So I spent a few weeks in Europe and on my way back I had a layover in Atlanta. I like the Atlanta airport.
It’s one of the most organized and efficient ones I know in the U.S.
I like to observe people when I am in a place like an airport or train station.
That likely comes with being a digital marketer and sales copywriter with experience in real estate.
You can learn a lot about psychology and behavior.
At such a place, many different people from all walks of life come together, hustling and bustling in one place.
Usually, you forget all these people you briefly come across during travel. More so when you are sleep-deprived and jet-lagged.
The human brain is a pretty efficient energy-saving machine.
However, Sometimes Someone Stands Out…
It was a female flight attendant (biological age about 64, chronological age about 49) walking by.
She looked pretty tired, and she had a shuffling step and used shoes way too large for her feet.
And all the make-up in the world didn’t help her to look fresh. What’s more, it’s possible I’ve seen her before in the same airport about a year ago.
Many get lured into this lifestyle as something attractive when they are younger. At first glance, it looks interesting; you see the world’s hotels and get decent pay.
But is it true?
Did they really make a correct economic assessment, thinking of the true ROI of their decision to become a flight attendant?
Bear with me, I’ll circle back in just a second to how this relates to your potential real estate lead gen ROI.
So let’s make an honest calculation, including also hidden costs a starting flight attendant may not have on their plate.
I looked into the various salaries and a starting flight attendant earns $35,000 as a gross salary and after all taxes a net salary of $23,572.
Similarly, an experienced flight attendant earns a net salary of $39,210 and a senior one $53,847.
Okay, but let’s also look at their hourly net salary. We can assume 1,200 annual working hours.
That would be $19.64 for the starter flight attendant, $33 for the experienced, and $45 for the senior one.
Well, at least it’s above minimum wage, but did I get the whole picture here?
Nope, I don’t think so.
On a long-distance flight, I always ask myself how this lifestyle can really be enjoyable in the long term.
You spend most of your time in a closed environment in so many different time zones, disrupted sleep patterns.
As a cherry on top, it strains your relationships.
But maybe that’s just my issue with flying.
Yes, when you can use the first class, things change a tiny bit.
You can avoid the so-so food and have more space.
But still, you can’t avoid your biological clock, sleep disruption, and the stress it causes for your system.
Why this little “health-rant” on flying airplanes across different time zones?
Well, flight attendants and pilots don’t get paid for the time they need to recover from the frequent sleep disruptions.
So to be honest, they would need to factor that in and add it on top of the 1,200 hours per year to get their real honest pay per hour.
We can assume that they need an additional 50% of their official working hours to recover.
So they don’t work 1,200 but 1,800 hours (600 hours cutting into their free time).
Now the hourly net income looks quite different:
- Starting flight attendant: $13.10
- Experience flight attendant: $21.78
- Senior flight attendant: $29.92
Okay, Full Circle… What Can You Learn from That for Your Real Estate Lead Gen ROI?
Be like the flight attendant who is brave enough to look at their true hourly relative income.
Because they consider recovery time as part of their working hours.
This helps you make better (business) decisions.
What does it mean for your digital marketing efforts to generate real estate leads?
Well, you want to consider the full scope of your efforts for your ROI.
This also suggests to really track your lead gen results.
It includes post-campaign analysis and optimization when evaluating ROI.
And don’t forget to include your time cost.
That is, if you do time-consuming marketing.
You want to include resources spent on planning, execution, follow-up, and analysis.
By the way, That’s why I also included the time cost for content marketing (video marketing, article writing, etc.) in the “Ultimate Real Estate Lead Gen Strategy & Performance Suite.”
This article has been reviewed by our editorial team. It has been approved for publication in accordance with our editorial policy.
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