of us present for every showing.

Daily check-ins, each with a new detail to “double-check.”

We had agreed - a bit reluctantly, but with our usual sense of commitment - to go all-in, and to go over and above. Because that’s what we were used to doing: Showing up, over-delivering, and doing everything ourselves.

That day was no different. We packed up, rushed out, and pulled up to the property just in time to start greeting guests.

Except…

We didn’t have the key.

It hit us like a slow-motion movie scene.We looked at each other in silence.

Front door: Locked.

Garage keypad: Dead.

Spare key? Safe and sound on the desk back at the office, nowhere near us.

And the irony?

The house we couldn’t get into... We were supposed to sell.

That moment, standing outside, seeing a car pulling up, feeling that subtle panic that comes when professionalism collides with human error, was one we’ll never forget.

It wasn’t just about the mistake we had made. It was the weight of the pace we were operating at. The pressure. The constant juggling. The unsustainable reality of trying to wear all the hats. 

After some “creative problem solving,” Randy managed to lower me (Yvonne) through a basement window.

Yes, legs first, ego second. I landed in the laundry room and opened the door from the inside, brushing myself off like this was all part of the plan.

The open house went on. The clients never knew. But we knew.

We knew we were running our business on fumes. We were reacting, not leading. Surviving, not building.

That window wasn’t just a funny memory, it became a metaphor for how we were operating at the time: Crawling through tight spaces, contorting ourselves, and doing whatever it took to make it work.

Looking back, we don’t just laugh at the story, we reflect on what it represented.

We were burnt out because we didn’t have systems.

We were rushing because we didn’t have structure.

We were overextending because we didn’t have boundaries.

And we were trying to grow a business by doing everything manually - and perfectly.

Today, we help agents build businesses that support them - not consume them.

That’s why we built Svolta Marketing Solutions™, (Italian for turning point), to help real estate professionals like us stop crawling through basement windows (figuratively and literally).

• Systems that automate follow-up

• Funnels that generate and qualify leads

• Branding that builds trust without burnout

• CRM setups that replace chaos with clarity

Because the goal isn’t just more leads, it’s less stress.

It’s not just to be seen, it’s to be remembered.

It’s not just to hustle, it’s to work with focus, confidence, and sustainability.

So, if you’re rushing from open house to showing, juggling it all, and wondering if this is just “how it has to be”… Let this story be a sign.

There’s a better way.

And you don’t have to climb through a window to get there.