Time blocking and leaving space

In this episode of the Ninja Selling Podcast, Northern Virginia Realtor and Ninja, April Myers, explores what it really looks like to stay magnetic, consistent, and growth-minded when life gets very real.

Based in Arlington, Virginia, with @properties in the DC suburbs, April shares how her background as a recruiting leader and VP of strategic growth helped her become fearless in sales and build powerful relationships with agents across her market. Those relationships are now a major asset in her real estate business.

But the heart of this episode is deeply personal. In late 2024, April's husband, who has epilepsy, experienced a seizure after more than 10 years without one, and then another in early 2025. He lost his driver's license for nearly a year, which meant April became the full-time driver for her husband, her young son, and her clients… all while working in a volatile DC-area market with layoffs, uncertainty, and a government shutdown.

Despite all of that, April is on track to grow her business by roughly 20% over last year in a market that is not up 20%. She walks through, very candidly, how she did it: mindset work, strict time blocking, non-negotiable morning routines, consistent FLOW (both live and auto), and a refusal to become a victim of her circumstances. This episode is a powerful example of Ninja principles in action when life is anything but easy.

Key Takeaways

• Mindset first, always. April made a conscious decision early on: "I will not be a victim of my circumstances." That choice, to be a player instead of a victim, became the foundation for everything that followed.
• Systems let your business run while you're running. Before her family crisis hit, April had already built a solid Ninja business plan, a database, and consistent habits. When life got harder, those systems kept the business moving even when time shrank.
• Time blocking is self-preservation, not punishment. April blocks her calendar for real estate reviews, monthly emails, FLOW activities, and even which clients get a review each month. By deciding ahead of time, she removes the thinking burden from "future April" and just executes.
• FLOW is her superpower: auto + live.
  • About 225–240 people in her database, with ~150 local in the DMV.
  • At least two emails per month: one local lifestyle/events email and one real estate/market update from her Gmail.
  • Regular mailings: quarterly newsletters, postcards, topical or seasonal pieces, plus tools like Homebot, and a vendor guide.
  • Live FLOW: birthday calls, home anniversaries, client service calls every week, and at least one client dinner a month. April rarely "misses a beat" with her FLOW, even in a chaotic year.
• Recruiting experience turned into a massive advantage. Years of recruiting 175–200 agents made her fearless on the phone, great at conversations, and deeply connected to top agents in her market. These relationships now help her get offers accepted in competitive situations.
• Look for silver linings in hard seasons. When her husband lost his license, April chose to use extra time at school pickups, games, and events to go deeper with other parents, neighbors, and community members. That intentional presence has led to unexpected, high-quality clients in a tough year.
• Consistency beats "doing it all." April openly admits she didn't do as many open houses as she "should" have, but she stayed consistent on the core Ninja activities she could execute. The result: her business is up in a down market.

Memorable Quotes

"I refused to become a victim of my circumstances."

"I still look back on the last 10 or 11 months and think, 'I don't know how I did it.' But I knew I needed a plan and a system to run my business like a business."

"Those years recruiting agents made me fearless. If you can call Realtors every day who don't want to talk to you, it's a lot easier to talk to people who actually do want to talk to you."

"I wanted to be an anomaly. I was already going to be, so why let this stop me?"

"I started getting up a half hour to an hour earlier every day. I needed that time for affirmations and mindset because it keeps me grounded and sane."

"It's like going to the gym. It's hard at first, and you don't see changes, but change doesn't happen overnight. You start to see results, and that keeps you going."

"Trust the silver linings. Something hard might be happening, but there might be something better around the corner that you can't see yet."

"We say the three keys to success are mindset, skill set, and action, in that order. I couldn't control what happened, but I could control my response to what happened."

Links:

• Website: https://ninjaselling.com/ninja-podcast/
• Email: TSW@NinjaSelling.com
• Phone: 1-800-254-1650
• Podcast Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/TheNinjaSellingPodcast
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• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninjasellingofficial/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ninjaselling
• Upcoming Public Ninja Installations: https://NinjaSelling.com/events/list/?tribe_eventcategory%5B0%5D=183&tribe__ecp_custom_2%5B0%5D=Public
• Ninja Coaching: http://www.NinjaSelling.com/course/ninja-coaching/
• April Myers: https://www.atproperties.com/agents/13000/april-myers