Being an incredibly organized and efficient Wonder Woman of a real estate agent can be a bit of a double-edged sword at times. While you are amazingly adept at being self-reliant and like to manage everything on your own, taking on all of the responsibilities of your business may prevent you from growing your company and landing new clients. With this in mind, you may want to outsource one or more of the following tasks:
Administrative work
If you feel you spend most of your days answering phone calls and emails and trying to keep up with mountains of paperwork, you might want to hire a friendly and efficient assistant who can tackle these relatively mundane jobs with ease. It might feel odd at first to have someone else doing these tasks, but it can also free up several valuable hours a week – time you can use to meet with new clients. Handing off the bookkeeping, filing and paperwork alone will really help your busy schedule seem less hectic.
Animal control services
Instead of trying to tackle ridding your properties of unwanted critters on your own, you should hire a professional to help you out. Companies such as Critter Control provide reliable animal control services that will free up time in your day for other tasks. As a major bonus, you won’t have to purchase or handle bug spray, come face to face with creepy crawly insects or spend hours researching how to rid an attic of bats. Simply call in the professionals and focus on what you do best – buying and selling homes.
Social media
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are all great ways to get the word out about homes that you have for sale, but they can also take up a huge amount of your time. While you might want to continue to post at least some things on social media, real estate marketing firm Placester suggests outsourcing the more basic posts to a marketing assistant.
Sit down with him or her and spend some time going over previous social media posts. This will help your new assistant learn your “voice” and be able to craft messages that sound like you. You may be surprised how much time you spent each day on these various sites, and you will definitely appreciate having more hours a week to devote to tasks that will grow your business.
Staging and photographers
To make homes look as spiffy as possible for open houses, you probably spend a lot of time staging them. This is an ideal task to outsource to someone else. Professional stagers have not only the tools and know-how to make a home look its best, but hiring them will take that job off your to-do list and allow you to focus on the other things that you do best.
You may also wish to hire a photographer to take photos of the properties. While you may have the latest smartphone that takes great pictures or a nice camera, professionals can use equipment such as lenses and editing techniques that will help make all the rooms look their best.
A few words of advice
No matter which jobs you decide to outsource, take the time to interview several candidates to find the best fit. Ideally, the person will work with you long term, so you won’t have to spend time training a new assistant every few months. Check references and ask to see samples of work to be sure they are reliable and have the level of expertise you want.
Identity Magazine is all about empowering women to get all A’s in the game of life — Accept. Appreciate. Achieve.TM Every contributor and expert answer the Identity 5 questions in keeping with our theme. Their answers can be random and in the moment or they can be aligned with the above article. As a team, we hope to inspire and motivate ourselves and inspire you to get all A’s.
1. What have you accepted within your life, physically and/or mentally? What are you still working on accepting?
I have accepted that I might not always have a home that will qualify for a photo spread in a Martha Stewart magazine–there are toys spread around and plenty of other evidence that a family with pets lives here, but that is okay.
2. What have you learn to appreciate about yourself and/or within your life, physically and mentally? What are you still working on to appreciate?
I appreciate the fact that I’m a loving and caring mom, wife and “pet parent” who focuses more on my family’s happiness and being there for them, rather than always having a dust-free piano.
3. What is one of your most rewarding achievements in life? What makes YOU most proud? What goals and dreams do you still have?
One of my most rewarding achievements has been working as a freelance writer for the past 16 years; I love the fact that I work from home and can schedule my work around my family.
4. We all have imperfections, so we think. The truth–we are all perfectly imperfect. What are your not-so-perfect ways? What imperfections and quirks create who you are–your Identity?
I guess like many women I’m hoping to find ways to use my daily 24 hours as productively as possible; I love getting out to walk with my family and at least one dog at a time but too often I run out of time. My not-so-perfect way is that I sometimes forget to take care of myself because I’m so busy taking care of others.
Probably my silly sense of humor about a lot of things–my kids roll their eyes when I’m putting away groceries, spot a bunch of bananas and start talking into one of them like it’s a phone. My dependence on caffeine and love of Starbucks is also fairly well-known.
5. “I Love My…” is an outlet for you to express and appreciate all the positive traits that make you…well… YOU! Sharing what you love about yourself will make you smile, feel empowered, and uplift your spirit and soul. (we assure you!) Identity challenges you to complete the phrase “I Love My…?”
Easy. I love my family. Every day.