This episode was recorded on March 9, 2020 before most governments were requiring us to stay at home to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. While the current pandemic will affect real estate activity at this time, this episode is still filled with practical advice for what you can do at home to prepare for a return to normalcy in the real estate market. Using these tips to set yourself up for future success will make a positive impact on your business when the busy season does arrive. There will be no better time to set up systems and get your home in order than now. Be ready to hit the ground running as soon as it is safe again!

The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.

0:00
response to Coronavirus threat by Enneagram number one has a perfect list of necessities but no time to shop to worry about how they will care for everyone if there’s an outbreak three wants to appear prepared but also be respected for their lack of worry

0:24
fine, it’s fine. I like eight annoyed by CDC updates wash his hands and wash his hands Lesson Two by number eight

0:33
what seven.

0:34
Seven is plans vacation and hope for school cancellations is willing to risk a cheap seat forest broods over the indignity of possibility of getting the same illness as everyone else listens to podcasts of virologists, virologist, upstair daily potassium and magnesium six this is our friend Emily buys 150 pounds of dry beans while wearing a gas mask Tex friends. I knew it. I knew Oh my God, that’s all of them. Nine weighed nine can’t decide if they should be worried. Take snap instead.

1:12
Hi, y’all. Welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie. And we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market.

1:18
We work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition. The goal of our podcasts is to encourage you to find your own way in business to stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Okay, hello. Hey, hi, guess what? It’s episode 33.

1:37
Hurray. What do you want to call it? Preparing for busy and you will? Okay, I

1:41
want to start Yes. Preparing for busy. I’m starting because these are the only words I’ll speak during I, you are really excited about this one I am and so I’m excited to hear what you share with us. And I have no method for this operation. But I will tell this little anecdote. I guess in your preparation for busy of this year, you said I’m going to need to record all of the podcasts through the summer by March and I was like why? Like, I don’t know if I can do

2:15
in a perfect world. Okay, well, okay, so

2:18
let’s hear it go. Okay,

2:20
Tara, we I thought this would be a good episode to do leading into the busy summer months. But I don’t know about the rest of the world. It is here early this year because these interest rates are banana. Oh my gosh, interest rates are so low. I’m busy. This is the busiest January, February March I’ve ever had. Yeah. So you’re already in it. I’m slim. So we’re kind of behind. But it’s still a good time. Because if it’s like this now, imagine what June and July you’re going to be like,

2:46
I know. I’m worried a little nervous about inventory at some point. I know. Right? Right. I know. I’ve had my busiest February, which is weird to have a busy February and it’s pretty still busy now. Yeah, I know.

3:00
But I like to when I have time, and I know the busy season is approaching there’s things you can do to prepare and like rock the season. Yes. Oh, I like that. And you have to remember too, that it is a season. Yeah. And it’s not going to be like this forever. It is going to slow down again. So it really starts with mindset and perspective. Because if you do not have your mindset, right, going into a busy season, we all know that realtors are like, Oh, I’m so slow. I hate them. And then when they’re busy, they’re like, I’m so busy. I’m burning out. I don’t have time for anything. My clients are so demanding.

3:38
Nothing’s good. Nothing’s good enough.

3:40
So it’s all about going into this busy season, mentally prepared and maybe excited and excited. Very excited. Like, I’m ready. Bring it. Yeah, I like that. And it will also prevent if your mindset is right, it will prevent burnout. Okay, fair, you won’t be stressed. Yeah, you will actually be motivated and excited.

4:01
Well, I think you probably also need to put some boundaries and parameters on yourself to not start a home renovation or like a big other project that you need to be kind of in your real estate business.

4:14
It’s time to trim the fat of life. Okay, and cut the clutter. Yes, all the extra little side things just need to be put on hold for a little while so that you can conquer the busy season. Would

4:25
you call this surviving instead of thriving, or it’s a little about my

4:29
goal is that if you prepare right, you will thrive? Yeah. And it’s not about cutting out rest. No, it’s not about cutting out fun. Yeah. But it is about being protective of your time. Okay, setting boundaries, sticking to them. And remembering like I said, come November. Come on October I

4:48
was gonna ask what would you say if you had to give it dates is the busiest season

4:54
I usually feel April through August is like just hard is busy. Yeah. Um, but that’s also like I take lots of trips over the summer. So you just have to figure it out. Yeah, you have to figure it out. But it’s when you’re winging it, and your whole life is just total clutter. Yeah. And by the time October rolls around your house is a disaster, right? You haven’t been keeping up with maintenance things like you need to even on yourself, like self care is really big at this time. Right? And so like some things to just prepare, I heard someone say one time, whatever you start the new year on January 1, is how your year will go. Okay, so how you leave your last season? Okay, how you enter your next season? Okay. So they say like, if you’re super behind on laundry, January 1, the the myth is that you’ll never catch up all year, a whole year. Yeah. Oh. So the goal is to like, get everything under control before before you enter the busy season. So that way, you don’t have to dedicate a whole day to cleaning your house or laundry, right? Things like that. Yeah. So things that I like to do is just get caught up at my house. Okay, you know, just clean out closets. You know, we’re coming out of winter season, what do you not wear it? Because when you walk into your home, or your closet or open your refrigerator, oh, we’ve been there before we’ve been there. We’ve talked about this in the email episode, because it is a mindset thing. Yeah. The less that is in your face. You just feel freedom.

6:28
Oh, yes, I get this in my office. So until this year, this is probably the cleanest that my office has been. There was always piles of paper, or bins full of real estate classes, like the you know, the papers from the class. I’m like, I’m gonna go back and look at this again. Yeah, I’m not Yeah, going back to look at this again.

6:46
So this is the time to purge to purge you really need to self reflect, be honest with yourself. If you don’t have time to read it. Now get rid of it. Just like your email, just like your email. Um, it’s also time to make sure that your car maintenance is up to date. Nothing is worse than being like slammed. You know, your schedule is full. And you need an oil change and a car tire rotation. Right that yeah, like, get that done. Okay. In addition to like house and car maintenance, you’re not gonna have time to get your hair done this summer, probably Oh, man need to like, schedule your hair appointment. If your kids have appointments, get them out of the way, while things kind of slow. Like, what things do they need? Very interesting. Yeah, just like things that, you know, it really makes you think ahead, well, and build this solid? Pro.

7:36
I was about to say, Oh, I like to be proactive. Because if you’re reactive, that’s when you feel overwhelmed, because you’re just doing whatever is in front of your face at that moment. Yes. And that’s

7:45
when you get behind. Yeah. And when you get behind we operate from a place of fear. Yeah. And we operate from a place of scarcity. Yes. And frustration, and we think we don’t have any control. Yes. And this is a way to control that. And this is like a huge reason that burnout happens. Yeah, I agree. And people want business all year long. And when it starts coming, they’re actually not prepared for it. You right? So this is to when the client calls instead of being like, oh, my gosh, I have to You’re like actually ready for it mentally, and you can just do it. I like that, um, on that note of like clients calling and setting expectations, one big thing that you really have to be careful of during this time, is not to over commit, and then under deliver, oh, this is incredibly true. I feel like so the way my photographer works is he comes on Monday, and you usually get pictures back on Tuesday, and we usually go live Wednesday. Okay. Well, sometimes that is stressful. Because when I get the pictures back, I write the description as I’m looking at the photo. Okay. So during this time, I tell people, you know, after pictures, your house will be on the market in three days. Well,

9:03
let me tell you a little secret I read and I have no idea if this is accurate, but they say the best day to list a house is Thursday. I love it. That makes sense. So yeah, I think so too, because it’s enough time for it to hit their email if they’re at work on Friday and then they set the appointments for the weekend. And they don’t miss it. So maybe that system is good. list those houses on Thursday pictures Monday list on Thursday.

9:25
Right? Absolutely. And also like if you get if you get everything done early, just ask your client and then they’re pleasantly surprised. Oh yeah, but it’s okay to tell people hey, this process takes four days or you know, if they request a showing at the very last minute and you absolutely can’t make it happen. And you can say something like you know that the house is not available at this time, you know, or I have an appointment at this time. Whatever you need to say it’s okay to just put push it off a little bit agree so that it fits in your schedule, but boundaries are super important. As we’re going into the busy season, I

10:04
like what you said about under promise over deliver. It’s hard because we all want to be the ones that immediately answer the emails or immediately get your CMA done or immediately tell you whatever you need to know. I find I’m less stressed and able to handle it and continue to provide the service I want by saying, quick response to an email. Hi, yes, I can get that to you in three days or two days. Yeah, it doesn’t have to be today. We all need to be able to say I’m a professional. I’m not sitting around doing nothing. Right, have other work going on, which is kind of funny. That brings up an interesting story. I had this closing one day, and I had two closing saying you have two closings, three closings, foreclose, and it’s the same day, every once in a while out two separate clients buying on the same day. Okay, but typically, either not on the exact same day. But they were pretty close in time scheduling. And so as the closing was wrapping up, I’m like, Okay, guys, well, I have to get moving, because I have another closing across town. And they were like, you have another client, like just kind of joking. Yeah. And I was like, I do, can you believe it? And they’re like, Oh, you were like always available to us, which is probably good. And also bad. Like, you can put those boundaries in place and still be available to them. Yeah,

11:19
they don’t always have to know that was funny. They’re like, you have another client. They don’t ever doubt it. Yep. That’s fascinating.

11:27
I know. Okay, so you’re cleaning your house, you’re cleaning your office and cleaning my car clean. You’re and you’re doing the maintenance doing the maintenance on everything. Okay.

11:37
I also at this time, will pay more for other people to do things for me. Oh, so an extra health cleaning by somebody else. The yard guy, hire someone to cut your grass. If you’re just having like a week, where your husband and you are equally busy and you just can’t get to it? Yep. hire it out. I agree. I use grocery delivery a lot. If you do not use grocery delivery. You like it? I am hooked. When did you start using it? About a year ago? Okay. And I’m totally hooked. Yeah, it saves me so much time. Yeah. I feel like and like the, you know, 15 or 20 bucks or whatever that you tip. I would have spent that money on junk that you didn’t need through the aisles being like, Oh, I’m gonna try that or try this. Like, and the fact that it’s just delivered to your door. Yeah, it also allows you to plan ahead, like what do I want to cook this week? Yeah. Or if you don’t plan ahead, it’s okay. Because you can order it at three o’clock, and it’ll be at your house by five o’clock. Wow. Like they only need two hours. Notice how it really is life changing? It is life changing, but just that this is when time becomes money. Yeah. And when you are out there making the money. It’s worth it to just free up some of your time so that you can have a little more time in the evening. Yes. I

13:00
have a housecleaner. Yeah, she comes every other week and with one other person and they’re here for I don’t know, two, two and a half hours at the most. It’s it. And sometimes I would feel guilty. Oh, you know, I could probably squeeze in three or four hours of cleaning every weekend. But then I’m like, what, then I have no downtime ever. Like this is worth every penny, right? It’s just worth every penny to keep your mind in the right place. So you have to remember that your time is valuable. Yeah, I agree. So you’re paying for the extra extra stuff during this time period. Yeah,

13:31
I like that. I think that’s so worth it. And then also, so we talked a lot about like physical cleaning. Okay, doing yourself your hair. Right, right. You’re gonna get your nails done, whatever you do. Uh, huh. Your car, your house, all that stuff. Yeah, but also one thing that I have to do, because my brain does this, and I have to watch myself. I’ll like put stuff in the note section of my phone. And I never go back to it. Okay, so I forget about it. Okay, so whenever I’m cleaning, and decluttering and getting ready, I clean out the notes section of my phone, okay, and put things where they’re supposed to go. Okay. Make sure that I didn’t drop the ball on something that I wrote down I supposed to do. Okay,

14:15
these are not necessarily real estate test. Yes, sometimes. So, but it could be.

14:19
Yeah, like sometimes. Like the other day I was cleaning up my notes and I had written send Mike my power washer. Oh, like I shouldn’t have put it in my note. You should have just put it in my reminder or just done it at that time. Right? Because you okay, but I was like, Oh my gosh, I forgot about that. So I did it and then like you know, it was only like two weeks ago that I put it.

14:43
I hope you didn’t find the power washer. Yeah.

14:46
So just stuff like that. Okay, I also look at my it’s a good time to clean out your database. Oh, yeah. So and I don’t mean contact each person, but I just mean start at the top of your Excel spreadsheet, or whatever you to use and just skim it, okay, it can take 30 minutes to just make it take 15 minutes, right? But I just skim it and see if there’s anybody that I need to delete or anybody that I just, you know, really need to like check in with why how do you know to delete them? Like if there’s someone that has never responded, or, and this doesn’t matter at all, but this is just an example, a girl that used to work with my cousin, okay, we were friends on Facebook, and I had her in my database because she did my hair one time, okay, when my cousin was booked. So anyway, I had her in my Excel spreadsheet. Well, she just posted on Facebook that she was looking for a gift for her realtor. Oh, and you were like, what row? Yeah, and I was like, well, that’s okay. Everybody has a realtor, but, and she’s moving to Texas. Oh, I’m like, she didn’t use me. She’s moving away. Like maybe Tom say back maybe I did her once. Yeah, she did my hair that one time. Yeah. Like maybe it’s time to not waste postage, right? I don’t even talk to her anymore because she doesn’t work there anymore. And Okay, anyways, stuff like that. Or people that have just never responded or, you know, maybe that client wasn’t that nice to me. Yet. Sometimes

16:16
I find that I can delete them based on my mood that day. So sometimes I’m like, Oh, it’s okay. I don’t want to let anyone go. Because maybe I’m really feeling that scarcity mindset. Yeah. And then sometimes I’m like, This is crazy. I don’t want to work with that person again. Like it’s time to let them go. And that’s okay. And it leaves space for someone new. Yes. Okay. So you’re going through the database?

16:37
Yes. Just clean it out. I also email you want to be right clean. Do you have a deadline

16:43
for this? Like, are you basically like, we’re recording this in March? Are you like hot on this right now? Yeah, like like April 1, you better be done or what?

16:52
Well, I just think it kind of depends on the person. If I sees I’m kind of playing catch up a little bit. Yeah, because the year started off faster than I ever had it start Alright, so you have it behind. Okay, but I’m still just using my extra time, okay, to get stuff done. And I’m actually like, pretty caught up right now. Okay, that’s good. Now, when you’re in your busy season, things can get out of control quickly, airy. So regular maintenance and regular follow up. And it’s just it’s important. It’s very important that you’re using every minute that you possibly can. Yeah. I also put this as a good time to go through your templates. Yeah. Make sure that because if your templates are in place, it’s going to make your busy season so much easier. Oh, much easier, because you have the responses ready to go yeah, having to, you know, get in a good headspace and think about how to write this or what to say and everything’s just on autopilot for

17:51
you. Hopefully, you’re in such a habit of using them that you still are doing it and not like skipping that step.

17:57
Right. You can’t skip that. No, no, no. If you don’t if you’re not doing anything in your busy season, at least do the basics. Yeah. of communication with your client. Yes, this may even be the time where you don’t do some of the extra fluff that you normally do to like promote yourself or right. Like all of the extra things that you do can probably stop. I know right now always cracking up about especially my social media. Whenever I’m slow. Then I have the time to post and it looks like I’m doing all this real estate work, right? Sure. Then when I’m super busy, and I could have 100 million things to post about good, she’s busy. Because I’m so busy. I’m like, I don’t even I took all the pictures while I was on the showings, but I didn’t have time to post them later. Because I was just it just goes snowballs out of control. So I told you like two weeks ago, I started using the Instagram scheduler, yes. And I’m not like a huge Instagram poster. Sorry, to all my followers, like, I wish I was better. I wish I was better at it. I wish I was better at being like, you know, instead of posting a picture of like my dog with a heart. I wish I was better at writing two paragraphs about him. But I just that’s fine. It doesn’t come naturally. But I did. And then during the day I would just wasn’t posting and then I would want to post like three things at one time now. So what I did was I did find a scheduler that I liked to app, okay. And every night when I take my bath, you’re like scheduling this post. I love it well, and then it’s nice because they’re evenly spread out. Yeah, it looks the way I want. I can be thoughtful. Yeah, I like that. That’s a good best practice has been super helpful to just staying on top of at least posting somewhat regularly. So that has been good. And then in addition to like your email and your templates, whatever systems you have in place, yes. So for example, I use Trello right where I keep all of my the list of people’s names and things like that, wherever you write things down or Keep things like your pipeline and what you have pending. All of that needs to be totally up to date with the correct date, right closings and who you have in the work and all of your buyers need to be set up on something hearing from you. So, so just cleaning out that because I just cleaned mine out. Yeah, I have people in there that okay, so I had this guy called me. Okay. And if you know anything about the Baton Rouge market, the LSU condo market right now is a struggle. Yeah, there’s just a lot of worry. Yeah, there’s over 140 condos for sale right now on your $150,000 lease just near LSU. Alone. Okay. I have some that have been sitting a while. Surprisingly, I just got two of them under contract in the same week, which is because we’re entering the busy season, right. But there are some that have been sitting on the market for over a year. Yeah. Oh, gosh. And I had this guy call me. And he’s at first he made it sound like I was going to be his listing agent. Okay. He was like you were referred to me by so and so I have it on the market. I’ve had it on the market for a year now. But I’m ready to switch agents, my agents not doing anything and I’m hearing your agent is doing all that she can you’re just unhappy that it hasn’t sold because our condo market is oversaturated. Right. Right. Right. It’s like $120,000 condo. And so I did look up the pictures, which were terrible. Terrible. Okay, so at least you knew something to know that things could be improved. He was priced amazing. So it’s kind of like, you know, I can do this, I can take this on. Well, then he was like, I am interviewing multiple agents. And I’m just like, I’m never gonna be too good to take the smaller listings, right? Because that’s not how I operate. Right. And we are hustle humbly. You need to be humble enough. Yeah. To like, work them all. Yeah, but there are real times where sometimes things are a poor business decision, no doubt find it. You know, we are running a business. Right. And it’s not a charity. Right. And you sometimes have to look at it as is this worth my time financially, right. Like when I was new and sold that $9,000 shack? Yeah, an hour away, and got a check for $350. At closing, realizing I had spent more than that on grass, right. Like it was a poor business decision.

22:40
It’s when you wouldn’t have to do or couldn’t do now. Yes. I mean, it made sense then, because it was an experience. Yeah. And it was a learning. Yeah. So it was giving you something different than just money. But Right.

22:50
Right, right. And so when I went to the listing interview, oh, so you went to the interview and to the interview just couldn’t say no, I wasn’t gonna say no, but I’ll tell you I should maybe she should have maybe should not have. But I because he was referred to me by someone you’re like, I better I’m gonna go. Maybe I’ll maybe I’ll. But here’s the thing. I went in prepared to be totally honest. Because he was like, my last agent didn’t do open. I said, I’m just gonna let you know right now, I’m not doing open houses on this condo, right? First of all, it’s a gated community not going to work. Second of all, people don’t really come to open house condo open houses in this marketplace, especially in this area, especially when it’s not even that cute. And nobody wants to come see a 40 year old condo that has been rented out for years and years now. And I just was honest with him. I said, I’m just telling you, I’m not doing open houses either. So if that is something that you expect, I’m just letting you know. Right? And then I did go into all the things I will do. Yeah. And he also said, I also told him, I said, I appreciate that you painted, but all it did was make this carpet look worse. Right? So I think you have to replace the carpet, but I’m already priced so low. I said, for me to list it. I would I will expect you to replace the carpet. Right. But maybe there’s an agent out there that that has lower standards and expects you to change the carpet. Well, the interview actually went really well. Yeah. And he thanked me at the end and was like, I can’t tell you how much like I appreciate how honest you were. Like, he felt very insightful and had my look on things. He did go with another agent. Uh huh. But I felt relieved. Yeah, I felt like I said what I needed to say, right. And I know if I would have taken this, it would have been a lot, a lot of work with someone that had expectations prior than what I can provide at this time, or ever, maybe right? And I was just thankful Yeah, that I lost it. But that’s part of going into the busy season. That’s just one less thing right? that I have to worry about because he wanted me to over promise. Yeah, in that listing interview, like we’ve all been there when you’re in a listing interview, and they’re like, Well, are you going to be here for every single showing? No, no, I’m

25:11
not like, that’s not how it works, right. But we want to say yes. Because of the fear, right? It’s all based on the fear. If we don’t have this fear of losing them, then you can make better choices for your business. Yes. And tell the truth. Most sellers, though, are appreciative of the truth.

25:29
You the look on his face when I said, Because he said, my other realtor didn’t do any open houses. And I just said, I’ll be honest with you, I’m not either, right. The look on his face was kind of like shocked. But like, he’s like, Oh, this is how this works. Like, right? Like I’m explaining to you. Yeah, yeah, this is how this works.

25:50
And sometimes sellers have something in their mind that you cannot fix. Like he thought an open house was going to sell that house. So maybe he hired the agent that did? I don’t, but I sure hope he changed that carpet to

26:03
Yeah, and I hope he sold it. This was last week. This was like it. And that’s why when I was talking about cleaning up my Trello I still had him in there under pre listing you were like, nope. And it felt good to just delay it because it crossed an offer to do yes. And like, you know, the people that you follow up with follow up with, they don’t respond. They don’t respond, you don’t know where they are. And then finally, one day, they say, I no longer need your services, or I have a realtor. And you’re just like,

26:37
fine, they thank you. Like you’re like, I don’t want to follow up if you don’t want me

26:41
happy.

26:42
I know. I always have to call you again. Exactly. I’m always sending those emails with no matter what’s going on. Just a quick update would be appreciated. Like I don’t care if you if you’ve moved on, right? Just tell me that you moved on.

26:57
Yep. Hello, friends. Hi, all our template course has launched out there. And we have been getting some really positive feedback.

27:07
Yes, I have some great feedback I wanted to share with you guys. We had one purchaser say thank you for these templates. As a new agent, I feel it would have taken me years to create these on my own. That’s awesome. I know. It’s so great. And then I have these are so incredibly helpful. What a great investment. Thank you for your time and efforts putting these together. I think that you guys, this is the answer to saving yourself time. It

27:30
helps you put systems in place. It keeps you professional, it keeps you consistent. It just makes everything run so much smoother,

27:37
much smoother. You’re never going to forget to tell somebody something, no, this over there. It’s all there. And you’re going to edit it to make it sound like your voice if you’d like and it’s going to be perfect for your business.

27:47
Yeah, so go check out our template course. Yes. At

27:50
hustle humbly podcast.com. Perfect. Enjoy it.

28:00
Okay, so I want to back up a little bit to cleaning the office, okay, because when we were talking about doing this episode, and cleaning the office, you mentioned not just ordering your groceries, but ordering things like ink your printer, I had that on my list, and all of the things to actually make your office run smoothly because there’s nothing worse than running out of paper when you’re printing up a whole slew of MLS sheets, and then you can’t get your system done the way you normally do. I also just did mine, and I do them probably every six months, depending on how fast they go. I just stuffed all of my buyer and seller folders. So good. So I keep you know, probably 10 or 15 of each Yes, and I just stuffed as many folders as I had this time I ran out of folders. But that way when it’s time for a listing appointment, like my listing system, if someone calls me on the phone, I am not lying, I could be at their house. Assuming I would go that day in 30 minutes or less because I pulled the folder, I pulled the CMA I pulled the tax records. I look at the research for 15 minutes. And then I write up a seller net sheet based on what I think the price might be. But you know, I’ll change that in the appointment if I need to. And then I could I could go Yeah, but that’s because the folder was ready and I didn’t have to remember oh shoot, what do I put in those folders? Sure. And I have a document in my Google Drive that list everything that’s in the folder God forbid I use the last one before I print out the new ones right at least I’ll remember what was in it, but I always do that I mean like do it in bulk. You don’t want to do that one at a time. Yes.

29:31
Now is the time when you want to do things in bulk so I just ordered new signs. Okay ready to go there is no frantic oh, we’re out of sight.

29:39
Oh, you sent me that picture of the agent who said she was preparing for the busy season by cleaning her side cleaning, cleaning organized get some Clorox wipes and wipe gear they name is saying they get broken they you don’t know what happened to the raw signwriters You got to check all

29:55
that right? So get some new signs. Check your lock boxes. Yeah, order so much paper to get you through this summer, backup ink. I mean, you’re gonna use it, you can’t ever have too much gonna get to it. So just doing things like that so that you are prepared. You don’t, you’re not getting frantic. Going through any checklists and systems, we talked about Trello. But like, if you have any checklist or things that you go through any reminders, anything that you can just, man that’s been on my list forever, right? Check it off. I

30:28
don’t care how long it takes check it off, because you don’t do it. Now you’re not adding summer, and your next opening is like October, right? Nothing makes me crazy. Or I’ve always had this big to do list. It’s sort of like your, I mean, maybe like your Trello. But it’s sort of like a big paper to do list of things that do not that are non urgent, but I’d like to do Yeah. Typically, after something’s been on the list a year or two, I’m like, I’m not. I’m not gonna do that. Like,

30:54
I thought that was a good idea. Any example.

30:57
I mean, you know, it’d be something like, maybe I wanted to go clean up my LinkedIn profile. Okay, but that actually did recently. So that’s a terrible, but you know what I mean, like, things like that, that was non urgent, but that I wanted to do or like maybe it’s even something new. Like, I’d like to start sending a birthday card to every buyer or seller. Well, if it never materializes, and it’s still on that list in two years, I went, Well, this is just silly. Right. I clearly don’t have time for this. You

31:20
know, the two things. One thing that has been on my list forever, what? I want to find a calendar, app or website, whatever, that does not sync with my Work calendar. Like it’s not on my phone calendar. Okay. I just put important date. Yes. Like that. Anything like maybe every closing I’ve ever had with the year. Yeah. So like, you know, Katie’s closing 2012. But also things like, like when my friend’s dad passed away, I tried to remember that every year and I tried to reach out to her in October every year and just like say, Hey, I know this. Always. Things that are just thoughtful. Yeah, that I want to remember. Yeah. Birth, not everybody’s birthday. But you know, some of them like maybe next year, I’ll remember your birthday. Oh, sweet. You really forget to be there. That’s hilarious. But I didn’t remember. Okay, well, listen, you use a Google Calendar. Yeah,

32:18
you know that you now i that feature where you can have like, let’s say all of your calendar, calendar events are in pink or whatever. You can do another like layer. So like all of the birthdays or anniversaries are in blue. And I’m thinking I don’t know, because I don’t do this practice. I’m thinking you can hide that view from yourself. So it’s not having another

32:41
day Islander app that I use that syncs with Gmail, and I don’t think I can turn it off for that.

32:47
Okay, interesting. I’m still kind of I need to research that.

32:49
And even if I find the right app, it’s taking the time to put it in. I know, it’s so well put is a lot. So anyway, and then the second thing that I do get done every year, but takes longer than I would like. So every year I take all the pictures that I took on my phone and put them in a book. Oh, wow, personally 1000s of usually about 3500 pictures. Oh, man, I do it through Shutterfly. And it’s like, you know, for you. So I try to clean out my pictures pretty regularly. This is something I also do to prepare for busy. Okay, I clean out all the photos because sometimes I take pictures of things I need to do. Yeah, then I forget. Yeah. So I have to like clean out my photos and get rid of things off my phone.

33:34
I used to have a calendar event one year, my New Year’s resolution was to take better, that take better pictures to put the pictures into Shutterfly and save them and organize them and be better at keeping track of them because it was getting out of hand. I’m sure you all know what it’s like to take a million digital photos on your frickin phone. Yeah, so I put a calendar event the first Sunday of every month because that was the day I was usually slowest or at home. That to check my pictures, and I did pretty religiously for a few years. And then eventually,

34:05
I know it went away. It’s so hard why Shutterfly has folders that are like 2011 2012. Just by year to year I don’t have a million folders of like, oh, you know, every mom’s Christmas party. Yeah, my dad’s Christmas party. Like, I don’t have a folder. For every event. I just put all of my 2019 pictures into the 2019. And I try to clean out my phone before I upload because I don’t want to upload every single picture. That’s crazy. And then at the end of the year, I put them all into a book. I like that and it just sometimes it doesn’t happen until like October, right? Well or the year before. Okay, but there are things like that and also, now is the time to be looking at your calendar. Okay, and making sure that you’re not over booking, okay,

34:54
do you schedule vacations at this point?

34:58
Sometimes Okay. It kind of just depends on the year what we want to do and how our how everything’s looking. Yeah. But making sure that like everything is in your calendar and up to date. So like, this summer with the kids, what do you need to put in here now? Yeah, thinking ahead, instead of like taking it day by day really thinking about, you have two things that need to get in there. Make arrangements ahead of time, and you’re just going to breathe so much easier. For sure. Like March. Haven has three days at school that are themed dress up. Thank you. Yeah, so like, one day is animal print. One day is Dr. Seuss day, right. And I forget what the third day is. But when they sent out the march newsletter, I Amazon all three shirts. Yeah. Because I need them. I don’t have a Dr. Seuss shirt. Right, right. And I didn’t have a animal print shirt. So like I Amazon them. They were $7. And they came the next day. And now when that day rolls around, you have it I have it. And I’m not like, it’s not too late to do that. I mean, you got to do that. For Kids. Right? And also speaking of like, kids and all of that. You really need to say like what things can I delegate? Right? And that does go back to like letting someone else do your grocery shopping. Yeah, cleaning your house, maybe cutting the grass or whatever. Yeah, well,

36:17
coming from two moms. Yeah. I, I and you’re gonna maybe find this even more later when your kids especially get to grade school. For whatever reason, it’s just the way society is set up. They school contact Mom, mom, we need this mom, we need that. Mom, there’s trouble with this. Mom, there’s trouble with that. It I would have to repeatedly ask Can you please copy my husband? Yeah, because we’re both doing this. Yeah, like we both need to know like, right. And I don’t know that I’m gonna have the time to forward this email. And I don’t know if I’m gonna remember to do what’s in the email, right? So you better like, but it’s something that you’re constantly pushing against, because it’s society is not set up. And we’ll do a mom episode one day. But yes, get in that system in place with your spouse, whoever helps you with your kids, your support system, like this is the busy time, you need to have someone who’s ready to be like,

37:12
of assistance to you. Yeah. And I mean, you’ll know I’m big about boundaries and things like that. But I’ll also know that occasionally, I need to answer emails, after I put haven to bed and like maybe work a little bit. Yeah, because if I don’t, tomorrow is going to be a bad day, or you’re not going to get it done, I’m not going to get it done, I’m going to drop the ball. So there are times and this can’t, it cannot become an every single night habit. Now, it just can’t because you need that time with your spouse or at home or you know, with your trade off, you just have to turn

37:42
it off, turn it off, you’re not going to be good at it the next day,

37:44
either. Even in the busy season, you have to turn it off. But on the nights that I know, instead of Tanner wondering like When is she going to get off her computer? I go in there ahead of time I say hey, I’m behind. I like have to do some stuff. So you can watch whatever show you want. Yeah, because I don’t want him waiting on me to watch our show. Yeah, when just enjoy your night because I need to just knock this out. And then the next night I’m back, right? No, fine. It’s okay. But delegate like do Is there a new agent in your office that would love to put up signs and lock boxes? Or is there a new agent in your office that would love to meet a termite inspector for you, right? During this time, really reach out to the new people that would love to help? Yeah, maybe they would even want to help you with your social media. There’s just things that you can take off of your plate. Yep. So that you can really focus on your clients and make sure that communication and service is there. Yeah.

38:39
Because it’s really about doing the communication. Yes. May they not know

38:43
that. That is something that cannot be cut out. Ever, ever. They had to hear from you.

38:49
Yeah. Don’t ever be so busy that you send someone else to your home inspection. Oh, no, don’t do that. Don’t do that. You got to be there for the people. That’s the whole point. Okay, I have a question for you. Okay. So in one of our pretty recent episodes, you mentioned taking one day per week, where you’re basically in the home base, doing your work from home doing your laundry, how does that play out in busy season? It’s more important than ever than ever. Is yours a specific day of the week or you have to depend on the week, when do you decide the week before? Like on Monday, Friday, Sunday? When do you decide?

39:23
Sometimes I’ll just look at my calendar, put something in it and I’ll realize that everything’s getting full up. Yes, but I’ll see like the gap. Okay. And you block the moment that I recognize the gap. I’m like, oh, that’s the day so you try to block it then. Yeah. Okay. I

39:38
like that. Because it’s unrealistic to pick a particular day. Yeah, you can’t like Wednesday’s are my day at home. No, because you got to close and you gotta go. If you had an inspection, you gotta go like what someone needs to see something.

39:51
And even if it’s like, I can stay home until two o’clock, okay, and then I have a two o’clock closing then you’re okay, I can still get a lot done for me too. For sure, you know, I can eat lunch at home, I can do all the laundry, like you. You have to schedule that time because those aren’t wasted days. No, those are like your ketchup day. Yeah, keep you from drowning for sure. Okay,

40:15
I like that I do. And this I think is almost even more important to me in the busy season. But I sort of do a Friday wrap up, okay, at the end of Friday, unless I had a closing at the very end of the day, I come to my desk, I clean it off, I go through all the stuff that’s been piling up, I make sure that all the bills are paid, and all the kids stuff is responded to and all of the appointments are in my phone, like, you know, making sticky notes all the time. And like, I go through the desk, and I try to make it clean. And then I get out my Google Doc, what’s my weekly schedule. So I have a schedule for each week. That’s an overview of all my clients, all my appointments for the next week. I get that out on Friday. And then I can see like how it’s going, and I’ll put it out and then I’m like closed. Friday is probably the one day of the week when I quote like the office is closed. Okay, at the end of the day, the it’s the end of the week. It’s closed, like your office, here, okay, in my home, like where I’m working? Yeah. Where my brain says it’s Friday. It’s got to stop. Yeah. And then Saturday and Sundays, if I’m working during the busy season. I’m not doing administration during the weekend, unless it is a time sensitive, you know, must submit repair request must submit offer. Yeah, other than that, I am not coming into my office on the weekend. And you doing all the work. And if I went on showings all weekend, the feedback gets done on Monday. Yeah. Because you cannot, is once I’m in the office, then all of a sudden, it’s three hours later, and I’m like, oh, yeah, I’ve been working. And that’s not fair to the people in my house. Right? They gotta see me. Well, I have one here that you you know, preparing for busy is not about hustle, hustle, hustle burnout. Right? Like,

42:05
it’s about preparing, yeah, plan, plan, plan, plan, plan plan so that you can just thrive Yeah, and not burn out and come out and be like, What a rush that we’ll see.

42:14
I have I agree. And I have fun during the busy season. I

42:17
like so proud of myself at the end of the day where I saw three different clients. I’m like, man, look at that. Look at all we’ve done today. And also, like I’ve put in here like you have to take breaks. Yeah, but you have to be careful because in the busy season, it’s a fine line between not using your time wisely. Like if Yeah, it’s fine to still meet friends for lunch. Yeah, but maybe it can’t be too many times a week maybe it needs to be a quicker lunch like meet somewhere quick instead of like sitting there for an hour and a half. Yeah, right. Um, so just being mindful that like you need to see your friends you need to see your family you need to take breaks Yeah. But you also need just needs to be mindful of, you know what how you’re spending your time during the day because anything that you don’t get done during the day your family feels your stress at

43:08
Yes, you need to also be mindful of how the people around you are not living your life. Right. They do not know what it feels like and as much as I know that my husband understands it and gets it and expects me to have to send an email sometimes at 9pm They don’t like it’s we’re so far removed from understanding what an eight to five is yes, that we we get it and we’re used to it and we like it and we thrive on and that’s why we keep doing it and it’s fine. But the people around you your parents your spouse’s your friends, they do not understand what it’s like. If they’re in an eight to five they do not understand what it’s like to have that always that interview is always going in the back like you’re always on the hamster wheel you’re always thinking right okay, well wait I’d rather just get this done and put it off till tomorrow yeah, but you got to be sympathetic to them for sure. Because also that’s not good for your for you.

43:59
It’s not it’s not good for you. And speaking of not good for you I have on here that self care is extremely important during the busy season. Okay, now is not the time to cut out your workout. No gosh, no, it is more important than ever to take your walks drinking water so much water you cannot survive busy season on 17 Dr. Pepper today

44:21
all the Dr Pepper and like the chili cheese fried. Like all of those things

44:26
only make your brain oh my god function and they make you more forgetful. They give you all the sugar and caffeine gives you so much anxiety no good. Well, here’s the thing, when you’re already fueled by the drive and anxiousness of what you need to do with the job right? You don’t need speed on top of it, because all it does is make it like more frantic and then that’s when you get sloppy you forget they know you’re moving. You can’t move too fast. No, you need to Keep a slow and steady pace, right? Because the busy season is a marathon. Right? And you really need to take care of yourself. Yeah. In order to for sure. Make it through.

45:11
Yeah, I think it’s also okay. During the busy season to if you look at your schedule for the next week, and you haven’t really be honest with yourself, if you haven’t taken a day off and 1421 or 28 days, yeah. And you see an empty hole in your schedule, maybe on Tuesday, you watch Netflix all day. Yeah. You know what? It’s unrealistic to just plug away and not ever really stop and reset right? In, please look at your schedule and actually realize, I had a funny conversation actually, recently with another agent in my office. And she was like, I don’t think I’ve had a day off. Where I met did not do one real estate related task or have one real estate related conversation or think one real estate related thought, Oh, well, in your entire career.

46:03
I think that might be true. It is true. You could not have ever gone 24 hours without at least opening up my email. There you go. It’s the truth. Is that bad? Look, I

46:15
don’t I’m not I’m not here to say it’s bad or wrong. I’m just here to say that. You need to be mindful of when you’re actually working when

46:23
you’re doing it. Yeah. Like just because you stayed home all day doesn’t mean you had a day off. Exactly. Because if you were working from home all day on your in your brain was real estate real estate. Yeah, you were not off. You weren’t off. You didn’t turn it off. I think that I might have to be a little bit more honest with myself. About that’s

46:41
not what this episode is about. But the point is, if you’re in the busy season, and you’ve prepared, you should have some time in there where you can actually take some time off like a day, eight hours, whatever. Sure. sometime. I mean, even on my wedding, I believe I negotiated an offer.

47:00
Oh, yeah, my honeymoon. When I was in labor. I was about to say that I can remember something happening when I was like having Haven. Yes. I

47:09
was talking to a client. Now granted, while you’re in labor, you you need a distraction. Anyway. Yeah, I was like talking to a new client. And she was like, Oh, I’m like, Well, I wanted to go see, I was like, I would love to take you. But I can’t go right now. Because Oh, my God, she was just like, Okay, well, I think I’m like, you know, I don’t really I don’t need to work with You seem busy right now. It’s ridiculous. But I like the idea of being prepared. I like the idea of being proactive. Yeah, I think that you can build that into your habits year round, so that you don’t all of a sudden be like, Oh, I’ve got to do all this stuff. I like that you do your Sundays and open

47:49
house. I have that on my list. So on my list I have during the busy season. It’s good to have open houses on Sunday. Yeah. Even if it’s a busy open house, right. At least we’re productive. And then if it’s not a busy open house or between people get worked on prepare for the week. It’s your alone time. Yeah, you know, so think of your open houses as like, your two hour time block. Sometimes, like it’s not even a bad idea to do a three hour open house to get some more time to get some more time away from your kids away from like, sorry, I have to go to this open house. Yeah, but it also makes your sellers your sellers are going to be happy that you’re doing open house. Yes, you’re getting stuff done. It gives you a break on the weekend from family. Right sometimes you need a break from family now. Um, but I think it’s good to do them during the busy season. Yeah. I only have a few more thoughts left, like though I have find the motivators, the people that are also equally prepared. Yeah. And aren’t like mine is okay like that. You can’t be with Debbie downers that are like, Oh, it’s so funny. So busy, I guess. Yeah, I just my phone won’t stop ringing like no, we can’t be around those people right now. No. You need to be around the motivators. Yep, I agree. Um, evaluate and reflect how things are going. It’s okay to pause in the middle and say what’s working? What’s not working? Oh, I like that. Yeah, I’m, I’m remembering that it’s only a season. Yeah. And whenever you are feeling like it’s never going to end think about Christmas. And think about Thanksgiving. Yeah, I will say maybe Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sometimes I’m there might have been Thanksgiving and Christmases where I don’t check my email. Okay. I feel like those are on the day. Right? I feel like those are the only two days of the whole year maybe Easter. Okay, but maybe Thanksgiving and Christmas are like people love those holidays and they are not expecting you to get a response back. No, but they will probably still email you. Yes, but it’ll be there tomorrow.

49:53
Yeah, that’s right. You know, they’re not going to be like she didn’t respond regardless of what day it is a holiday or not. It’ll always still be there to me. All right, we’ll always I mean, if you took that day off because you needed a self care day during the busy season, why don’t you set your auto responder on your email to say, Hi, thanks for the email. I’ll be back with you tomorrow.

50:11
That’s awesome. The end. I’m gonna do it this year.

50:13
I think I want to do that this year, too. I like that.

50:16
I think I’m gonna do it for Fourth of July, too. I like it. I get a lot of inquiries on Fourth of July. I guess people are off work. Yes. And they want to take advantage of that time. But I need to be more strict on the holidays. Like I actually have a reason to give myself a break. I think that’s fair.

50:33
I think you could apply that same mindset to Saturdays to you know what I mean? Like, it’s, it’s time for a day off. Right? You know,

50:40
it’s okay. Huh, that’s good.

50:42
I now I need to think about that. Yeah, we’re gonna try and revamp our own system. So I think I can

50:47
end with while you’re in your busy season, making the money work in the deals. Yeah, getting things in your pipeline. Remember, like, what this is for? Yeah. And like Christmas is coming. Yeah. Like they’re so focused on Christmas. I don’t know. I’m all in the Christmas spirit. I love it. It’s like it is a season. It’s not going to last forever. And this will allow you to have a nice little nest egg at the end of the year. If you plan Right, right. Use your money, right? Yep. And then your you and your family can sell like maybe scheduled something for the end of the year. Yeah, that you can look forward to. Even during the summer, like you can still go on vacation during the busy season. hire the right people while you’re gone. That’s right. Um, but so much come so much good comes after it if you do it the right way.

51:39
I love that. I love that. I think that’s great. That’s all I have. I’m so happy that we covered this. I’m gonna get more

51:45
prepared. So today’s toast comes from Cara Schaefer. Okay, she is in Maryland. Love it, which is so far away. Right? Anyway, we wanted to toast to her and her team. Yes, they sent us a really nice encouraging message on Instagram. And they are a team of women. Yep. And moms who support each other. 100% love it. She said they are constantly texting and talking and just keeping the community vibe going. And that they just love their team and work environment and how much they support each other.

52:23
I love the sound of that. Yeah. Community to them. Yeah, cheers to them.

52:27
Cheers to Kara and the team. She’s on. That’s awesome. Cheers. Okay, cheers. Bye. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. Let us know who we should toast to for the next episode. Be sure to

52:39
follow us on Facebook and Instagram at hustle humbly podcast. If you have an episode, topic or question please email us at hustle humbly podcast@gmail.com

52:48
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. See you next week. Bye. This is goodbye