Last time I had a few minutes to come up for air, I posted on Agent Genius about Working IN your Business or Working ON your business.
Time Management
Time Management is one of the hardest things to get under control as an agent. One of the most important things we can do as busy Realtors is focus on Leads, Listings and Leverage.Prospecting to keep that tunnel full. But, in the midst of setting your goals and time blocking life sometimes happens.
Get Help
I have an assistant who manages all of my teams transactions and paper work. Most of the time this works great. But, hey assistants need vacations too, and just like us when we are gone or planning a vacation… all heck breaks loose. New listings come in, Short Sales are approved we have been working on for months, offers come in on homes that have been sitting for months. I am sure we can all identify.
Last week I had to grab another Realtors assistant to help me after hours to get all the work done.
Hire it Out
I signed up for one of Pat Katino’s Breaking News sites early in June. I just didn’t have the time to get it set up. I knew and was told to plan on 5 hours of time. Yikes…I wish I had 5 hours of time. So after realizing this was not going to happen anytime in the future. I called Kevin and said, “Do you have anyone who can help me set up my site?” “I just don’t have the time to do it?” He did and my A2BreakingNews site is now up and running.
Same thing with the Fan Pages on Facebook, no time to set it up. So Mike Mueller posted he would set them up for a small fee. So I contacted Mike and he set up my FaceBook Page.
Leverage
Time can be leveraged too. Time=Money. It was easier for me to spend a little money and get these two things done, than to be stressed about finding the time to do them. (Now if I could just find a mini me to attend the ReBar Camps I signed up to go to and couldn’t. Now if I just had a ghost writer to get those local posts out.) So spending the $250.00 to get these sites up and running was a no brainer. I think I leveraged myself about 10 hours of time.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is don’t be afraid to spend the money to leverage your time and be more productive. Squirrels gather up their food in the summer and store it for the winter months so they will have plenty to eat in the winter.
Living in a seasonal real estate market area, I try to keep this in mind as the work I am doing now, is storing up food for the months we are knee deep in snow and no one wants to go house hunting.
Am I having fun yet? Well….no but I am coming up for air.
Ken Brand
August 21, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I’d comment but I don’t have time either. Seriously, this is spot on. There are more great ideas that need implementing, when we don’t have the time, hire someone to launch it for you. Smart stuff, easy to think about, harder to do. Cheers to you.
Paula Henry
August 22, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Breathe in – breathe out – then again! I, too, have been delegating more and still, trying to breathe. I feel blessed to have business and working hard. It’s certainly a mixed bag!
I signed up for a breaking news site a week ago and just today finished the first two steps.
I may have to call on help there and for Facebook. I have one line on my fan page 🙂
Joe Loomer
August 23, 2009 at 9:08 am
Just as I came up for air this morning after a six-day work week, I make the mistake of clicking on your breaking news site to see if I need to be getting in that too.
Time to break out the ‘ole checkbook and have someone else do it! Great post Missy!
Navy Chief, Navy Pride
Brandie Young
August 23, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Hi Missy! Great post. Thanks.
Lately I’m in the same boat – just slammed and no time to come up for air. These are the times I need to remind myself to be grateful since the hours I’m working are billable.
That said, thanks for the reminder to outsource the things that aren’t the best use of my time. Not so easy to let go, but the best choice in the long run!