Agents: You're Overworked! Fix It

If you feel like an overworked agent, join the club! Oftentimes you end up dedicating more than 40 hours to work, then go home too stressed and exhausted to really relax and enjoy yourself. Continuing this cycle is not good for you, or your business. So, take the steps necessary to gain control of your time, and finally make your schedule work for you. With proper time management you will be able to grow your business, while still keeping up with everything else you love to do.

Follow the tips listed below to start improving your time management today.

Invest in Support

One overlooked aspect of time management is time allocation. You need to make sure that you are only spending your time on tasks that require your attention. For a real estate agent of course this is still a million tasks, but certain time consuming ones fall off the list. For example, all of the paperwork management involved in your transactions can be outsourced for a very reasonable fee, one which you can easily pass along to your client if you wish.

Outsourcing your transactional work can save you as much as 16 hours per transaction. You can then use that time to work on revenue-generating tasks, client interaction, or even for a much needed break. Regardless, hiring a transaction coordinator can easily help you grow your business, and free up more of your time.

A virtual assistant is also a good option when it comes to finding support for your business. Virtual assistants can complete a wide variety of tasks. Ranging from making social media posts, to handling your scheduling. They often don't have any real estate experience though, limiting them from helping you with many tasks involved in your transactions. So, evaluate what kind of support would be more beneficial to you, and then don't be afraid to invest in it.

Have a Tentative Plan for Everyday

Planning out your day helps you set goals for yourself, and keeps you on task. While it is still important to be flexible with your schedule to avoid unnecessary stress, having a baseline of what you need to accomplish everyday is never a bad idea.

Plan out your day in short time blocks that allow you to focus on each task one at a time. After each block, plan for about a 10-minute break. So, for example, you could schedule social media planning from 9am to 10am, followed by a quick 10-minute walk around your block. Scheduling out your day in this way will allow you to reach maximum productivity and efficiency with your work. Seven hours or more straight of trying to work your hardest is not sustainable. You will quickly begin to feel overworked and burnt out from that approach.

The benefits of a sustainable and healthy work schedule will show in every part of your life. Do not underestimate the power of taking care of your mental health, especially when it comes to your work.

Set Boundaries

When feeling overworked as an agent, it is a good idea to immediately start setting boundaries. Boundaries are extremely important when it comes to avoiding burnout. You need to have time away from work, as well as not feel like you're on-call 24/7 for your clients. To accomplish this, start by setting some of these simple boundaries:

• Schedule out one day a week, or a specific window of time each day, where you will not be available for work calls, texts, meetings, etc.
• Inform your clients on the best way to communicate with you.
• Give your clients an estimated time frame they can expect a reply from you.

Have this conversation with your clients immediately, and ask them if they have any specific boundaries themselves. This ensures everyone has the same expectations from the very beginning, saving you from miscommunication and disputes later on.

Clients who are worth working with will respect your boundaries, so don't feel guilty about addressing the subject.

Find Your Balance

When you start to feel overworked as an agent, it is important to take action quickly. You do not want to find yourself in the position where you no longer enjoy what you do everyday. So set the boundaries that are necessary, strategically plan out your day, and make sure you invest in the help that can make a huge difference.

To view the original article, visit the Transactly blog.