263 | If You’re Tired of Burnout, Here's How to Break Free from the Real Estate Grind

Real estate grind—it’s the phrase so many agents wear like a badge of honor, but few stop to question its cost. From the opening moments of this episode of The Faithful Agent Podcast, Garrett Maroon confronts the culture that tells agents to be “always on,” sacrifice family dinners, work through vacations, and equate exhaustion with excellence. In this candid and conviction-filled episode, Garrett shares what finally forced him to step back from the real estate grind and intentionally rebuild a business that serves both his clients and his calling.

If you’ve ever felt like your business is running you instead of the other way around, this conversation will feel uncomfortably honest—and deeply freeing. Garrett opens up about the emotional toll of constant availability, the quiet losses that come with missed moments at home, and the dangerous lie that hustle equals faithfulness. He challenges listeners to ask a better question: Is your business producing fruit—or stealing your peace?

This episode speaks directly to the real estate agent who feels trapped in the real estate grind—overwhelmed by their calendar, exhausted by client demands, and quietly craving margin again. Garrett unpacks why being available 24/7 is not heroic; it is unsustainable. For the christian realtor pursuing a faith driven business, this episode reframes success through the lens of stewardship, obedience, and rest.

You’ll hear insight on:

• Why the real estate grind is often celebrated but spiritually costly
• How constant availability leads to burnout, not excellence
• Why boundaries with clients actually build trust and respect
• How systems and rhythms create margin for both work and home
• Why margin is stewardship—not laziness
• How rest is a command, not a reward for performance

Garrett challenges the industry’s narrative that you must sacrifice your family, your faith, and your peace to be successful. Instead, he offers a better way—one rooted in intentional structure, clear priorities, and obedience to God’s design for work and rest. For those building realtor systems, this episode offers clarity on why systems should protect what matters most, not just scale output.

This message is especially timely for agents who feel proud of being busy but privately feel empty. Garrett explains that posting about working on vacation, missing family milestones, or being “always on” is not something to celebrate—it is a warning sign. The real estate grind does not make you more valuable. It makes you more vulnerable to burnout, resentment, and misaligned priorities.

If you’re overwhelmed, stuck in hustle, or simply tired of feeling like success is costing you what matters most, this episode will help you reset. You don’t have to sacrifice your faith, your family, or your peace to succeed in real estate. You can step off the real estate grind and build something better—something faithful, sustainable, and deeply aligned with your calling.

Resources & Opportunities:

📞 If you want a personalized plan to add 2-3 deals/month without buying leads, cold calling or grinding harder, book a Freedom Call here?
---> https://calendly.com/garrettmaroon/freedom-call

➡️ Get the FREE Audiobook of my Book - The Balanced Breakthrough - HERE

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Transcript

0:00

Real estate agents, stop letting real estate run your life. I get it guys, I'm an agent too. I have been for 11 years and I understand that we all fall into this same trap. The industry lie that success only equals more closings, longer hours, constant hustle. And I get it, these common frustrations that we all feel, missing family time, we're never truly off, right? We're always chasing the next deal. If I see one more agent on vacation posting about them writing an offer sitting on the beach, being proud of themselves, I don't know what's gonna happen, but it's not gonna be good. Here's the reality. We fall into this trap. What does your family want? They don't want you to be out there hustling more. They want you to be present right where you are. At the end of your life, it's not gonna say how many deals you did on your headstone, what your GCI was, what your volume was. It's hopefully gonna say follower of Jesus, loving husband, loving wife, great dad, great mom, great grandparent, great grandmother, or whatever. Look, I understand you're not lazy or broken. It's the system that you've been handed. It's unsustainable. When I say what does success mean to you, when I ask any average real estate agent, What is success? They're gonna say, well, they sell a lot of homes, they make a lot of money, right? Maybe they drive a nice car, whatever it is. But that's a lie. Now, maybe that's true. But I remember an agent in my market, I'm not gonna say the name, but I remember an agent in my market was getting awarded with the number one agent at Realtor Prom. People coming up, cheering for him, taking selfies with him, posting about how great of a year he had, but it was well known that not only... Was he the number one agent that year? He had lost his marriage. He was no longer talking to one of his kids. So maybe he won the award and he was selling all the homes, but he was going home to an empty house. Is that success? So how do we stop letting real estate run our lives? Number one, we've just got to realize there's a problem with the definition of success, not just for us as believers, but for the industry as a whole. Okay, number two, we need to reframe success. We need to define what do we actually want. So how do we stop letting real estate run our lives? We gotta actually know what we're aiming for. So we don't just fall prey to whatever it is that they tell us to go for, right? What's the point of building a business if it costs you your life outside of it? That doesn't make sense. We've gotta step back. We've gotta clarify values. We've gotta look and say, what is it that the Lord desires for me? Right, maybe you're that stay at home mom. who homeschools her kids, who also sells five to 10 homes on the side because that's what you have time for. And even though the industry keeps telling you, you could do more, you need to go sell more homes, you step back and you say, okay, hold on, let me talk to the Lord, let me talk to my husband, and let's figure out what makes sense for me. And when you say it's five homes because that's what you can do while you keep your feet right where you want them to be, homeschooling the kids. at home with them, serving in your church, whatever the scenario is, you seek to find joy and contentment right there. Right, the problem is, whatever your scenario may be, it's that you're the husband who is working so many hours and you keep saying, I'm doing this for my family, but what does your family want? They don't want the extra lake house. They don't need the bigger, nicer car. They need daddy at home. Figure out. Why am I doing this? You all have heard my story when I created this idea of the scoreboard, right? How do I actually keep score for myself? Well, I had a team, we were doing really well. I had figured out a way how to double my income, but the only problem was it was gonna cost me an extra 20 hours a week. We had three kids at the time, now we have five. And I remember thinking right then in that moment, looking back on the man, five years from now, if I could look back on you right here in this moment, that was in 2022, who would you be most proud of? the guy who spent more time at work, less time at home, but doubled his income, or the man that figured out a way to work less, make the same amount of income and be home and present with his family. I remember the moment a couple years before that where I was working, I was working a ton of hours, right? Just building, trying to get there as fast as I could. And I remember this moment where I finally came to my wife, Rachel, and I said, hold on, I don't know why I've never asked you this before, but babe, if it takes me longer, to build what I'm trying to build, but I get to be home more often? Is that what you want? Or do you want me to go full speed ahead and build that? She said, I want you to be home more often. And I thought to myself, why am I not asking these questions? Business isn't us thing, not a me thing. So husband, if you're out there hustling your butt off, but you haven't had a conversation with your wife, if that's what she wants, mom, if you're out there hustling your butt up, but you haven't had a conversation with your husband, who's gonna say, I didn't realize you're gonna be gone this much. We need to have these kinds of conversations. Even if you're a young solo agent and you're single or you're dating and you're in this position where you're like, well, it's just me, I might as well go out and hustle. You still need people around you to say, please hold me accountable. Unbridled ambition can still lead you into very bad, dangerous places. We need to keep score in a different way. believers we got to keep score a different way because the most important relationship in your life is with the Lord and then it's with your spouse if you're married and then it's with your kids right if you're a grandparent it's the Lord it's your spouse it's it's your your kids it's your grandkids right lots of things come into play there maybe you're a pastor and you're selling homes on the side it's the Lord it's your spouse it's your kids it's the church then it's the work that you do in your Real estate, you've got to keep score in a different way. When I stopped just measuring how many deals, how much money, what was my GCI, what was my profit, those are good things to measure. When I said, you know what, I'm gonna keep score a different way. I've got a profit goal, sure I do, but I've got a wife goal, two day dates a month, I've got a family goal, take every seventh week off. I now had a new way to define what actually mattered to me. Someone invited me to come speak at this really cool event, what would have been a really cool event. checked off the profit box, I still could have my dates, but guess what, fell on the seventh week off. The answer was, guys, I really appreciate you. The answer is no. I had a new way to keep score. You have to define what you actually want. Yes, we recognize the industry's definition of success is broken, but if we don't replace that definition, we fall back into that definition. Let's replace it. Finally, build a better system. I'm gonna give you some practical tools for you to take back control. Number one, I want you to time block and protect thinking time. I want you to take 30 minutes a week. That's it. Just 30 minutes. Put it somewhere in your calendar just to stop, pause, think and reflect. How am I doing? Am I in pursuit of what my mission is or am I in pursuit of a different person's mission? We fall very easily prey to looking at our neighbor and thinking I should probably be doing that too. If they're selling the hunger homes, I guess I should. If they're selling 10, I guess I should. If they're going to that conference, I guess I should. 30 minutes a week, just stop, pause. Lord, am I on mission? Am I living out the mission with my business that you've called me to? That's hard. Y'all, it's hard for me to pause. Pause, block that time. Pay attention, think, ask the Lord, am I on the mission you want me to be? Your mission's not the same as your neighbor. Your mission is not the same as your broker. Your mission is not the same as your team leader, not the same as your agent, not the same as anyone else. You have your own mission. Lord, am I on mission? Pay attention to those things. Reset when you need to reset. All right, number two, how do we build a better system? are the practical tools to take back control? Delegate or automate repeatable tasks. So, okay, you continue to do this transaction work. Maybe you could go hire someone for $400 a deal and buy back all of that time. Maybe you continually have to create different social media posts and it takes you forever to come up with the concepts. Maybe you work with JetTPT, it helps you think through it. There's another conversation there, but maybe it helps you think through it. Maybe you're out showing houses all day, every day. That's why you're always going on Saturday. You never come to the soccer game. You're even late to church on Sundays. You know what? Maybe you need to go find a showing assistant, someone who can open doors for you. Delegate some of those tasks. If you're gonna protect... your life. If you're gonna make sure that real estate is not running your life, but you are in control of where your feet wanna be and are going to be on any given day, you gotta build a better system. Time block, think about it. Am I on mission? Number two, delegate or automate repeatable tasks and finally set boundaries with clients. You can't serve well. being on call 24 seven. When I was early on in this, in my career, I remember how scary it was to sit down with my clients and this is what I do. In my meeting, I'd say, here's my hours. I'm available eight to seven, Monday through Friday, Saturday by appointment, I'm off on Sundays. Now the only reason I'm gonna engage on Sundays is if we're actively negotiating and you are gonna miss out on something because I'm not working, I'm gonna show up and help you. Otherwise, that's the day for my family, that's the day for the Lord. And then I'd say, and Wednesdays is date night. After five, you're not gonna get a hold of me. Now, they thought, wow, eight to seven, that's long hours. I wasn't working the whole time. I might've been available, right? But at seven o'clock, my phone shut off. I'll get to it the next day. Five o'clock on Wednesdays, date night. I can't tell you how scared I was at the beginning, but no one ever had a problem with it. And then I'd get voice messages on Wednesday night, someone saying, Garrett, I know it's date night. Please don't call me back. But let me know in the morning when you get a chance. I'd love to connect. The reality is, I know the industry tells us we gotta be open 24-7. When I started implementing that rule, it wasn't my client that had a problem, it was another agent. I got a voicemail from an agent. on a Sunday that I listened to Monday morning. This guy legitimately cussing me out because he said, you have to be available when we need you. This is real estate, we're 24 seven, blah, blah, blah. So I remember calling him back and he said, hey, we got to my moisture inspection back. needed to get it to you. I'm thinking, bro, this was not immediate. This was not urgent. So much so that I should pull off my Sabbath away from my family just for you to tell me that? You don't get to dictate what my life looks like. The Lord does. My family does. You don't have to be available 24-7. I'll give you one more example. I was competing on a listing with a discount broker. This discount broker, very well known in our market, a good agent. I'm competing on this listing. Well, I go to the listing appointment and the next day, I have broken into my schedule what I called Garrett time at the time. This was probably 2017, called Garrett time. And I was going to the pool for two hours, shutting on my phone, just getting there, relaxing, trying to take a break. Actually, sounds amazing right now. I should do that again. trying to take a break while I come back. I have multiple missed calls from this potential seller. And one of them is a voicemail. The voicemail says, Garrett, if you're not the agent that's gonna answer right when I call, then you're not the agent for me. Call me back. So I call this gentleman back and he's telling me, how can you not answer? You gotta answer if you're gonna build a business, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, listen, I'm not gonna say his name. And I said, listen, sir, I totally respect what you're saying, but I just need you to know that I prioritize making sure that I take care of my family. take care of myself and take care of my people. I can't do all of it at once. I've gotta be really intentional with my time. If you're looking for an agent who is available to you 24 seven, I respect that. Please do not hire me because that's not me. We hung up. Next day he calls me and says, Garrett, I wanna go with you. Keep in mind, I said I'm not gonna be available to him whenever he wants me and I was charging more. He still chose me. I said, why sir, did you choose? Me said Garrett because I actually realize you really do protect and you prioritize what matters and I appreciate that about you Will you come help me so we got that we sold the home, right? You got to set boundaries with clients and they will respect that but if you don't respect yourself They won't respect you if you don't respect your family enough to say guys six o'clock. I'm at dinnertime six to seven I'm gonna have my phone off But after that if there's something urgent text me and I'll take a look at it If you don't set the boundary, they're going to take advantage of you Set the boundary. what are the three practical, actionable steps? Number one, block off time to think. 30 minutes, am I on mission? Where did I go off mission? How do I protect it next week? Number two, delegate or automate repeatable tasks. And finally, set boundaries with clients. Systems create freedom. They're not restriction, they create freedom for you. Put these things in, pay attention, stop to think, protect your time, protect your family's time, put the phone away. Ultimately, you can build a business that works for your life. not a business the other way around. The word your life is supposed to support your business. No, no, no, no, no, no. Your business is supposed to support your life. And the hierarchy of attention, my friends, it's the Lord, it's your spouse, it's your kids, and then it's your work. That is the right order. So I encourage you, go grab my free ebook, the Faithful Agent ebook. I know I've mentioned it here, but go to faithfulagent.com. It's gonna take you right to my ebook. It's going to help you as you focus on how do you build a business that is more glorifying and honoring to the Lord and is more effective. 10 chapters, short and easy. Each one is going to have an actionable step. Go grab that. It's right here below in the show notes. If you're watching on YouTube, it's right here in the comments section. And if you feel like your business and your life is not where you want them to be and you need more help than that, I hope you'll go to 210collective.com 210collective.com. Grab a time on there. to schedule a call with me. I'd love to hear what's going on, how I can support you, and maybe, maybe the Two10 Collective might be a way to support you as well. For now, go to faithfulag.com, grab that free ebook. It's gonna make a difference in your life. I hope, faithful agents, that as you think through these things, that you pray through these things, you'll figure out a way. How do I stop letting real estate run my life? How do I stop submitting to the Lord? How do I start submitting to the Lord, identifying the problem? that I want the success that the world offers, step two, reframing what success looks like from a biblical lens, and finally, use better tools and systems to actually go achieve that life. I love you, faithful Asians. I want nothing more or nothing less for you. I don't even know how to say that phrase. You know what I mean. What I want for you is that this business will be a blessing to you. It'll be a blessing to those around you. It won't take from our lives and those around us. It'll give. to our lives and those around us. And ultimately it'll give to the King. I love you, faithful agents. I pray this was a blessing to you. I will see you next week.