Contracts & Chaos
Contracts & Chaos is the place to hear about what's happening to fellow Realtors like you. That crazy seller, the buyer who left at closing; we talk about it. How to stay relevant and thrive in a down market? We discuss it.
Alyssa & Brenna are Realtors located in the Charlotte and Hickory, NC market who have built their businesses in communities they are transplants in, without buying leads or joining mega teams to make it happen. They've beaten the odds during a pandemic and are here to share their stories, tips and advice on how to survive a down market or start your business from scratch.
Contracts & Chaos
151: Back To School Back To Business
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The kids are back in school, the backpacks are everywhere, summer chaos is mostly behind us, and suddenly we're looking at the calendar like... wait, how is it already almost Q4?! 😂
In this episode, we're talking about that weird transition from summer mode back into business mode, and how to actually get your real estate business back into a rhythm without trying to do ALL THE THINGS at once.
We're talking about getting your calendar under control, setting boundaries around showings and family time, getting back into consistent lead generation, and figuring out what really needs your attention between now and the end of the year.
Like what you heard? Make sure to follow and review the podcast, and shoot us a message with your thoughts at
contractsandchaos@gmail.com
@YourHomeGirl_CLT
@Real.Life.Brenna
Take two.
SPEAKER_01Summer is over. It's been over here for a couple weeks now, depending on where you live. Like South Carolina went back three weeks ago now. You guys have been back for a couple weeks.
SPEAKER_00No, we just started back. Yesterday was our first day.
SPEAKER_01Oh, see, CMS goes back today. Gaston County's been back for like I I have a friend.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I have a friend that her one of her kids has been in school for three weeks now, and the other's just just starting. So I'm like, because uh it's a split situation. But anyways, I was like waiting to different districts, and I was like, I was like, that's crazy. But the point of this episode is we are back to school, and a lot of us that means back to business. Now, that doesn't mean that you haven't done any business all summer, but we all know that we're back into like this routine, unless you are just like this marvelous human that keeps the same routine year round.
SPEAKER_01Which some people are. I know some people who are like, no, my kid goes to daycare in the summer because I have to which cool, that's fine. Like, do what works for you. Like, yep. That makes sense.
SPEAKER_00Um But I think that I think that this week marks like we're back to business. Also, we're coming up on the start of the last quarter of the year, which I think people, it's like hustle time. So oh, also before we'll we'll drop like little stay tuned for next week because we have the 90-day sprint coming up.
SPEAKER_0190-day sprint for the end of the year. And then we have the holiday marketing and planning coming up too.
SPEAKER_00So we have good episodes coming up, right?
SPEAKER_01Um, and that that way you're not struggling or sending um messages on Thanksgiving. So but this isn't gonna be an episode about like, oh, now you're waking up at 5 a.m. and you've got a time block every minute. No, this is how to like actually do things, um, because we all know one of us in this room is not a morning person, and I I tried. I joined this group, like a subgroup out of another group to try and wake up earlier, and I'm leaving the group because I'm just like, it's not me. And I'm not gonna force myself. Like, sorry, guys.
SPEAKER_00I am not a morning person either. Uh when I my first year in real estate, somebody, um, my team leader at the time was like, you should join like a 5 a.m. club and get started, right? Hated my life. Listen, I do not work to be miserable, so guess what? I shall not be starting at 5 a.m.
SPEAKER_01I'll have my laptop open at 11 o'clock like I did last night working on things, but I'm not gonna be, unless you want someone with a fried brain at 5 a.m., it's not going to happen. But I think the point of this, like, you've got to stop pretending that we have the unlimited availability.
SPEAKER_00Like I saw, did you see in one of our, I think it was it was in a real estate group anyway. So it was like a screenshot of a text that um the lady had responded back and said, Thank you for your patience. You know, I was out of town with my family over the weekend. Answered the question. And the other agent responded back was at one point at what point do you realize that you're a real estate agent and you put your client's needs above your own? Question mark.
SPEAKER_01I didn't see that. I saw someone didn't get hired because it they were in a wedding or something.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_01And the client was like, Well, that's unacceptable.
SPEAKER_00That's crazy. Um, but no, I think a lot of people like there's so much more to real estate than the idea that the most committed agent is the one that is always available, right? Think about like right now, I need to make an appointment with my doctor, right? But guess what? I'm not gonna get in today. You know what I mean? Right. It's not gonna happen. They have a schedule. I think that people somewhat even respect you more when you're like, this is this is my business. This is when I operate my business, right? Absolutely. I've had more clients in the times that I'm like, actually, I don't work Sundays, you know, Sundays are are my family day. And they're like, oh hey, we we love a Sunday too, you know? Um, so I think that that's I think that's one of our biggest detriments is just like I have to be available 24-7, 365, or my business won't run. And we've talked about that on other episodes before, but it's always kind of good to refresh around like this time of year, I feel like, because suddenly we have like this free time when kids are back to school, and we're like, all right, well, now I'm available all the time because I was at the pool this summer, we went hiking, we did whatever we did, and now it's time for business.
SPEAKER_01Right. Or I also see it the the opposite of you could drag the kids along with you all summer to do all the things, but now you have volleyball practice and you know the end of softball season and homework time, and so now you might have to be more regimented and say, no, sorry, I have boundaries around certain things this time of year. Um, because I feel like if you don't, you're always apologizing to someone. It's either, oh, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you, or oh, I'm sorry, kids, like we can't do this, or sorry, husband, like now mine is usually just sorry you're in the crate too long, Mabel, but um but I feel like we've all at some point like agreed to an appointment like we immediately resented, or we've left that family activity, and like did was it did it really require immediate attention? No, during 2020, 2021, maybe because it was a wild, it was literally the wild west. But in this market, I feel like as long as you're communicating with all the parties, like, hey, we can't get there till Wednesday, because it may even be a client reason, most properties aren't going to disappear overnight.
SPEAKER_00Um so this is where I think like being very strategic in the beginning of the year, right? So I have the school, the district's calendar uploaded. It's a separate Google calendar because I share it with my clients and sphere and locally and stuff like that, but it's an overlay in my Google Calendar, right? So I have all of the activities, like if it's a half day, if it's a you know, no school, if there's anything like that, is in my calendar because what happens is it allows me to create the appointment blocks, like the windows that I'm available before somebody reaches out and I'm like, oh, hold on, let me look, right? I have an idea that usually Wednesdays and Thursdays are my most open day, right? I'm available between like 10:30 and 2.30 for like showings and appointments or after 4 p.m. between 4 and 6, right? I know that, so it gives me the immediate flexibility, right? I can offer them three spots. Yep. I can do one o'clock, I can do three o'clock, and then they're like, okay, well, this time works better for me. Yes. I know what I mean.
SPEAKER_01I think like setting that approach and knowing and saying, like you're and you're very good at saying, I don't do Sundays. So if you can say at the like before requests are coming in, here's my usual availability, it sets that expectation. And showings usually require notice. Not every house is vacant. So even if they call you at 9 a.m., you may not be able to get them in the same day because a lot of sellers want that 24 hours because if they didn't have a showing when they left for work, the house may not be perfect. And if you want to see it at 2 30, you might get a no anyway because they're like, oh no, we've got to pull it this back together because we didn't know we had people coming today.
SPEAKER_00Well, and I also rope that into the same conversation as not working on Sundays, right? So there's a lot of sellers that still live in their property when they're trying to sell, right? And especially coming into this year where like some kids maybe be maybe be, may be home after school without an adult, right? Maybe they don't have a ride to get out of the house. So I don't usually schedule, and I say don't usually, because there are, you know, there's always like a weird circumstance, but I like a 24-hour heads up or at least the next day. I'm not getting a phone call from you at one o'clock that you want to see a property when you get out of work at 3 30.
SPEAKER_01Right, exactly. That and like, like you said, maybe not a full 24, but at least 12, because that way, even if like they could get you in after work, or if you send the message at the request at like seven o'clock tonight, you can at least get in tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, like And these are these are good things that not even necessarily just back to school-wise, right? But and we've talked about this before, but just like set yourself a buffer. Your buffer can be that your voicemail says, Hey, if you've reached this message, uh after mine says after 6 p.m. or on a Sunday, I will reach out to you the following day.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Right?
SPEAKER_01And I think the thing that the important thing to remember is like setting this boundary doesn't mean you never make an exception, it just means the exception is actually an exception. Like it's actually okay, this is a one-off. This is not I I'm rearranging my life for you or asking sellers all the time to like, oh no, you gotta let them in. No, it's an exception. Um, and you don't have to like you also don't have to give people your full family schedule.
SPEAKER_00You can say, I have to pick Violet up, and then I have to bring Maddie over here, and then we actually have a dentist appointment. And it's like it's like a no is a full sentence, right? Actually, I'm not available at that time. I have two o'clock or four o'clock on Thursday.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Yeah, because they don't need to. It might be that you're out getting a lash lift. I don't know. It's still an appointment. Right, it's an appointment. So it could be lots of different things. So I think the other thing is you need to know, and this comes back to my growing up with an emergency management planner. What is the plan when there isn't a plan? What is the plan when the school calls and says Violet got smashed in the face with a volleyball? Or um, you know, your I can't think of your other daughter's name right now. That's payback for calling Roxanne Mabel, Madeline. Yeah. Um I like, or Madeline, you know, has a bloody nose or came down with a fever. Like, who's the who gets the first phone call? If you're unavailable because you're just showing, who gets the second? Is there if that second person, you know, is there a family member or a friend who's on the approved list that can go get her? Um because I suppose and like is there a family password? Like what you need to know that plan and that system before it happens. And the same thing with your business, vice versa. Like, okay, what if you really do have a sick kid? Or, you know, there's there's a situation where you're sitting in the emergency room because they really are hurt this time. And who's the um who's the agent that you go to? Who is your backup? Who, you know, is it or like if you're on vacation or you have a tournament, like that one's gonna be more planned, obviously. But I all like you also need to know the difference between they forgot a water bottle and they don't feel well and they're injured, and you need to know in your business the difference between um it's a showing or a closing, like all of those things, like where we pull in another agent, where it's yes, we've got to get this done today, or can we reschedule this? Because I can't get coverage.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you gotta triage those situations. Yeah, pretty much. But no, I think it's such a missed thing too. I was talking to somebody and not a real estate agent about like how they don't have anybody on their approved pickup list besides themselves or or their husband, and I'm like, dang, oh, and I know I'm in a unique situation because I have a million and twelve siblings, right?
SPEAKER_01And most of them live down here now.
SPEAKER_00And there's a lot of them that live down here that ha are able to go pick up. And we have great relationships. Like it's we I am blessed with a giant sphere of giant circle of support from my immediate family. Um, so much so that we've maxed out our emergency contacts list with the school because you can list, I think it's I think including you and the other parent, I think there's it's a total of 10. So we have everybody on there. But you can, like you said, like I get the first call because like I'm the parent, right? They don't need to be calling their aunt the first time, but there's there's an order of operations for that.
SPEAKER_01So I think that that's a oops, sorry.
SPEAKER_00No, I was just gonna say that's a good resource if you're not if you don't have that set up to have it, yeah. Have it set up.
SPEAKER_01And I think yeah, it's important to remember you're not choosing your business over your kids. It's about knowing like already knowing who could help. So you're not negotiating every option during the emergency, like because the middle of the emergency is not the time to figure out who that person is or what the plan is. Like you should have an idea before, just in case. Um and and like you said, it needs more than one name. Like it's not the one friend who also has the job and kids and appointments, like it could be like you you're blessed to have a huge family nearby. It could be maybe you have a trusted neighbor, you know, like that they get they wander over to that neighbor's house anyway. Um, is there an after-school program? Um, there's lots of people. Business backups could be another agent who can open a door. Um maybe not your TC unless they're licensed in your state, but an agent like who understands your contract. Like I've had to have that where when Kevin died, I was like, I need someone to take this over and help because I can't right now. Um someone to cover the inspection. Or sometimes it's just the lender who you know can communicate without you having to translate every update. Like maybe they can step in and talk to your client about the closing process and the wiring and all of that stuff.
SPEAKER_00Um there can also be like if sometimes there are instances that it is just you, right? And the best situation with that is just to be like basically honest. Yep. If something pops up, right? Be like, I mean, I was in a car accident recently and my husband ended up calling my client that I was supposed to be meeting for a showing and saying, Hey, she's not gonna make it, but um, she's gonna call you when she gets out of the hospital to reschedule, you know? So there's things like that, but basically you have to realize that like I'll figure it out is not gonna set you up for success, right? Right. Sometimes it is like you're getting these text messages or these phone calls and you have missed calls, you text them back and say, Hey, something has come up. I'll be out of pocket for the rest of the afternoon. Let me circle back with you tomorrow.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_00Right? They don't need to know that something happened on the playground or that your kid has a fever or whatever it is. Right. Let them know that. They don't even have to meet.
SPEAKER_01Like just something has come up is just as good as no.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. Something's come up. I've seen what you've asked, right? I I'm not ignoring you. Let me circle back, right? Um, the other thing that's huge is along with your calendar, especially if you have multiple kids, making sure that you have all of their crap on there too, because you don't want to put yourself in a situation where you've blocked to have showings or appointments and things like that. And then turns out that actually you can't have appointments that afternoon because school gets out at 12 and not three, or that um volleyball practice was moved, or any of those things. Right. So make sure, and we talk about this with time blocking too, or like year planning, make sure your big blocks are on there. And right now, school is a big block.
SPEAKER_01You need to make sure that if there's no school or anything that your your family's taken care of first, because that's the well, and I think another thing like to think about when you're doing this calendar and you're looking at the coverage too of like, okay, not even just if stuff comes up, but what if it is like, hey, I know there's a field trip this day, but I am heavy with a buyer right now who has a deadline, so I'm gonna get an agent to cover that day so we we're not missing a day because like I have to have her in something by October 14th. Negotiate that like the compensation and how and make sure like that person or whoever knows like how you're gonna communicate and like how introductions and information will be handled, um, and how you're gonna return the favor. Like that's part of this too. So when you're building out that calendar, also look at could this cost me? What like and not that you ever want money over kids or things like that, but make sure you're budgeting, okay. I know I've got field trip this day, which means I may need to have a showing agent step in, but field trip's gonna cost this, showing agent's gonna cost this. Is it better to just bump those showings for a day? You know, than to have someone step in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and the good news is if you're working really locally, right? Like if you're working in your pocket, at least for me, the demographic, the group of clients that I work with the most also have school-aged children, right? So if their kids are out of school for the day, they know that I have kids out of school that day too, right? So I there is a plus there. So it it depends. It depends on the clients that you're working with. It depends on, like you said, because sometimes there's situations they're relocating, they have to be in town before the job starts and things like that. You have to take it, you know, step by step.
SPEAKER_01But I think the other another whoops.
SPEAKER_00No, go ahead.
SPEAKER_01I was saying, I think another good way to go about this is like you said, I love the like the big blocks, the family things come in first and then the work things. It reminds me of like that jar theory with your big pebbles and then the little pebbles. But also like sit down with the family and go over the calendar. What is fixed this week? What is not movable? Does Travis have a septic installer? He has to be on site here, so he's not the backup today. So, okay, I need to let my sister know that hey, I might need you to pick the kids up. Um, who's responsible for pickup and drop-off? Like, is it a day where you know you do have an early closing or something and Travis doesn't have a job till the afternoon? Okay, then Travis is dropping the girls off at school this morning. Um you know, where are the pressure points or likely a bac like um what's the backup plan if there is that pressure if that pressure point does come to light? Like, let's talk about this before. Like, okay, we know we both have tight schedules this day and the girls have practice. What happens if practice goes late? Are you there?
SPEAKER_00Right, and what if what what's going in the crock pot this week for dinner? Exactly.
SPEAKER_01That was gonna be my next thing was like batch the decisions. Like, we all talk about batching content, right? And batching work and things like that. But and I'm a way more flexible on this. I probably go to the grocery store six times a week. But is it I hate the grocery store? I know, but I also like don't have to feed five people and keep them alive, so I can buy what I want to eat tonight. Um but like is it crock pot meals, or is it, hey, we know that this night we're not gonna see the house, so screw a crock pot meal. We've gotta bring something with us, or we're running through a drive-thru. Like, look at that. Batch your prospecting if you can't. If there's a certain thing you can oh, excuse me, a certain thing you can batch and do in big chunks, then set the time aside for that.
SPEAKER_00Um I think that's a great thing that people overlook, right? Because they're like, oh, we're back to a routine, like this is gonna be routine, but sometimes it's not, right? Sometimes over like, and we'll get into the holidays here shortly. Shockingly, I can't believe that Christmas is almost here. But there are gonna be times, even when your kids are at school, that you actually have less time still available, right? So there's um testing days and there's things like that that you have to change what you're doing. You're not gonna want to do a huge prospecting that's gonna take like a it's a three-week runway that you're putting all this event stuff together or whatever it is in a time that your kids are back to back to back to back to back, right? So try to that's another thing with basically we should have made this a calendar episode. You need to make sure that you're setting yourself up for success, right? If Tuesday, you're you know you're wide open, right? And you don't really need to do um appointments those days. We've talked about day blocking. I do day blocking a lot, right? Tuesdays, I can I do content, right?
SPEAKER_01I do a lot of content on Tuesdays because my goodness, your f your videographer is back in school now.
SPEAKER_00My I would have limited, limited access to my film crew. But it's one of those things that you need to like be aware, right? Just because you're like you want to do it doesn't mean that it's going to happen. Maybe you're doing three hours of prospecting on Wednesdays, but you're only getting an hour in on Monday.
SPEAKER_01Right. Or maybe it's you're scheduling, you know, you can like your newsletter, you can if you have a day where you can knock the next four months out or three months, knock them out and get them scheduled. Because if it's just like community events that you know are already planned, get in there, get it scheduled. Like, and then all you have to do is add the people to your flow desk or your like exact just as they come in, add them in your weekly emails.
SPEAKER_00If you're doing postcards, like uh super agent marketing, you can select the drop date on postcards or mailers that you have sent out. You can have them scheduled out for months. If you have a huge amount of time, you can set yourself up. You're like, that's done, right? It's not something that I have to do every three weeks to get ready for the next month. The next quarter is set. I don't even have to think about it, right?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, and that's a oops, sorry. We have must have a delay today.
SPEAKER_00A little bit of a baby delay. I think that the biggest thing is. Just sometimes I'm very organized, and sometimes I'm very like chaotic, right? Depends on what part of my life we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01Right, exactly. And I think there are things you can do to preset that organization. So even when life is chaotic. So when you have you know you know when teacher workdays are, let's just do the same thing every teacher workday. So there's never a question.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_01It depending on age. Maybe it's every teacher workday, the kids go to grandma's house. So grandma knows, hey, these 17 days throughout the year, I will have my grandchildren, you know? Um, maintain like have a list or a folder of the takeout menus for your favorite place, and you know what your standard order is there. Like we know, okay, Texas Roadhouse, I think it is, does family meals. And I know that on half days or teacher work days or whatever, I don't have time to do dinner because whatever. So I'm just gonna have a standard order. This is what we're ordering. You know what? Every Tuesday is now crappy Amer white American Taco Tuesday at our house because it's easy. But and I know we never have practice on Tuesdays. We like it is just standard, and you know what? If we do, they're dollar taco ta at at the Mexican restaurant, so I can just get takeout tacos to go. Um you know, keep all of the forms in one folder pick plastered by the door or something. So there are ways to help ease that, like if you prep ahead of time.
SPEAKER_00Um we used to always have like pizza on Fridays, and it was always so exciting, right? We loved pizza, but as an adult, I'm like, it's one less decision my mom had to make.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00You know what's happening. It's Friday, it's pizza, right? That's just it's what's happening. And I think that we can take so much off of our own plates if we stop trying to micromanage and make a different experience every time.
SPEAKER_01Right. It's and it's not like we're not trying to squeeze more work into like one day in every available minute. It's just to stop, like you just said, stop making the small decisions over and over. So you know what I would do right now, and I do this for myself. I have I don't have kids, but cat litter just shows up at my door. It just does. I don't have to go buy it, I don't have to hoof it out of the like and pet food. It just shows up. So, like, maybe put your kids' favorite snacks on an automatic um Amazon reorder. I know they eat about this many packets of famous Amos cookies a month, boom, they show up. Um, my aunt, she's an empty nester. You know what? She hates, I mean, it's not heavy, but she's a tiny little woman. She hates carrying the physical size of toilet paper and paper towels. So as soon as Amazon made subscriptions a thing, it just shows up at her house.
SPEAKER_00Do we mean I love a subscription? Right? It saves so much time and it's it's an automation that you can kind of set and forget, right? Um, this time of year I love every plate meals. I'm about to probably start that subscription up because it's again meals you can go in and change the meals every week, right? But meals just come to the house. Guess what? I don't have to think about it. You can pick one of these four pretty pictures, that's what we're having for dinner tonight.
SPEAKER_01Right, and right? Like you still you still cook those, right? But you don't have to go do the grocery shopping. I personally love Instacart. I'm an Instacart fiend. Yes, like I love that well, I'm I will do it, I have to fly home next week. Friday or Saturday, as I'm waiting at the airport in Syracuse, I will be putting in an Instacart order. And I will I usually pull the trigger on it when my plane lands just to make sure if I don't get delayed. And then my groceries usually show up about the same time I get home. And I love it because then I don't have to go out. Or if I know I have a crazy week with showings and closings and inspections, boom, instacart order. Done. I don't w I don't think about it.
SPEAKER_00It just This is, I think, a good time when you should know like your dollar per hour or two because people are like, I'm not gonna pay eight dollars for delivery, right? Well, how long is it gonna take you to go out and pick up the food and bring it back and whatever? I listen, I don't think.
SPEAKER_01I see what you're doing. Ten dollars to have that coffee delivered.
SPEAKER_00Is it really how much time, right? How much time is it gonna take you to drive to go wait in line to get it? Um, I do like drinks delivered though, is sometimes hard. Sometimes they melt.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I don't do a lot of like takeout delivery. I don't have a DoorDash account. I don't Instacart, I think there are some restaurants on there.
SPEAKER_00Um, but the only time we DoorDash is when we're like, like we spent a weekend in um Asheville, Travis and I, and literally that's when we Door Dash because we don't leave, like we just like sleep the whole time when we're away from our kids because they're so busy and they're so exhausting. And honestly, we just need a nap, right? So we'll just like order delivery to the hotel room and not even have to go anywhere or do anything when we were in Asheville. We door dash Insomnia cookies and milk, and I'm telling you, it was the best thing we did the whole time.
SPEAKER_01I remember when Insomnia would just deliver their own and say, like maybe they still do, but um anyway, see, and I'm the opposite. I will have I will Instacart like my coffee and my protein and stuff to the hotel, but I'm going out to that restaurant because that's what I came to town to do. Yeah, um but yeah, vacationer. Uh you make a good point. Know what your dollar per hour is because it might be worth the eight dollar delivery fee so that dinner shows up at the door and you have that extra hour to do whatever it is you needed to get done that day. Or you have that honestly, you have that extra hour with your kids. Have you have you seen the lady on TikTok who has like the kitchen robot that cooks for you?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01So and people are giving her such a hard time, like, oh, you can't cook dinner for your kids, and she's like, This cooked everything in an hour while I was outside playing with them. And I'm like, I get it. I get it. Um, and it's all fresh ingredients, but yeah, sometimes it's not the work that you want back or the work time, it's the time with the kids because they were in school all day and you did have a a showing that ran a little late and you want the hour back. Like knowing what the plan is, I think, or knowing what knowing what you're willing to accept and sacrifice financially to get that, I think is important.
SPEAKER_00Um I think there are also things inside your business that you can, you know, automate, right? We're not necessarily talking about delivery for your clients, but it I mean it can be. But we're talking like if you uh don't already have all of your home anniversary congratulations, you know, set up, you can schedule those, whether it's a postcard, whether it's an email, whether it's a text message, you depending on how far out it is, you can schedule a text message, I think, out to 30 days out. So that's a great thing, right?
SPEAKER_01So at the beginning of the month, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. That's what I do with my birthday cards. It's so good every month.
SPEAKER_00Same thing with uh this is a good one that I've been using for any of my pipeline, right? Like my buyers or sellers that are a little bit farther out, and I'm like, I'm gonna follow up, I'm just gonna keep following up with you. And I just set that text message to send out in two weeks, in three and a half weeks, whatever it is. And then when they text me back, I'm like, oh hey, look. Three weeks ago, Brenda really was on it. Yeah, I almost forgot about these folks, you know. But having having that stuff kind of automated, your business can still run in the background while you're sitting in the car rider line. Also, the car rider line is completely underrated for the amount of work you can get done while you're sitting there, okay? I don't sit in a car rider line anymore, but I used to. And it was probably some of the most productive time because I'm there, I'm waiting, right? You can do you could do a video series, right, that talk about something about buying a home or selling a home every time you're in the car rider line. Right? Just post on your story, it's super easy.
SPEAKER_01It could literally just be my car rider line thought of the day. Like this is this is what's running through my brain as I'm sitting here. Um now, I don't think everything should be automated. Obviously, we're not gonna automate negotiations and sensitive um conversations or bad news, but those other things, the social scheduling, like we were just talking. I have the social media for the podcast scheduled out for the month. I sit down, I'm getting better at it, I have not been great at it in the last year, but I sit down and I go through the videos and they get scheduled out for the next month. Yeah and then it's done, and I don't have to come back, usually don't have to come back to it.
SPEAKER_00Um I think things like that are like super important because basically you can you have the time and the freedom in your schedule to take care of those important negotiations or things like that that pop up while your you know lead magnets and your funnels and all of that other stuff is constantly working in the background, right?
SPEAKER_01Right, and like sometimes maybe it's you need to automate the reminder for yourself and not the actual task or relationship. Um utilize that calendar, yes, or the reminders app, or you know what someone taught me or gave me a tip the other day? He emails himself his screenshots. He's like, because if I put in a screenshot, it just sits in my photos and I never go back. He goes, if I email myself the screenshot, then when I open my email, I go, Oh yeah, I needed to look into that.
SPEAKER_00That's funny. I text myself all the time.
SPEAKER_01He said that too, and I was like, that I don't because it it yeah, I would just avoid it. But um I think the other thing is like you have to decide what you have to pay attention to now and what can wait before you get overwhelmed. Like, do I do I have to prospect at this moment or do I need to do this client thing first and then I can do the prospecting? Um because if you're in negotiations, but if you're in negotiations with a deadline, obviously that prospecting needs to wait. But if you're in car lines and you can prospect in the car line, then prospect in the car line.
SPEAKER_00They're they're saying that the number of contacts you have to have a day again is doubling again.
SPEAKER_01Because it's so tough out there right now. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00Yep. So if where you might have been able to talk to people to five people a day, and then it started being like really like 10 or ish, now it's 20, right? So don't miss out on those, but get them where you can. It doesn't have to be a only one hour time block to do this, right? You there's a million ways to get it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it could be while you're waiting at dance class, or there's a lady on TikTok right now who is getting ripped a new one because she's saying that she she brought a bottle of wine to football practice because it's a two-hour football practice. Oh, and um and not like and she put it in like a hydro flask, but then brought a wine glass. And a mom approached her and was like, Are you drinking? And she was like, Yeah, what else would I do right now? Like, there's nothing to do here. And the one time I left my kid, practice ended early, and they just left him here, which something doesn't add up. I don't believe that either, but and so she's getting ripped a new one for being probably being an alcoholic. And my first thought was like, Bring a book, or I'd be calling clients. I'd be going, like, I'd even if I didn't have internet, I'd have my laptop out, like maybe organizing my calendar or using my phone as a hotspot. Like, there's lots of time, especially if it's just practice, it's not the game, it's not the recital, it's you know, it's not the tournament. There are things you can do while you're sitting and waiting.
SPEAKER_00Right. The flexibility of being a you know independent contractor isn't necessarily that we work, it's not that we work less, right? We have the flexibility to work at practice, right? So I think that just I mean, take it, take advantage of that. And then ultimately, I think the biggest thing, especially because these years happen so fast. I'm about to be the mom of a teenager and I have no idea where the last 13 years went, is to protect those family days, right? We've all heard that when you go on vacation, everybody decides to buy or sell a house, right? I we I know we've all experienced it. But I think that other families also like again understand what's happening. And I'm not saying shut your phone off and don't respond to anything, but make sure when you are doing things with your kids, when you are spending time with your significant other or family members, that you are there, right? That you're not like nodding along to their conversation while you're typing an email back to a client, right? Make sure that you are as Sharon says, be where you're be where your feet are. Be where your feet are. That's so important. And you can set yourself up to be able to do this by setting, like, you know what I mean, scheduling those emails, scheduling those text messages, uh, having an autoresponder. There's so many ways to make sure that you have the ability to be present. And if you are a scatterbrained, distractable little squirrel, put your phone on do not disturb. Yep. Right?
SPEAKER_01And let people know. If they know, they're not gonna bother you. Or if they do, you've already said, I will get back to you after. Because I always tell people, you can text me. I just won't respond until I'm available.
SPEAKER_00Like, well, and I think that that like it has to be like the focus, right? If you're focusing on your family, if you're focusing on where you're at, then you also need to give the same amount of respect to your business. Yeah. When you are sitting there prospecting, when you are sitting there working, that you don't need to be scrolling on Facebook or TikTok or something like that. You need to be working because there's no reason you can't get back to those people who emailed you or return the calls or negotiate the things during the blocks that you set to work. But if we start commingling, right? We talk about funds co-mingling, let's talk about times co-mingling, you're just multitasking is kind of a a joke, right? You're there's no way you can give your hundred percent in two different places.
SPEAKER_01Right. And I think the thing take this one piece at a time. If this seems very overwhelming, like today, as you're looking at things, what's one part of your business that currently works only when your life is going according to plan? That's probably the first system you need to fix.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah, and then work from there. Step by step, exactly. Because again, each and I mean, I've had kids in school long enough to know that it's not as easy as like, oh, kids are back in school, so this is the new system, right? Because it changes every year. What they're involved in at school changes every year, their class load changes every year. The amount of time I have to dedicate to helping with math sometimes changes week to week, right? So being being very honest with yourself and your and your family, right? They know that you're working to be able to pay the bills, right? I need 30 minutes to catch up on these emails that I didn't take care of while I was being the class mom for today.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_00But other than that, I mean, it's a season of life for those of you who are parents that have kids back to school. I've seen so many people that are sad this week because they've moved their kids into college and suddenly they're empty nesters and they're like, oh my God, this is a this is a completely different back to school feeling. So don't resent the time that you have in this this season of life because it is it's a season, and unfortunately it'll go by really, really quick.
SPEAKER_01Right. It will. It will. So just get your systems in place, at least know what your backup plan is. Like at a minimum right now, know okay, if I can't pick them up and my husband can't pick them up, or my partner, or whoever, who's number three and number four, just in case.
SPEAKER_00And do you think that's what did they say during fire safety when we were kids? Like, you gotta have a plan. No, well, the also that, but like to get out of the house when they were like, you have to have like an escape plan, you gotta have a plan. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01Think of it as like the fire ladder. Do you have a fire ladder if your bedroom's on the second floor? You probably should. Um will you ever use it?
SPEAKER_00Hopefully not. Right. But you have it in case you do.
SPEAKER_01Right. Exactly. So on that note, figure out where your fire ladder is. I hope you don't have to use it and have a wonderful school year.
SPEAKER_00We'll see you next week.