If your email is a source of stress and overwhelm, this episode is for you! Come learn Alissa’s 7 rules to getting your email(and your life) under control. We talk about how we each handle our email and Katy admits where she struggles in the email game. Join us as we learn how Alissa keeps it under control by being simple, efficient and mindful with her time. Start off 2020 with no red numbers and a clear head!

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

0:00
Hi, y’all welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie and we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market. We

0:05
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. So stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Hi, y’all. It’s episode 21.

0:19
And this is the highly requested email episode. I know this can seem like a boring episode. No, but it is much needed in every industry. But it’s super practical,

0:31
very practical to Gmail class, though. No, it doesn’t have to email, email, email. Okay, well, I like that it’s any email and I like that it’s going to come out on doo doo doo. December 30. At this today, you all if you’re listening to this, on the day it comes out.

0:49
So for the new year, get your act your email under control your email under control for the new year. So in our local marketplace, I’ve kind of become known as the email Nazi because I’m just like, think that’s hilarious. I just I’m so you know, this is my thing. You mean

1:05
business about the email? I do. And that’s how you keep your business going? Well,

1:09
the number one question is like, how do you do the volume? Right, step one, and the most important step is keeping my email under control. Okay,

1:18
I am sure I don’t know if this comes up in the class later. But I know in your email signature, for the record, you have the longest email signature I’ve ever seen. But in there, it does specifically speak to lenders, title companies, co op and agents that they need to email you.

1:35
Nothing is worse than getting a random text from a number that you don’t have saved in your phone that says, Any update. I’m like, I don’t know who this is. Yeah, what file this is regarding who you are. There are 3000 realtors in Baton Rouge you think I have them all saved in my phone? Oh, even the ones that I’m doing a transaction with I don’t save every single one of my phone. Well, I find

1:56
that sometimes I just it gets too far. Like it just happens. And then I’m like, wait, I never saved them in my phone. Right? Okay, so,

2:03
but this email class is really about treating your job professionally. Oh, okay. So it’s really a professional etiquette type thing. I’m

2:13
gonna get my notebook out, I

2:15
might want to take some notes, do it. Okay, so I actually teach this class. I’ve taught it maybe seven or eight times. I’ve taught it at our different offices around Louisiana, okay, I’ve taught it to a property management group, okay, because, you know, they get a lot of email, and I’m sad, so many emails, and I also taught it to a broker in naturtint matches. Now kiddish that’s how it’s spelled NACHA tortious. But then NACADA. I wish she hired me and I came and did a one day. Okay, email class. I love that. So I have a PowerPoint in everything. How long is the class? So I usually say my PowerPoint slide is like seven slides. It’s very short. It’s very short, but it’s just talking points, okay? Because, and I tell them, Don’t bring your computer with you. Because what happens though, they start reading, they start trying to delete all 10,000 of their emails. And I’m like, guess what, you’re not going to accomplish it in this 30 minute Why bro? So I tell them, Don’t bring your computer. Okay. And I just say something and then they ask questions or have comments or concerns? Because it is a mindset issue. Okay, it’s just like hoarding. Like the people that have trouble with hoarding. They there’s a reason they can’t let go of it. What if I need it later? What if it’s important, there’s nothing important about the Bed Bath and Beyond coupon?

3:35
Okay, that is fair. But I’m maybe we’ll get to this I get to it are you’d start? And then I’m gonna I’m gonna make myself a no go.

3:42
And so because it’s so mindset oriented, I always start off my class with asking people, What does the inside of your home refrigerator look like? Yes. And what does the inside of your closet look like?

3:53
Yes. And I believe we talked about this previously on maybe boundaries episode. Yeah. And it was hilarious. So I want you to do it again, for anyone who missed it.

4:03
Basically, your email and your closet and your refrigerator are all a reflection of what is going on in your brain, the chaos in your brain, the chaos in your brain? Or is it peaceful and tranquil and organized and put together and you just understand where everything is? And then the next slide is a quote that says, My brain has too many tabs open

4:25
my literal, Google has too many tabs open. Yeah, my brain has too many tabs open.

4:30
The goal of your email should be your place of refuge. It should be your place of like when you feel flustered because you have a lot of transactions going on. You know, you don’t know who needs what, you should be able to just open your computer. Uh huh. And everything you need is there so email is basically the To Do lists that other people have for you. Yeah. Now say that again. So anytime someone needs something, they email you. Yep. So it’s a to do list. Yes. Email is not meant to be storage. Okay,

5:04
I definitely use my inbox as my to do list. Okay, good it to the point you’re good with email I look, I don’t have 10,000 in my inbox, but I’m waiting to hear if I’m in trouble for how many I keep in folders, right. But I don’t have them in my inbox if my inbox gets to 50. And that would be like, if the day previous, I was very busy and didn’t have time to do all of the tasks that were being asked of me if that’s too many, or if I’ve been on vacation, sometimes if it if it can’t fit on that one screen, yeah, then I lose my mind.

5:34
Anytime you have to click that next arrow to go back and back and like you may as well just delete everything because you’re never going to catch that’s my limit.

5:40
For sure. If it’s on more than one page. That’s my limit. But honestly, it’s hard for me to get it under 10. Yeah, there’s usually about 10 that are still outstanding for some reason. And I just keep them there in my to do list.

5:52
I also think in today’s world, and I do this because I have let when people contact me through alternative methods, and I don’t ask them to shoot me an email, I forget, yes. If you want to, like I’m doing 90 transactions, I’m not going to remember that someone sent me a no Instagram message about something. And I’m going to because I’m going to respond and say yeah, sure. And then I just forget, right? Please send me an email, right. So if an if it’s an agent, or a lender or title company, I’m not as polite. I just text them back. I’m like, please email me that. So I don’t forget just very blunt to the point. If I have a client that is starting to text me addresses Oh, yeah, I have a little thing saved that just says, Hey, do you mind shooting me the addresses via email so I can make notes and send it back? Okay, because I just want it to be like, hey, it’s helped. It helps me it helps you I’m not going to forget and I can make notes. And I’m trying to politely tell them what I’m trying to direct everybody if you need me for something for work. Yeah, email me, right. I would love if text message was just for like, friends. Family fair. I mean, that’s kind of how it should be. Right? If your business is set up in a professional manner. Yes, I’m serious boundaries and play. And I understand that we have to accommodate our clients. Yeah, how they like to communicate, and I do texts with my clients. But if they asked me to do something, uh huh. My first response is, do you mind shoot me an email? And this is I have started taking screenshots of it. Yeah, sending it to my email. Yes, I do that sometimes to just depending on the situation really hard. It has to be in the email. And I had to do that. Because otherwise your your brain cannot remember all the different outlets of Facebook, Instagram, your personal page, your business page, something’s on Oh, yeah. Like, there’s just so many things in that I just need people to understand that in order for me to serve you best. It needs to be in my email, because I will never lose it. Like with email. It’s always there. But with text messages every time a new text message, give them down. Yeah, yeah. And you can’t there’s no way and I’ll have this, tell me if you get this, I’ll have this nagging feeling. Yeah, I know that I’m forgetting to do or respond to something. And then here I am at 10 o’clock at night, scrolling back through all my text messages for 24 hours, trying to figure out what it is that I am forgetting. I know. Yeah, nothing is worse than having to humble yourself to apologize for something you forgot. And it happens all the time. It’s law happening less now that I’m doing my best to like educate like, my passion is to educate realtors to treat their business like a business. I’m fully on board with that. So the next job the next slide in my PowerPoint for this class is to treat it like a job. And it’s got four pictures, okay, it’s got a picture of a doctor smoking a cigarette while performing surgery. It’s got a picture of a of the guy from the hangover with the beard. Oh, and it says elephant that and it says personal trainer. And he’s like eating something crazy. Oh, and then it’s like a dentist who is like all in somebody’s mouth. And then it’s a babysitter drinking wine with the child. And it says, Would you hire any of these people? Right? No. And then there’s a picture of like, the red number in the 1000s. And it’s like, this is the equivalent of the realtor of those professions. Right. So it just lets you know that if you aren’t organized and treating it like a job, you’re not going to be hired. There are plenty of other options out there. Right. So funny story. I don’t know if I’ve shared this before. I think maybe you have been tell it again. Yeah. Okay, because this is what it’s really about. I had a young couple call me and say, Alisa, we want to buy a house. We want to be honest with you and let you know we have been working with a realtor but we just told them it wasn’t working out right red flags all the time for me, like tell me why what made me and they said we saw her phone when she was opening the door. And she had read numbers everywhere. Like she had so many missed calls and voicemail. She had this huge red number on her text messages, a huge red number on her email. And it just made me go had what he said, I had already been feeling like she took a long time to respond to things. And when I saw that on her phone, I just went, if I email her, she’s never she’s never going to get it. And if she does, it’s not going to be timely. He felt like she wasn’t professional. Yeah. And so he actually fired her. Sven hired me and over the red over the Red Alert numbers. And so the question is, if you hired you to run your business, would you fire you? Oh, that’s a good question. Yeah. I mean, it’s, you know, you need to evaluate that. But the red numbers doesn’t mean that’s how many emails you have. That’s how many aren’t open. I can’t even that’s crazy. It’s crazy. But the thing is, is like, once you do what the email says to do, right, you should get rid of the email. Okay, you should delete it. If it’s if it’s from a lender that says, I need this addendum, get them the addendum and then delete the email, deleting the email is the equivalent of scratching it off the list.

11:04
Can we talk about my problem them? Yes, I do it. And then I put it in the folder. That is whatever transaction that is.

11:14
But why if it’s not a relevant part of the transaction in my little weird pack rat hoarder brain? Yeah, I

11:20
think that later on, someone’s going to be like, Hey, did you do blah, blah, blah,

11:26
it will always be in your Sent Mail?

11:27
Well, the Sent Mail doesn’t delete after some time.

11:32
Not that I have found them there settings for everything. But you can always somehow track down a sent message.

11:38
Okay. So that’s my only problem. Do you have a feeling about folders? And I mean, do you keep folders for your transactions. So

11:46
when I was organizing my email years ago, in the beginning, I had folders in folders and folders, and I would make a folder with everybody’s name that ever contacted me. And I would write down like, oh, they want a four bedroom house, and I put it in their folder and like, it did nothing but confuse my brain and cause more cluster more confusion and more chaos. Like it just wasn’t working. Because who goes back? Nope. Nobody goes back to the vendors. And so you know, you’re not going to go back to the folders, right? And eventually, you will run out of storage.

12:19
I just pay for more.

12:20
I know. So eventually, you will run out of storage.

12:23
I’m just like, here’s my dollar 99. Thanks. Yeah, well,

12:28
okay, that’s fair. Look at this. So I am not a fan of the folders.

12:34
So you either have them in your inbox, or they are deleted. Are there any emails that you save?

12:44
Very few. And only ones that if I was being sued would help me. Okay, how do you know which ones those are? Like the ones that okay, for example, that when I have I used to sit down with people and help them with their email, okay, I had to stop doing that, because they wanted me to do the legwork of cleaning it out. But because they didn’t go through the pain of doing that, it would just, they’ll just build up again. So I had to learn like, I have to give them the tools and then they have to clean it up themselves. And that could take two months sometimes. Okay, true. So some of the common emails that people kept. For example, when you get a request for showing on a listing, you get one email that says showing requested and then you get one email that says confirmed, I delete those. Okay, I keep the confirmed, okay, until I get feedback. That’s me, too. That’s exactly what I Okay. So I delete the requests. Yes, I keep the confirmed once I get feedback from that agent, yes, I delete that email. Same. So a lot of agents have trouble with like, just keeping that stuff hanging out in their inbox forever. We get way too many newsletters for sure. We get like people the in my class people want to jump into what if I get sued? Okay. There are very few emails per year that you need to keep that have relevant content, right? We’re not talking about, like difficult conversations. Yeah, maybe you need to have one folder that is labeled difficult conversations that keep you know, okay, um, one folder for all of them, not one folder for every house you sold, then I would have like 500 folders, you know, like, you can’t do that I got a lot. So if you have one folder that keeps everything you need in it in the event that you were to go, the only reason you would need it is if someone was taking you to arbitration or mediation got it. Now as far as like actual purchase agreements and addendums and things that you know, have been signed and have attachments. Every company does that different. Yeah. Like our company uses sky slope. So we just email it to 1234 Main Street at Sky slope and it goes into the Main Street folder. You’re broker. That’s where you so, so that aside, keep all all of your signed documents like yes, that’s just normal, right? But we’re really talking about the problem that realtors have. Okay. So if you have to like unsubscribe. Yeah. And clean out the junk like what are some that you feel like you have trouble keeping or deleting?

15:22
Oh, I don’t know like I any communication that I have with a buyer I keep I just failed the class. I just don’t know why

15:35
you go read it later, I have pulled

15:38
like I have gone back to some of these and been like, we’ll hear they asked for the same information again and I resend it or they but then

15:47
you could just go to your Sent Mail and type in their email address and click Send again fair, I never thought about this. Yeah, like I do that so much shot

15:55
that your sent mail went away after some amount of time check your settings, but

15:59
I have like all my sent. It’s not. It’s not like it’s saving it. It’s just like a digital record. Yeah, like someone will be able to figure that out that an email was sent from me to you. Right, right.

16:13
It’s very interesting. Yeah. And I think what happened with mine and it’s not in our control right now as far as folders go, I was everyone got a folder and then there were so many them I’m gonna scroll scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll to find their folder. Yeah. So then I got smart a couple of years ago was like, I’ll do folders and folders. So buyers past. So I don’t ever open that mean, they’re all in there. And I don’t open that one buyers current buyers potential. So then I had people in there. But the buyers potential I do go back to sometimes and I’m like, Who am I not, you know, followed. And

16:46
that’s Trello for you know, I use Trello for like having each person has a little card and they write Reinbold. And you know, that’s a whole nother class. But the point is Gmail, your email in general is not made to be a contact management system like it’s made to be your to do list.

17:07
Well Gmail tried to add that I know it was so I say yes. And then it ruined my life and no get rid of it made so many folders it was asking me for all this is this the title company is this I know Bla bla bla,

17:21
I went, I showed like six houses one day to a buyer. And it pulled all the addresses and made six folders with those addresses and saw that they were transaction. No, we didn’t even like any of those houses. We just showed it folio. Leave me alone. It is terrible. Um, so anyways, you the the question is like, What is this for? What is it asking me to do? Okay, do I need to write it down somewhere else? Okay, in my other system that I use, or do I need to put it somewhere? So I don’t know. If it’s something that’s like coming up on your calendar or whatever, right? Then maybe you need to add it to your calendar and then delete the email. Okay, that’s fair. I do that. Yeah. So it’s really, and it takes time. You’re right. People want to rush through this. Have you ever told people to cancel their email and get a new 111 Lady, and it was just it was so bad, so bad, but like, what you have to so. So some tips for getting started? If you’re really in the deep, please, please? If you so for example, our secretaries name is Denise. So she is the one that sends out the announcements. Okay. Well, I was finding that people in my office never deleted anything like a new agent announcement. Yeah, or like sales meeting today. If you There’s cookies in the kitchen there, whatever, whatever you want the announce they were all there. They were all there. So I was like, look, let’s type in Denise in your search feature of your email, and then we checked all and deleted in bulk everything from Denise perfect, then I would notice Hey, it looks like you have a lot of Bed Bath and Beyond. So we would type in Bed Bath and Beyond select all. So we would like you start by bulk deleting things that you know, you have too many of okay, so I guess I’m feeling good and bad about myself because I don’t have like my you don’t have my inbox isn’t filled with junk. Yeah. So I guess at least I got that going for me. Like one guy that I helped. He had a folder called read later. Oh, nope, nope. And he would save articles that he wanted to read later. And he said I’ve never but he wanted to I wanted to and I said well, that’s where becoming a quick decision maker comes in. What is this email? It’s an article do I have two and a half minutes to read it? If you don’t, you’re not going to have two and a half minutes later you either you either read it or you don’t delete it or read it or read it and delete it and get it get it out. Don’t save it for later. No, like you have to be honest with yourself right? Oh, so But in at first, it’s very painful and comes with a lot of resistance I can imagine. But then after like 10 minutes, they start moving faster. Oh, like they start making quick decisions, like their brain is understanding like, oh my gosh, I have 20,000 more of these. I can’t sit here and like pray over each one. No, like I need to make a decision.

20:22
Isn’t that so funny though it is because it’s just getting started is really all you have to do. It kind of reminds me of the database story. Like just getting started on the road to one of these, you know, new processes, new systems, new, you know, mindsets. It’s just getting started. And once you get started, you’re like, wait a minute, this isn’t that hard. I can do this. Yeah, I have the capacity.

20:47
And trust me, I get so I can see people when I’m teaching this class fidget in their seats really like they are like really uncomfortable with the work that they have ahead of them. They know it’s bad. They’re resistant to it. They don’t want to do it. And then you know, but honestly, you know what group irritates me the most? Oh, gosh, the ones that think it’s funny. Like, they want to laugh and joke and brag. I have 70 barbells and emails. I’m like, It’s not funny. No, like, I know, you want it to be funny. But it’s not funny. No. And you’re, you’re only going to grow in your level of business to how much your brain can handle. And you’re never going to be able to move forward. If you can’t keep an email box clean. Right? I would not be able to do the volume I do with a messy email, right? It’s just not not possible. You couldn’t keep up with the people who are trying to reach out to you. No, and things would slip through the cracks. I wouldn’t answer in a timely manner. I mean, I answer all emails within at least 24 hours. Yeah. And that is a long time, a long time, right. Majority of my emails are answered within three hours. Yeah. And you delete, and then I delete the email and it just like, once once I sit down and know what I need to do, and clean it out. Yep. It’s like, that’s all you have to do. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s really it is such a mindset thing. And people have to stop thinking it’s funny. They have to stop making excuses about it. Right. And so it is a process. Yeah,

22:25
it definitely is a process. I can sense that. But I don’t think it’s as difficult as I thought it was going to be a lot of this is removing things you don’t need anyway.

22:34
Right. Right. And really processing. What do I need? You know, you don’t need everything, right. So people think that you do

22:44
at the end of a transaction? Would that also be a good time to like?

22:49
Yeah, yeah. But if you’re doing it continuously, you never have to have a big purge. Yeah. Now I do. I used to when I was new, keep all of my addendums and purchase agreements in a folder with that address, because at that time, there was no sky slope. I didn’t know what was the only digital method. It was the only digital method. Yeah. And they’re labeled by year. And we’re only required to keep things in Louisiana for audit purposes for five years, right? So you can delete 2011 2012 2013, right? So you don’t have to keep all that or you know, but there are rules that I help to get people started. But let’s hear the rules. Rule number one, unsubscribe. Love it, you have to start at the last email, the oldest email in your inbox. Okay, so scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll to get to the end and say, Why is this here? What do I need to do with it? If it’s something that is coming? Recurring, right, you need to unsubscribe? Yes. Mass delete, okay, using the search, right? And then go to the next email. Okay, what is this email? Is it something I need to unsubscribe from? Because if you don’t unsubscribe, it’s just going to keep happening, right? Some of the objections I get, I unsubscribe from things and then I get more things that is a myth. It’s not that’s not real. But if you unsubscribe from I’m using Bed Bath and Beyond. I’ve really been up like, the most I see it the most. It’s so bad. It’s so bad. But anyway, if you unsubscribe on Friday, okay. You are still on their Monday newsletter, right? Like they may have a Monday and a Friday news to unsubscribe. Oh, yes. Yeah. But sometimes you just click unsubscribe, and it says, bye. And it doesn’t ask all so then Monday comes around and you get another email with the head and you’re like, it didn’t work. I quit. It’s like no, you have to keep on subscribing until they until they because it will stop but people like to make excuses. Yeah, one Oh, takes too long blah, blah. Okay, so stop. You have to unsubscribe. Okay. Step two, stop subscribing.

25:08
Yeah, I was about to say, are we going to tell them to stop giving their email address? Yeah, register there?

25:12
Yes, you must stop doing that. Just tell people all I have is my work email. Because guess what? You need to keep this work. Professional.

25:22
I think that it’s important, especially a lot of us who are afraid to say no, we’re at the register, we’re checking out and the sweet lady there says, What’s your email? And you just think that you have to tell them in order to finish your transaction? I will tell you because my best friend is the best of this. She’s just says no. She just like I love her. She’s just like, No, thank you. Yeah, no, I know. But if

25:44
you feel like you need to be polite. Just say I don’t have an email or I only have a work email. Oh, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t give it out. Now this kind of plays into when people go, Oh, well, I have my read number is high because that’s my personal email. This is about getting your personal and your professional life together.

26:02
Okay. Do you have a? I only have one? Yeah, yeah. Do you have? Yeah,

26:07
I have one. And the way the reason I believe that is best is because it’s one less tab open in your brain. Yeah. It’s one less outlet to go check. Yeah, it’s one less thing to keep up with. Yeah. And no matter if it’s an addendum that a lender needs, or something I need to bring to Haven school, they’re both on the same. Like, I still have to do them both. You’re writing them to one place? Yes. Tell me one thing that I need to do. And that’s it. I’m with you. And then people are like, well, what if I miss a good sale? And I saw something that said, it’s not a good sale if you didn’t need it, right? Like you didn’t even need that. And you just spent money on it? Because you thought you had to because the coupon expired in two days, guess what? You’re getting another coupon in two weeks, right? Well, you’re definitely on the mindset people mindset. It

26:53
is definitely a mindset I there. This is a really funny one. I loved this is terrible. But I loved the daily report, which is a local news publication that would come via email, and it would tell you news stories about real estate and you know, all different sorts of local stories. And I found it to be filled with very good information that I would sometimes use for work. But they sent it twice a day, every day of the week. Whoa. And then they changed email servers. And they kept sending all these alerts, make sure you change it in your contacts, and I just never did. And the newsletters stopped coming. And my email became drastically easier to handle. Isn’t that funny? Because I always wanted to read them. And so I would never delete them. Because I’m like, oh, that headline is good. I need to read that. Guess what? I haven’t read that thing. And over a year.

27:41
Well, for the people that are really in the hole. You have to unsubscribe, this is my rule. This is my Alyssa G email class rule. That’s weird. You have to unsubscribe from everything. Oh, the things that you like, for two months? Really? The reason is, after two months, you self evaluate and ask what do I miss? Right? You can always re subscribe for sure. So but you need to do a total purge. Yeah. It’s part of the process. Very interesting. Yeah. I mean, you have to get it all gone. no email, no, no email at all, except the necessities because then your brain is just like, thank God. I’m not being yelled at constantly all day.

28:27
I don’t do you get alerts on your phone, when you get a new email? I don’t either no alerts, except for text messages. And I don’t know if this is an appropriate time to mention this. But I also do think that this is a great time, because you said you get to every email within 24 hours. But I think we need to get back to that. That’s a whole day. Yeah. So people who are having struggles with time management, spend a lot of time in their email, I am raising my hand as one of those people, I can get sucked in to the email and you know, waiting for a new email to come and reading everything, the minute that it comes in and responding right away. If you don’t even open your email for the first two hours of your day and you do whatever tasks you need to do. All of those emails will be still there. Like you are not really gonna be waiting for you. They’ll be there waiting for you still within your bounds to respond to it in two hours. Yeah, and it’ll be fine.

29:18
It’s totally fine. Okay, So rule number three is no read numbers anywhere. Personal Email, work, email, text messages, voicemails, maybe include your email address in your voicemail to direct people to I have it in my voicemail. I like that, too. Yeah, so there’s just things you can do. But you have the red numbers indicate I need something. Yeah, something is not open something and your brain needs all of that shut off. Yeah, so we need to get that under control. That lady would still have her client if her red numbers weren’t on her phone. True story. Rule number four make quick decisions. Okay, am I going to read So what is it asking me to do move efficiently and quickly through eg mail? This is how

30:04
you move through life though. Yes, efficiently and quickly. Yes. And when people say like, I don’t understand how she does it, I’m like she’s hella efficient. I cannot mull over every single detail, like just a full on efficiency experts. So Okay, quick choices.

30:17
Yes. Five, rule number five. Designate times instead of being on refresh 100 times a day. Yes. So that’s Yeah. Jerry are talking about now. I tried to before I shut it down for the night, clean it out at lunch. I always clean it out. Okay. But if I am waiting at a house, for the client to get there, and I have 10 minutes, I’m doing it. Okay. So it’s like, I’m not refreshing while I’m at lunch with friends. Waiting, because I’m like an addict on my phone. Right? Like, that’s not enough. But if you’re in carpool waiting, if you’re, you know, be efficient with your if you’re efficient with your time during the day, yeah, by the time you get home, everything is handled. Yes. But people think oh, I have 10 minutes, I’m going to scroll Instagram or Facebook or whatever. But like, be more efficient. You can do a lot in five minutes. You can do a lie. I have literally pulled out my laptop in my car for five minutes. Yeah, and gotten so much done. Okay. Rule number six is don’t use folders. I’m failing the class. It’s okay. It’s okay. But folders enable hoarding that tells you to keep things you don’t need.

31:30
I am an email. The question is,

31:32
am I going to read this later? Why do I feel like I need to keep it? Where should I put it elsewhere? If I feel like I need to keep it, why do I need to put it in my like, for example, I use Trello to organize my clients by name. So if I need to make a note, I go to their name and write note. So whatever you’re using, and then number seven, is use your time wisely. Which kind of goes with set. So five is set designated times not to always be refreshing unnecessarily. But seven is really actually use your time wisely. That’s like if you have five minutes you say

32:07
that makes sense. Just like jump in there when you can. Yeah. What when you say designate times do you have some suggested like, how many times a day how much time per?

32:17
I think you need at least three times a day, okay? And it depends on your day, every day is different, right? Be super strict on ourselves, and we’re hard on ourselves that we missed our time, right? But put it this way, if a friend invites me to lunch, and my emails not under control, I can’t go okay. I have not earned it. There. I have lunch with myself at least once a week, right? Sometimes twice a week. And I go to the same place when I eat lunch by myself. I go to the syrups cafe. Perkins Yes. Okay. But they know me. And I’ll walk in and they go, is it just you and your laptop today? Yep. And I say, yep, just me. And they know what I want. And that all I’m doing is using their Wi Fi and answering emails. And I have lunch with myself. Very good. Now, if my it’s all up to date, I might text you to go to lunch. Yeah, like, I’d be like, Oh my gosh, my emails clean. I can go to lunch, you know. So you have to also have some self discipline to know, am I behind? Well, you have to make choices. And sometimes in my class, as I’m teaching, I see people trying to delete their email. And I’m like, Y’all, the majority of people that struggle with email, you’re not going to be able to clean it out in one sitting, right? It worries me when people tell me they cleaned it out in one sitting, because I’m like, you might have actually deleted something that you needed to follow up on. Right? Um, but like, if it’s a client that’s like, oh, I might move next year, put them in your calendar for next year with their email address. Right? I

33:45
like that. Yeah, I

33:46
do that a lot. Like, like, I just put a note like in March to contact contact, so and so. And then I’m like, oh, yeah, I forgot. They, you know, they said that you weren’t going to go back and find that email anyway. No, you wouldn’t. So it’s nice. Like, what can I do to delete this out of my email, okay, but one time I taught this class. It was like right before Mardi Gras at one of our offices. And we set a goal for lint. So I don’t know how many of us like you know, Episcopalians and stuff Catholics out there. But we said for lint, okay, the the people in the class committed to cleaning out their email. Okay. And so that was 40 days, right? People are like 40 days that you could do it in one sitting No, like not if you’re really doing it or not, if you’re really doing it right and not if you’re bad off. It takes a lot of time to unsubscribe, it takes a lot of time to go back to the beginning and delete and also to categorize like yeah, oh my gosh, I forgot about this person. Now I need sometimes it can take five minutes per email to do what that email is asking. Right? Sometimes it’s just delete next delete net. Yeah, but you have to filter it and then so Easter was obviously the end of lent the celebration, and I have them screenshot me their email progress did it work? It was amazing. Like, you know, nothing makes me prouder than meeting with people that actually take the advice. Yes, I get so frustrated when people get all hyped up during the class and then like nothing happened.

35:17
You’re like, Oh, I’ve wasted my time. Yeah. Oh, my good. Well, that was good. Yeah, those are essential. I think that proves the point that you can’t do it in a day, you know. And if you commit to making it a habit, so you have 40 days, they were going to work on it. So they weren’t pressured to get all done at once. They didn’t give up they knew they had a goal and was far enough away to, you know, trip chip away at it for 40 days. I think that’s awesome. You have to

35:39
train your mindset to handle things right. In the class with quotes. Let’s hear him until we can manage time, our time we can manage nothing else. So yep. every minute spent organizing is an hour earned. I don’t know if that scientific but I believe it. Control your clutter, or it will control you.

36:01
I 100% agree with this. The end. love every one of those. Yeah. I mean, that’s a pretty it’s really not much to it.

36:09
No, it’s so simple. You know, I’m simple. I know, I don’t. It’s like my sister sent me. The meme of it’s like this farmer and his overall rights. And he’s like planting seeds. And he said, It’s not much but it’s honest word. That’s like my business model. Yeah, I don’t have anything fancy. I just tried to be really efficient with time. But

36:33
I that’s what I love. And the more the more I know, you and the more I talk to you, I think it is hilarious, because people think there’s a secret to the success. I just keep it simple, super simple. And it’s super efficient. Yeah. And efficiency is a mindset.

36:49
I love teaching this class. I could tell I like yell into the microphone. Yes. So I’m out for hire. So

36:56
oh, well, that’s right. If

36:57
anyone needs you, yeah, I’m teaching it in person. Because the questions that I get are all so unique, really. So different per office per situation, as I would love to teach this class, outside of real estate offices. Oh, like any corporation, right? You know, that would be cool. Isn’t that funny? Do you have this weird passion for email? That’s a very funny like such a nerd. But

37:23
everyone has email. Yeah. And they’re all overwhelmed by it. Sure. And you’re trying to help them?

37:29
Yeah,

37:30
I like that. You’re like, this

37:31
is a place of refuge. It is that email is my place is my sanctuary. That would be the place that grounds you and reminds you, hey, you have nothing else to do? Accept what is here?

37:43
I’d like that. Yeah, there. You’re one of a kind. Well, I’d

37:48
love to help other people.

37:49
I think that’s good. Good. Give them give them the freedom of time.

37:52
So I think you have our toast.

37:54
I do I have your toast. Not for you. But no, we’ll toast you for telling us about email today. We have a toast from Okay. Let’s see. Tiffany kitchen has nominated someone and I’m gonna Oh, hold on. I’ll tell you. Tiffany is in Ohio, Ohio, Ohio. She is a realtor in Ohio. Okay, so here is her toast. Okay. Are you ready?

38:23
I’m ready. You gotta read it.

38:24
I’m gonna read it. Okay. Okay. Her name is Katie Frank. I mean from one Katie to another Katie, you’re she’s a brand new realtor that just got started in August. And she was just named a top producer in October. How cool I reached out to ask her what she had been doing. And after happily telling me everything she even sent over a personalized sign in sheet for open houses that she made for me. So I would like to talk to her. That is so cool. I love that one. That’s amazing that she’s a top producer in just a couple of months. Yeah. I love also that when Tiffany was like, Hey, what are you doing over there? Yeah, she was like an open book. She told her all the things and gave her an open house sign in and there you go. I think that’s pretty impressive. So we’re gonna toast to Katie. Okay, perfect. Hey, cheers, Kate ad

39:11
All right. Goodbye, everyone. Happy email clearing

39:14
out your email right now. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at hustle humbly podcast.

39:23
If you have an episode, topic or question please email us at hustle humbly podcast@gmail.com Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. Don’t forget to send in your wins.

39:33
See you next week.

39:42
This is the goodbye