Downtime, One Realtor's Methods of Productivity

For those days that aren't occupied by listing appointments, staging & photographing homes, showings, appointments with other professionals, paperwork & the other necessary 'evils' of the realtor life, what do we do with all that spare time?! (Insert exhausted, yet hysterical laughter here.) Well, here's a few things that I have begun doing in my 'free time' and by free time, I mean time on the couch after I get home, cook & eat dinner, catch up with my husband, etc...

 

1. Get to know your inventory - hop on the MLS & start viewing all the new listings that have hit the market so you know what's out there & what's not.

 

2. Marketing, marketing, marketing. I'll admit, this is my favorite thing to do in my spare time. I love working within Canva (amazing app & website for designing everything you could ever want). More on marketing in another blog post.

 

3. Design a mailing via Mailchimp or any other mass-mailing app or website that works for you. Look at your needs - to sell a listing? Have buyers looking for something specific? Send it out into the universe & maybe it will match up with something someone has!

 

4. Organize your inbox. If you're anything like me, you have a ton of unread emails & it just keeps piling up on you. I have created folders within Gmail for each seller & buyer, as well as for all the other necessary 'stuff' that comes through the system.

 

5. File, file, file. I use Dropbox (I've tried using other systems but I just can't seem to break-up with my trustee Dropbox system.) I file every signed document, closing statement, inspection report, home warranty application & marketing book into an individual Dropbox folder for safe-keeping. It's very handy to access these files when necessary via a smart-phone.

 

6. Pinterest. You may use it now as a vision board & I do too. I also use it for inspirational quotes, marketing ideas, staging ideas, design ideas & to keep current with the design trends.

 

7. Get more followers! The goal for any business is to increase their bottom line. Create a social media business profile, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus, or any of the other apps out there. Put yourself out there, follow others in your field of interest & post, pin, blog & get your point of view across.

 

8. Schedule lunch dates, meetings, happy hours or drop-ins to your favorite lenders, brokers, insurance agents, businesses & anyone else you have done business with, want to do business with or are doing business with currently. Getting in front of people in a face-to-face setting is the best way to win business. It's easy to delete an email or ignore a text message. It's not so easy when sitting in front of another person.

 

The winter is a great time to start on these ideas because so many of us hole up in our homes, on our couches each evening because frankly, it's just too cold to do anything else!

 

I hope these suggestions have given you some great ideas on how to utilize your downtime, if you have any (which we all do!). Be productive, make connections, have fun & make a positive impact on those you work with, around & for.