Keep Your Foot on the Gas 

“Systems Run the Business and People Run the Systems.”

-Michael E. Gerber

In the Real Estate industry, winter is typically our slower season, and as demonstrated by the cute dog picture above, we highly recommend you take some time to recharge during these slower months. Hibernate, rest, relax, whatever you and your body, mind, soul need- do it. But once you have had some resting during these slower times, we recommend you improve your systems! And if you’re not in the Real Estate industry- we still have some great tips for personal systems, so read on!

But First…What’s a “System”??:

• What: Systems can be anything from an actual technology system you use at work, to every day life systems like your calendar. 
• Why: Systems are AMAZING! If you trust and use them they’ll help you be more efficient, consistent, and have less stress.
• Who: The people run the systems so make sure you have the right people in the right places. AND, make sure you have the right systems in place that the right people can follow them. This creates consistency in your work, which is KEY for referrals in the RE industry! 
• When: Don’t over systematize your life so much that you’re actually less efficient. So be aware of this when you are creating systems and stop to ask your self, “will this actually make me more efficient or better?” Also analyze what systems you had previously and if they’re still needed? 
• How: Create a list that throughout the year you can add to it of systems you need in your life and/or ones to rehaul if it’s broken. Then during these slower months use that list!
• Where: Where you use systems will ultimately be up to you but I try to analyze anywhere that I’m repeating the same actions and think how can I build it out to not have to repeat it entirely. 

Our Favorite Systems for Personal Life:

• A virtual checklist that I add tasks to that show up on the day they need to be done.
  • This is my bread and butter and how I run everything with work and life. It’s used for my business but I have personal checklists in there too to keep me on track.
  • For example it has monthly reminders on giving tick medicine to my fur babies, quarterly reminders to pay taxes, yearly reminders to cancel or renew subscriptions, birthday gift reminders, etc.
  • Mine is a Real Estate specific one that I’m happy to tell you about if you’re interested but it does cost money, so a free non RE related one I’ve used and loved is Basecamp. 
• My Dream Book
  • I’ve talked about this many times but it’s a system. And although I love virtual for various reasons, when it comes to big dreams and ideas there is nothing that beats the feel of the real book in your hands. The slowness of the ink scrawling on a page versus typing has the ability to create excitement as each word fills the pages. 
• Bags for Efficiency
  • Each season I create separate duffel bags for each activity. They’re all packed with snacks and the gear specific to that activity. Then when I’m on a limited amount of time I can run out the door with the bag and know I have everything I need.
    • Life goal: Own a rad van that has everything I would need! 
• A note taking app on my phone with these various notes:
  • Outdoor Crew:
    • I’m lucky enough to have a lot of friends into the same hobbies as me. When I am getting ready to go do one of those I look at my list to remind me which friends are into which sports. It gets confusing which one of my friends has classic cross country gear and which ones have skate gear. 🙂
  • Shopping List:
    • I add to it daily when I run out of food/house items or when I’m meal prepping each week. 
  • Favorite Recipes
    • This one is the best!!! I find myself making the same 10 recipes each week so I saved them into this note with the ingredients right there, so then when I’m at the store I can have it laid out what items I need. 
  • People I Meet
    • I suck at names. Like real bad. So when I meet someone new I try to immediately go put them in this note with details (spouses name, kids’ ages, job, etc.) so next time I am going to see them I can do a quick refresher. 
  • Gifts:
    • Somewhere to keep track of gift ideas for people. When you’re hanging out with someone and they mention things they need/want, go add it to this note and come Christmas time you’ll thank yourself! 
  • General To Do:
    • This is for non time sensitive stuff that gets put here rather than my virtual system. 
  • Entertainment:
    • Books, movies, and podcasts to someday read or watch. 
  • Trips:
    • As I’m planning a new trip I’ll create a new note and add things to it. From to do items to things to look into, etc. 
  • Foodie:
    • I hate going to the same restaurant and ordering something I don’t like. But I dislike even more going back to that restaurant and forgetting what I ordered and having the same bad meal twice. Oops! So now I make a list of foods I love or hate. 

What are some systems you live by? What systems are you lacking in life? We’d love to hear what is or isn’t working for you! And we hope this sparks ideas of how to build out systems in your life to give yourself more time, to focus on what’s important to you! 

Hey Realtors, This Sections for YOU!
Some Professional Systems to Win Your Day:

• Our virtual system mentioned above also has two super important key features:
  • Checklist Templates:
    • If you don’t have transaction checklist templates built out for your business yet, please reach out to us today to chat about this as it’s a huge time saver and it makes sure you aren’t dropping the ball anywhere in you transactions. 🙂 
  • Scripts:
    • Do you find yourself typing up some of the same emails each transaction? Well that’s a script that should be saved as an email template and then you can just plug in the appropriate info. We have worked hard to make our scripts not only efficient and informative, but personable too and you can build this out as well! 
• Do you know about Instanet Templates?
  • These are available for free and will save you so much time when putting together offers for buyers, listing docs for sellers, etc. If you don’t know about these reach out today and we’ll show you how to set them up! (Or you can pay us to set them up for you.:)). 
• We have even more systems that we’re happy to share- email us to request those OR you can follow our Facebook page (Click HERE) where we post weekly about great systems we have.