Working When You Lack Motivation
I'll be the first to admit that I'm an introvert and the older I get, the more introverted I become. And while some days it's easy to go to the office and work a full day, other days there isn't enough coffee or leads to get me out of my pjs. On days I feel more like recharging my batteries by binge watching Netflix and eating cookies than being productive, I work on miscellaneous tasks that build my business without requiring any face time or deep thinking. If you find yourself needing a veg day, try tackling one or more of these tasks to keep your business on track. (If you haven't had a full day off in awhile, it's OK to take one and tackle these on your next lazy work day. Everyone needs a full day off once in awhile to avoid burn out.)
Working When You Lack Motivation
1. Build a community page on your website. (I'm going to make the assumption that you have a website. If not, that should be task number 1.) Include a neighborhood profile, recent stats, IDX feed of neighborhood listings and a sign up for new listing notifications in said neighborhood or a home elevation. Share the page on your social media and let people know you represent buyers and/or sellers in the community. Do this every time you branch out into a new area or are working from home and pretty soon you will develop a great lead generating resource on your website. Be sure to mark your calendar for stat updates at least every six months.2. Attend a webinar. Every day there are dozens of free webinars taking place and many of those are geared toward real estate brokers. Listen in on one or two during days you don't feel like doing much. Whether you attend one on seller prospecting, list building, or open houses, you will learn how to do something or get a few new ideas. Even when I don't learn something new, each webinar tends to trigger new ideas for me. So give one a try. (Zillow, Top Producer and Realtor.com usually have weekly webinars you can attend and/or on-demand recordings you can watch between seasons of Supernatural or Parks and Recreation.)
3. Update lead notes and organize your paperwork. Take the time to update your lead notes in your CRM, email contacts or whatever method you use for maintaining leads. Clean out your work bag and organize your files. When you decide to head back to the office, everything will be perfectly organized and future you will appreciate it. Don't maintain your leads anywhere? Consider MailChimp (great for email campaigns) or HubSpot CRM (lots of free lead gen tools as well as fully customizable on the free level, check out my honest review here).
4. Schedule your social media posts. Save yourself some time later on by scheduling your social media business updates now. You can schedule a week's worth of posts or a month's, whichever works for you and your schedule. Again, future you will thank you.
5. Find inbox zero and set message rules. I don't think anyone gets more emails than real estate agents. Between actual work emails, new listing notifications, broker open invites and office updates, you get a lot of messages in one day. Take the time to clear through the inbox clutter and find inbox zero (that magical 30 seconds when you have zero unread messages). While you are mass-deleting messages reading all your messages, set message rules that send office-wide emails to one folder, listing updates to another and leads are flagged or starred for quick priority checking.
6. Plan on attending one broker open during the week. In the event your pj day turns into a pj week, having an excuse to leave the house is in order. Put on real pants, a clean shirt and brush your teeth then go rub elbows and meet some other agents. Evening broker opens tend to be more relaxed with agents mingling for awhile. Take the opportunity to speak with seasoned agents and maybe find a mentor. Seasoned agents are the best source for tried and true lead generation methods and how to stay motivated when your first offer falls through. And having an excuse to nosh on free food and possible booze is always a good idea when you have spent way too much on takeout this week.
7. And finally- watch Glengarry, Glen Ross at least once. I don't know a single veteran agent who does not quote this movie at least once a month. If you have never seen it, watch it once. It will make you appreciate current lead gen methods and suddenly all those random jokes and comments make sense. (Full disclosure, I find the movie a bit boring, ok very boring, BUT now I finally get all the jokes made about it. It's a real estate cult classic but without the fun of The Big Lebowski or The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But definitely watch it once.)
Working when you aren't motivated or just need a day to recharge can be difficult but not impossible. Tackle easy tasks that don't require conversations, learn a new tool or system, or make future networking plans all while binge watching animal videos and that special flavored coffee you were saving for a day like today.
Real estate burn out is a real issue many new agents struggle with. If you start to feel burned out, lose your motivation or become depressed, take some time for self-care, talk things out with your BIC or team leader and if need be, see a doctor.
Until next time my lovelies!
-M
