April is Stress Awareness Month. And, since many of us have spent way too much time working from home, home schooling the kids, and trying to keep business momentum despite the pandemic, lots of real estate agents are feeling more stressed than ever before. Either that—or if you are extremely busy as a result of the seller’s market (writing offer after offer or managing multiple offers and loads of phone calls), you might be feeling a little bit anxious due to the loss of control. As such, I’m taking some time to provide you with 4 tips for running a stress-free real estate business (or at least one that is slightly less stressful).

4 Tips for Running a Stress-Free Real Estate Business

1. Follow a daily schedule. During your work week (yes, I know many agents work 7 days), set up a daily schedule. What time will you read and respond to emails? What time will you make prospecting calls? What time will you return phone calls? What time will you work on your advertising activities? What time will you shut down for the evening? Research has shown that those who stick to a daily schedule feel more control, and less stress in their daily lives.
2. Learn to delegate. Micromanagers are not going to like this, but it is extremely important to delegate tasks. If you have an assistant, a transaction coordinator, or a buyer’s agent on your team, carve out their roles, have daily morning meetings to set out the tasks and then step away. Once you pass on some of your responsibilities to a person that you trust, you will be freed up to focus on what you do best—list and sell property.
3. Use tech tools and platforms that work. Personally, I’ve tried out hundreds of different tech tools, and some definitely had an easier learning curve and worked better for my team than others. Even though it has been around for several years, lately we’ve found that Slack has been a great tool to meet our business needs. With a channel for each property and a few for other regimented tasks, we’ve found that it is the simplest way to create a log and also to touch base throughout the day without the taxing interruption of a phone call.
4. Say “no”. This isn’t easy for everyone. Admittedly, it took me several years to get to this point in my business. But, when I started saying “no” to people who stressed me out and activities that were going to be difficult and too taxing, everything else got so much better! Sometimes we want to take on listings where the seller wants to sell for much higher than market value or perhaps they want the same service as everyone else but for less money, I’ve found that these folks need to move on. That home is probably not going to sell for what the seller wants; it will stay on the market too long and they will become angry because you didn’t sell it. Wouldn’t your time be best served helping someone who respects your experience and the date you provide?

There are tons of other ways to reduce pandemic stress. But, if you even adopt one of these four, I can pretty much guarantee you that you will be much less stressed about your business this month.