Working from Home Master List

I thought that I would write a blog about the top 10 things that I’ve learned in real estate about working from home. Selling real estate has always been a business where agents work from home.

You could say that we are experts at it!

In the 1970’s my mom decided to get her license to sell real estate. It was one of the only businesses at the time that offered flexibility for a working mother. She had realized that working from home is not all that it is cracked up to be. It is hard to do! So, when I started selling homes in the early ‘90’s she had already learned the hard way and helped pass on to me a good work ethic. We needed to make rules to work at home so that we would actually accomplish something!

I’m going to share with you the top 10 easy things that you can do to make your experience worthwhile. For the last decade or more there has been a real push to more flexibility and working from home. Right now, in the situation we are in with Covid-19 we are on the precipices of a huge revolution.

If we as a people can show our employers that we can accomplish as much or more in a day working from home during these crazy times, then it will open the door to so much more flexibility in the workplace.

So, here are the top ten things on my list:

1. Get up like it is a normal work day

That means that you might need to set an alarm and take a shower— for me I have always noticed a difference in what I accomplish and how I feel about it if I take a shower at the beginning of the day. It never failed that on the days that I decided not to shower early and just throw on sweats that someone would call and I would need to run out to show a property on a moment’s notice.

You’d want them to see you put together right?

Okay, so if that didn’t work what about if you need to be on a virtual meeting like Zoom? Everyone knows that the people who don’t show themselves are the ones that didn’t get ready and a hat just doesn’t cut it.

2. Don’t turn the TV

A lot of us are having to do double duty right now. It isn’t just us working from home. It is also our children who are schooling from home. And, it takes a bit more time out of our schedule to make sure that they are doing what they need to be doing too. Turning the TV on will absolutely derail your daily progress. The main reason that we should all keep it off is because it totally changes our mindset and instead of being positive about accomplishing our goals for the day it encourages fear in the unknown. The other reason to keep it off is because if you are like me, you’ll turn on the Today show and it will suck your time away.

Did you know that that show is 3 hours long and only has 15 minutes of reporting every half hour and the weather is on every 20 minutes?

I promise the weather isn’t going to change that often and if you sit down to watch a segment you’ll be sucked in like binge watching your favorite show!

3. Make a dedicated office

Okay, so when I say dedicated, what I mean is a space that you can go into and close the door. It’s okay if it is the spare bedroom, even if you only have a couple of feet that you can put a desk into. You’ll get so much more done if you have a desk and have a door to shut. If you think that you can work on the couch out with all your family around, you are sadly mistaken. You’ll all of a sudden get dragged into something or you’ll notice that the kitchen needs to be cleaned. Discipline is a hard thing to master. When you are at the office it can be easier because you are expected to focus.

4. Set a schedule or create a task list.

You have just graduated from a 9-5 job to one that is measured by accomplishment. Make sure that you set your goals in manageable segments. No one likes to look at an extremely long list of tasks and you definitely won’t feel accomplished if you only get a few done each day, but if you get all three things done on your list then you feel great!

5. Prioritize

Realize that it’s okay if you need to adjust your schedule to help your kids or manage your family. That might mean that you are working later, but that is what flexibility is all about. It isn’t which hours you work. As a Realtor, my schedule has always worked around other people’s schedules. Now you are experiencing the same thing, it’s just that the other people are your family members. I have always had to make sure that I got all my own tasks done at odd times so that I could be available when a client wanted to view or list their home.

Do time blocking if that helps. I usually set aside time in the morning, afternoon and evening to get my work done. Those times shift depending on what others need of me. If you struggle like I do now with the internet, make sure that you also utilize your cell phone’s capability of producing a hot spot. I have noticed that there is a flood of people online in the morning now. It slows down my home wifi to a crawl. If this happens to you, you might need to either change the hours that you work to be around peak times or use your phone’s hotspot for an hour or two.

6. Take breaks

It is easy to sit down and just power through things, but you’ll burn out. Typically, when you work from an office you take breaks or go to lunch. Do the same thing at home. Take time to stretch your legs. We are so lucky right now that we can go outside and walk around the block. Enjoy the sunshine. Set up your outdoor patio and have lunch out there when the weather gets a little warmer.

7. Use Virtual Meetings

There is only so much that we can share via the traditional phone, text and email. I have learned this working with my marketing assistant. She moved to Rawlins, WY at the first of the year. We get so much more done when we brainstorm together on Zoom. It would take us 10+ emails to accomplish the same amount of work that we get done face to face. Besides, we get to see each other in these days of social distancing. One of my favorite reminders is that if you are on a virtual meeting please, please always remember to mute yourself and unmute when you want to speak.

No one wants to hear your son scream that he hates math in the background!

8. Take time to explore Apps

TikTok
RIPL
Mojo
FB LIve, stories, Messenger
INstagram stories
Apple Clips
Google Slides
Snapchat
Zoom
Skype
OoVoo
Google Duo
What’s App

9. Use the thumbnail feature.

I learned this the hard way sending video messages to clients. I am sure a lot of you have received one with my face contorted in mid-speech. The thumbnail will allow people to see your bright and smiling face rather than you looking like you are having convulsions.

10. Know when to turn it all off

As a real estate agent, we can be ON all the time. People call at the craziest times and now that there are a lot of people who surf the internet all night long. It isn’t uncommon for me to get text messages from people at 2am. One thing that I needed to figure out is how to turn off work at some point during the day.

I try really hard to not talk about real estate with my husband after 9pm. If I talk about issues on files or things that I need to accomplish the next day, I won’t be able to sleep at night and if I can’t sleep then I ruin everything that I can accomplish the next day.

You will need to figure out what time you need to shut it all off. Now that you are at home, there is the temptation to work longer or later. For me, it used to be that we would go on vacation to truly get away. We all need time to dump work and prioritize other things.

Figure out your stop time as quickly as you can. It will help you down the road.

Good luck with your new life, working from home!