#over-working

Many real estate agents that I coach are shocked when the advice I give them to make their business more productive is to stop working harder. It is a myth that you have to work harder or longer or with more people to make more money. In the end, this is actually not effective for many types of people. While this may work for some agents some of the time, I have actually seen it work against most agents most of the time. Usually, working hard all the time usually burns one out and actually make them less effective in their business.

Now I am not referring to good old fashioned hard work. I am talking about real estate agents who try to make more money by extending their hours of work.

Instead, I adhere to the principle of simplify to multiply. Instead of adding on more work to make more money, I encourage the agents I work with and coach to focus as much on their personal enrichment as their financial enrichment. Why? We all only have so much energy to expend each and every day and we all need rest to handle the stresses of this business. When we are busiest is actually when most of us need extra rest or collecting of our energy to give it all we have got.

In real estate I see agents working themselves harder than they have to and only getting farther behind because of it. But in order to keep going you have to fill up the gas tank. However, many agents do the exact opposite. Just when an agent needs a recharge and a little more gas in their tank, instead they burn the candle at both ends to hurriedly get everything done and then crash which puts them further behind.

Let's also think about energy. It is not just physical energy; the emotional energy it takes to sell real estate can be exhausting. Every problem we have to solve for a client during a transaction takes energy. Trying to help clients make a decision takes energy. Dealing with buyer spouses who want different things takes energy. Dealing with other agents takes energy. All of the personal interactions we have every day take energy and expending energy can be exhausting. Think about the last challenging encounter you had with a client versus a challenging workout or heavy yard work. Which was more exhausting for you?

Okay so while this sounds goods how do you put it into practice? It all starts with personal self-discipline. When I work with agents who are having a hard time balancing it all I can always find something that they are doing that they really don't need to be doing. Learning how to identify what the money making or critical tasks are in your business and learning how to say no to the others is essential.

You can't be all things to all people and you have to balance your day and your time by giving yourself the time you need to recharge your batteries. Sometimes that means just being able to truly shut it all down for an hour. For some agents they need a break from the business of the day and constant ringing of their phones and for others they simply want to be able to make the emails that are flooding their inbox stop just for a little while.

If any of these situations sound like you then you need to start by having solutions for all of these things.

If the phone is your nemesis, you can start by putting a message on your phone that simply says, "Thank you for calling. I am currently in a meeting and will be returning my calls after 4:00 today." This bundles your calls to one time and gives you a much needed break to either rest or relax or get projects done, but to be able to do those things without the phone ringing is critical. The fact that you have given them a specific time of when you will be returning calls gives them an accurate time frame for when they can expect a return call.

If email is draining your energy, try putting an auto-responder on your email that says you are out of the office for four hours and will be returning all your email during that time. This simple idea saved a client of mine who was a slave to her email. She kept checking it every 5 minutes and felt she had to respond to everything instantly. When she put the auto-responder on and only checked her email during the times specified in the auto-responder it made a huge difference to her business and to her stress level.

But if you are exhausted and burned out, you just need to take a day off to recharge. I have worked with hundreds of agents who I have personally coached and I can tell you that EVERY one of them has done better and made more money when they have learned how to recharge their batteries and how to SIMPLY to MULTIPLY.

In fact, just yesterday I had a call with one of my coaching clients who gave me the results of her last few weeks. I had advised her to take a break and also to focus on taking small breaks throughout the day to find joy and recharge. Now that she is back and has her new daily recharging plan in place she is ready to tackle the several new listings that came out of the woodwork (drawn out by her new brand and first mail piece she sent out right before she left). I know for a fact that had she not taken this break and instead had powered through, she would have regarded this new business as a burden rather than being excited and ready to serve her clients.

So the next time you find yourself mentally or physically exhausted but know you still have so much to do, DON'T DO IT! First take a little time to recharge. When you do this you will find you have way more energy to get the things done that need to be done.

It's that time of year. School's out, the weather is getting warmer, and many real estate agents start dreaming about... vacation!

Unfortunately, for many of them it's just that - a dream.

I'm a huge believer in the concept of "quality of life," or "work/life balance." Because of that I believe regular time off is an absolute must for real estate agents - scheduled time off each week, and a longer period for extended vacations at least once each year.

I can already hear you wailing in the corner! And I know you're saying to yourself, "Denise, there's no way I can plan a vacation! I'm too busy with clients, and they won't wait for me." Or maybe the thought is, "Denise, don't you know how slow things have been? I can't afford to miss even the littlest opportunity that might come my way."

The negative impact of not resting, relaxing, and recharging are well-documented. If you allow yourself to think about stress as a helpful motivator, or if you allow stress to build up without releasing it, you need to take a giant step back. Fatigue and chronic stress can create stomach problems, sleep disorders, heart disease, depression, obesity, and skin conditions - not to mention headaches, ulcers, and high blood pressure!

Just as detrimental is the trickle-down to our personal lives. Working too much, too hard, too long and with too few breaks can contribute to a breakdown in communications, and can lead to feelings of anger and/or resentment from friends and family. Working without time off zaps your creativity, numbs your mind, and depresses your soul.

If we know all this (and at heart, I think most of us do), why do we find it so hard to plan vacations? Is it really the fear of losing business... or is there something else that's holding us back?

The five questions you must ask yourself

Have you ever truly considered:

When was the last time you unplugged for a minimum of five days? By "unplugged" I mean no work phone calls (inbound or outbound), and no emails. No searching on the MLS. No social media.

The damage to your physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional health that a lack of time off creates? Take a moment to really add all this up.

In what ways is your workaholic behavior impacting your family? Don't have a family? Think about your close friends instead.

What is the very worst thing that would happen if your clients couldn't reach you for a week? Be honest with yourself, not overly dramatic.

What is the best thing that could happen if you took time to rest, relax, and recharge? Do you think there might be benefits? Could you return from vacation more effective, and more focused, than you are today?

So you're ready for a vacation?

Let's imagine you're ready to starting thinking about taking a vacation. Just how can you make a vacation happen for your business?

When I was actively selling real estate I planned the future year during the final quarter of the current year. One of the first things I did? I went to the calendar, and marked out all the time off I wanted to take over the course of the year. This included family birthdays, important school events when my children were younger, community activities, civic meetings, and yes - vacation. Weeks of it at a time.

I always took my vacation when it was scheduled. I never felt guilty about it, I never worried about being gone for three very simple reasons:

I delivered extraordinary care to my clients all year long.  They loved me, and were happy to wait to work with me if they knew in advance when I wasn't available.  Since I always shared with them when I would be gone, there were never any surprises.

I was consistent in my lead generation.  That meant I consistently had prospects in my "funnel" … so I never had to worry that the only call I might get over the course of the summer might come during the week I was on vacation.

I made sure that I had a great agent to cover my business while I was gone, and I gladly returned the favor.

The first two items on the list aren't something you're going to magically be able to do in the next week or two. However, you still need to plan a vacation! And be sure to create the systems in your business that allow you to get consistent with lead generation and client care so each year you can take off more and more time with ease.

But item #3 - getting coverage for your business - is an area in which I can offer some suggestions. First, check with your broker to see if they have an "on-call" agent that covers for vacationing agents. This is a truly amazing service offered by some brokerages.

If you strike out there, it's going to be up to you to find someone to cover your business while you are gone. Once you do, have a clear discussion with that agent about your expectations.

Compensating your colleagues

Which brings us to the question of compensation. I'm amazed at the number of agents who dance around this when talking to colleagues about coverage. I'm equally surprised by the way in which an agent feels it's appropriate to compensate a colleague in their absence. Do you have a clear-cut structure for compensation that is fair to both parties? Take a look at how I structured commission-sharing on clients (this works well even if you're not on a long-term vacation, but something comes up when someone has to cover for you on a short-term basis).

Buyer Transactions

20% to the source of the lead

10% for previewing

20% for showing

20% for writing the offer and negotiating the offer

20% for attending the inspection and negotiating the results

10% for ongoing communication with lenders, escrow, and the other agent

Listing Transactions

20% to the source of the lead

20% for researching and creating the CMA

20% for presenting the CMA

10% for managing the listing (market updates, staging, flyers, syndication, etc.)

20% for reviewing and negotiating offers

10% for ongoing communication with lenders, escrow, and the other agent

Typically, you're the source of the lead, and would retain a minimum of 20%. Of course, some of these categories can be further split. For example, the communication with lenders, escrow, and the other agent. If you're gone for two weeks, but your closing period is four weeks you may want to divide this category so that each of you receives ½ of the 10%.

Over the years I've actually found that many agents want to pay the covering agent a mere 20%, even though that agent did everything but procure the lead. That's never seemed fair to me. Because I was willing to compensate agents fairly for the work they performed, I never lacked for agents willing to help me out during my time off. Remember: this should be a reciprocal arrangement, so what you "give up" in commission will come back to you when you cover for someone else.

If not a week... a day?

Maybe I haven't yet convinced you how critically important it is to give yourself a vacation. If that's the case, can you at least commit to a more relaxed work schedule this summer? One that allows you more time off each week than you're currently taking? If that baby step is all you can manage now, go for it! Once you've given yourself the gift of recharging it will be that much easier for you to plan a "real" vacation - one that promotes resting, relaxing, and recharging - in the future.

If you've been successful at planning time off drop me a line and let me know what's worked for you!