Have you ever had a leaky faucet? One that drip drip drips all day and night? Maybe one that you know should be fixed, needs to be fixed, but it isn’t your biggest priority?

Then the water bill comes and you are shocked to learn that the little drip drip drip has resulted in an extra $200 bill and thousands of gallons of water. Then it becomes a big priority! The individual drips don’t seem like a big deal, but the accumulation factor is huge.

Each business has leaks. Most real estate agent businesses are especially prone to leaks because we are independent contractors! Most agents have to be the lead generator, administrative assistant, the bookkeeper, the appointment-setter, the graphic designer, and more. Usually the biggest priority in our business is generating business or maintaining business. There is very little time left for fixing the business.

Make this your moment to get some of those things fixed and home your real estate agent business systems! The easiest thing to start with are your time and money wasters…

Time Wasters

Your time is your most precious asset. We all have a limited amount of it. Sleep, eating, spouses, family, and time for you all take a certain amount of time. The key for the amount you allot for business is to be as efficient as possible with it so you can spend less of it working and more time enjoying life.

The reality is that because we have to wear so many hats at once is that we have to multi-task and multi-tasking is exhausting. It is easy to take mental breaks by online shopping, browsing social media, and even doing research on your next trip. Going out to grab a cup of coffee after lunch may take half an hour out of your day. Even making a bad habit of oversleeping can waste valuable minutes.

And then there is time doing things that aren’t bringing you joy or providing a benefit to your life or business. Perhaps there are organizations you are volunteering for that aren’t operating effectively or have become negative. What about housework? Is it the highest and best use of your time?

Finally, what about the time that is wasted with inefficient processes? How much time is spent searching for documents or emails due to lack of organization? Taking a listing without a new listing checklist or a process is a time-waster.

It is time to do some time editing!

• What are your top 5 activities that are wasting your time?
• How much time would you save in a week if you deleted or limited those activities?

 Money Wasters

Now it is time to switch gears and talk about money. What is important to remember that every dollar you spend took time to make. You can save more of your time when you are a good steward of your money.

As stated earlier, real estate agents have to wear many hats, and are constantly looking for solutions that will make a process easier or that they perceive will allow them to make a bigger impact with clients and they are more than happy to take out their credit card to solve the problem. Unfortunately, many of the solutions that agents opt into wind up not being the panacea promised, but the charge on the card continues month after month.

I encourage you to get out your last three credit card statements. Take a highlighter and first highlight everything you are not using. Include both personal and business. Highlight this in pink. Take a calculator and add up the amount you will save each month with those items deleted. Then make the calls and stop those charges.

Then take a yellow highlighter and highlight the charges that you need to take a closer look at. A few years ago, I was coaching with an agent who had no idea she was spending close to $700 each month on Starbucks until she did this exercise. A little bit of planning ahead and packing lunch cut that expense down dramatically. Someone else had no idea she was spending the amount on staging and had to make some decisions about how she handled that expense with sellers.

How much can you save per month with some editing? How about in a year?

I do an audit of my time and money wasters every year and it has been remarkable at how much of my life I have gotten back through editing.

I am such a strong proponent of this practice that I am devoting an entire segment of my upcoming Amplify class to it. If you have some time and money editing that needs to be done, come and join me! Join me for Amplify, coming up this October 25th and 26th in Lynnwood.

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By Denise Lones CSP, M.I.R.M., CDEI – The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones, brings nearly three decades of experience in the real estate industry. With agent/broker coaching, expertise in branding, lead generation, strategic marketing, business analysis, new home project planning, product development, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things real estate. With a passion for improvement, Denise has helped thousands of real estate agents, brokers, and managers build their business to unprecedented levels of success, while helping them maintain balance and quality of life.