I’ve coached enough high-earning agents to know that income doesn’t always equal peace. Some of the most financially stressed people I talk to are the ones with the biggest commission checks — not because they don’t earn enough, but because they’ve built a lifestyle that assumes the money will always keep coming.
They live at the peak of their best months, and they call it normal.
It starts innocently. You have a strong quarter, so you bump the budget. You book the vacation. You upgrade the car. You sign up for the subscription that used to feel indulgent. And then before you realize it, your baseline lifestyle is built on numbers that were never meant to be the baseline.
But this is the thing no one wants to say out loud:
Your lifestyle might be lying to you.
Not maliciously, just subtly, quietly. By convincing you that what you did in a great month is what you should expect every month. That if you could afford it once, you can keep affording it. That your business and your life are stable enough to justify the pace you’re living at.
And if you’re not watching carefully, you’ll start mistaking income for sustainability.
The truth is, while commission income may be inconsistent, it doesn’t mean you have to be.
The agents who sleep best at night aren’t the ones with the highest gross. They’re the ones who live off 60% of what they earn and treat the rest like fuel: for savings, for taxes, for investments, for the future.
They build a life below the peak. They live beneath their top-line numbers. And they stay calm when the closings slow down.
So if you’ve been feeling tension around money — not because it’s gone, but because you don’t quite trust it — take a closer look at the lifestyle you’ve built. Is it based on an average? Or is it built on adrenaline?
Are you designing for freedom? Or are you performing prosperity?
Because one will last, and the other will leave you tired, anxious, and always hustling to keep up with a life you’re not even sure you want.