KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Master Your Time: 7 Hacks for Real Estate Agents to Avoid Burnout with Stuart Hislop

Starting point is 00:00:01 If you actually start to implement each one of these key points that I'll share with you, you will actually start to see how your time management actually starts to become easier. This is KGCI Real Estate on Air Live, your weekly deep dive into the strategies, trends, and tools, shaping the real estate industry, from market updates to actionable strategies and exclusive interviews with top agents. We are here to unlock your full potential and help you thrive. thousands of agents trust KGCI every week. Now it's your turn. Let's go live.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Here's Ian Wheatley. Welcome to KGCI Real Estate on air live. I'm Ian Wheatley, where we're hitting more real estate home runs in the San Francisco Giants. Did you see this? I saw this over in the San Francisco Chronicle a few days back. Fans becoming increasingly concerned about more than just the team's batting average this upcoming season as the Giants' organizations' latest business venture is catching some science. eye. They're calling at Mission Rock. It's a $3 billion mixed-use development that's transforming

Starting point is 00:01:10 28 acres of parking lots into a waterfront utopia because who needs parking at a baseball game when you can have artisanal avocado toast with a Bayview, especially when your team isn't drawn a crowd. Now, some of the fans, they're worried the Giants are going to be more focused on real estate than baseball this season and moving forward. But come on. Who doesn't want to shortstop doubling as a leasing agent. Sure, I struck out, but can I interest you in a luxury condo with a partial stadium view? But in all seriousness, the Giants, they insist that no funds are being diverted from the team for these projects.

Starting point is 00:01:45 So rest easy fans, their payroll's still intact, and they're still in the market for that elusive 300 hitter. So, I just saw that and just got, it just made me chuckle. Just made me chuckle, and I want to share the chuckles with you, unless you're Giants fans, then I'm sorry. Then I guess misery loves company. But let's slide into today's show. We're diving in deep with time management mastery.

Starting point is 00:02:09 You either run your day or your day runs you. And Stuart Hisslaw, host The Simple Truth with Stewart, heard here on KGCI Real Estate on air, is coming in with the time hacks and tactics that you need to know in order for you to run your day. But first, the future of housing affordability is in the news. Let's dive into the housing headlines here on KGCI. Real Estate on Air Live. Think about how we can improve the costs of housing for our citizens. And I think one of the ways that we're going to have to do that is by being a little bit smarter about our local zoning rules.

Starting point is 00:02:43 Vice President J.D. Vance is being given some praise by the National Association of Realtors and others for encouraging communities to look into zoning reforms to improve housing affordability. If we actually want these places to be magnets not just for jobs and investment, but also the dreams of our young people, we've got to actually make it easier to build homes. That's Vance again there speaking at the National League of Cities Conference last week in D.C. Well, I guess what does this all mean for agents? Obviously more inventory means more opportunities. And if zoning reforms are moving forward, they could open up some new housing development that creates more inventory for buyers and that increases transactions for agents. So staying local and staying informed is probably the key here. These reforms are not happening at the national level.

Starting point is 00:03:24 They're going to be happening at the city and state level. So agents should be staying focused and engaged with local planning boards and real estate, to advocate for policies that do benefit homeownership. And for our clients, right, we need to be educating the buyers and we need to be educating the sellers because they're going to be hearing about these discussions. They're not going to understand the impact it is going to have to them. So position yourself as that expert by explaining how zoning changes could increase home choices and that could impact pricing in a market.

Starting point is 00:03:53 But probably the bottom line here is smart agents. They stay ahead of market trends. And if zoning reforms are gaining traction in your market, new opportunities will emerge in your market, especially for buyers that are struggling with affordability, which I don't know a buyer who isn't struggling on some level with affordability right now. Now, the threat of higher electric bills, that still looms over Minnesota, Michigan, and New York

Starting point is 00:04:18 as trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada continue to escalate. At least for now, tariffs on electricity from Canada have been halted by Ontario Premier Doug Ford. I've agreed to suspend temporarily, and we always, have that tool in our toolkit until we sit down and we'll have a good discussion. For those that aren't in Canada, a Premier is most like a governor here in the U.S. Now, the looming 25% surcharge could add more than $100 per month to electric bills for those receiving their electric supply out of the province of Ontario. So agents, affordability challenges could be expanding, right?

Starting point is 00:04:56 Rising electric costs could further strain homebuyers and homeowners already struggling with inflation, insurance hikes, mortgage rates, right? So anticipate some added buyer hesitation, at least possibly, right? Increased home ownership costs could impact affordability calculations for some buyers, especially if they're in Minnesota, Michigan, and New York, right? So making energy efficiency and solar options, a bigger selling point, that might be something to be looking out for. Also, position energy efficiency as a value add, all right? Agents should high. highlight energy efficient homes. They should highlight smart home tech. They should highlight potential solar incentives when marketing properties. And the bottom line here is if energy costs rise,

Starting point is 00:05:44 utility expenses will become a bigger factor in home buying decision. So be prepared to discuss that high efficiency furnace, okay, especially in Minnesota, Michigan and New York. Okay. Be prepared for offering solutions for potential cost savings. with buyers and with sellers. And industry groups, including the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders, are praising the confirmation of the new FHFA director. The Federal Housing Finance Agency oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been under government conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis.

Starting point is 00:06:22 Now, one key and one key goal of the new director and the Trump administration is to move Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of that conservatorship. While this could be a positive long-term shift, there are industry insiders that are raising concerns about potential consequences. So agents, what are those consequences? Well, some potential changes to mortgage affordability have been raised, right? Moving Fannie and Freddie out of the conservatorship could mean stricter lending policies affecting mortgage liquidity. What that means is that it might make home loans harder to obtain for some buyers, okay? Higher mortgage rates could be in the offing.

Starting point is 00:06:59 There is this concern that removing the government backing could lead to increased risk for lenders, which will naturally push them to increase mortgage rates, higher than where they are today. And probably the big fear, and I see this really only as a fear, is that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage could be at risk, right? Some experts are worried that this move could jeopardize that traditional 30-year fix. rate mortgage, which has been a key pillar for affordability for buyers. So the bottom line here is this is a developing situation, but agents should be keeping an eye on how changes to Fannie Mae and how changes to Freddie Mac could be impacting mortgage rates and loan availability. If government support is reduced, lending could tighten and affordability could shift. And that's a check of your

Starting point is 00:07:48 housing headlines here on KGCI Real Estate on Airline. KGCI Real Estate on Air, I mean Wheatley. We are a live today and thrilled to chat with Stuart Hissloff, the host of The Simple Truth with Stewart, based all the way in South Africa. Stewart's seasoned real estate pro. He's a thought leader in the industry. He breaks down, he's great at breaking down these complex challenges into simple, actionable steps. You hear that on the Simple Truth with Stewart streaming here on KGCI, Real Estate on air.

Starting point is 00:08:18 We're going to be diving into how you can get more out of your day, how you as a real estate agent can achieve your goals and how you can thrive in this ever-changing real estate market. Stuart, welcome to the show. It's a pleasure to have you on. No, thank you, Ian. It's actually, it's an honor and a privilege to be on this particular show. You know, it's something that's growing. It's passionate for me to actually share not only knowledge, but experiences.

Starting point is 00:08:40 That's the authentic side of me is sharing my experiences with agents. It's awesome. And you're good at it too. So, Stuart, let's talk a little bit about these basics. Time management, it's a bit of a buzzword in the, in pretty much any business sector. But, you know, why do you think it's particularly crucial for real estate agents? And what's at stake for a real estate agent if they don't manage their time effectively? Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:09:08 It's a great question. And it's something that I've spent years digging deeper, understanding why. What actually happens? And one of the big things that I've actually come across with real estate agents is this is a rapid industry. You're on the go all the time. You just do not stop. I've spoken to agents that start at seven in the morning. They go through until 9, 10 o'clock at night, and they do this for seven days a week.

Starting point is 00:09:35 And ultimately what happens is if you don't have a time management plan, something that's actually going to calm you down, slow you down, you're going to burn out. And that is something that is, I've seen it with so many agents, is they hit this burned outstage. Now, one of the clear ways that I actually, when I have a coaching session with an agent and to identify, have you hit that burnout, is I start looking and asking them questions about opportunities. You know, what's the latest opportunity that you've received? And most of them go, Stuart, I don't see anything. You know, it's just, I'm just hitting my, hitting the road and I'm just going forward. And ultimately, I know that they've hit that burnt out. So getting burnt out is

Starting point is 00:10:21 absolutely detrimental to your business because you just cannot survive. And now when you start actually putting effects of time management and I ultimately, when I work with the clients, I actually start breaking this down into basically seven key little steps that actually can assist them. Suddenly there's like this revelation starts to happen. One of the big things is the income starts to increase. Their client satisfaction is going through the roof. We find that they're getting more repeat business. And one key element, and it's one that I'm very, very passionate about, their personal life, their family, that starts to improve as well. Because once you at that burnout level, it has such a knock on effect to everything else around you. So time management,

Starting point is 00:11:11 without it, you're actually just asking for trouble and actually going to restrict your growth going forward. Dovetown off of that, what is a common mistake that an agent makes? You know, if they're just kind of out there in the wild doing their own thing, what are some of those common mistakes that an agent makes that you routinely see when it comes to managing their time? So one of the most common mistakes is they get a phone call, they drop everything, and they run.

Starting point is 00:11:39 They chase every single phone call without doing any form of investigation, asking questions, almost getting the pre-qualification, is this a true buyer? Is this a true seller? And actually taking that down to that's a deeper level. So that is one of the biggest things that I see with rookie agents when they're coming through is they're so desperate for business that one call comes in and it's literally stop and they just run towards that. They spend two, three hours. And when they come back, they're now trying to pick up where they left off. And the next phone call comes through and ultimately what happens they're starting to push these 12 14 hour days and that just goes into absolute spiral in a downturn you know you talked a little bit about your seven key

Starting point is 00:12:29 steps and that probably ties into this next one on the practical side of it what are some of your favorite productivity hacks that an agent could implement today to start to save time and maybe get a little bit more done in a more productive way absolutely you know i'm going to share with you that the seven key that I work with my particular clients and the agents, and it's in no particular order, but what you will find is if you actually start to implement each one of these key points that I'll share with you, you will actually start to see how your time management actually starts to become easier. And you're going to start seeing those particular results. So the very first one that I want to share with you, and this one goes without saying it's

Starting point is 00:13:14 basically it's prioritizing. You've need to prioritize your particular tasks. Now, I'm sure you've heard of the Pareto's principle, the 80-20 principle. You focus on the 20% and it gives you the 80% results. Now, that is so true when you actually look at your business. But the tip that I share with this is when you start looking at your prioritization, what I want you to do is to focus on three priority tasks in a day and make sure you actually complete them before you. anything else. And those can be things that fall into the category of lead generation, follow-ups, client experiences, follow-up, get into those particular tasks and nail them out first. The second is create these time blocks in your particular calendar. And this for rookie agents is something

Starting point is 00:14:07 that I find is probably the hardest for them to actually accept. And putting a time block is saying, you know, between 9 and 11, I'm actually just going to do my lead generation. That's all I'm going to do. I'm going to focus on that lead generation. But now, they suddenly get a phone call, hey, Ian, can I see you tomorrow at 930? And what do they do? Absolutely. And they nail it.

Starting point is 00:14:30 They'll if they go to that particular appointment and they forget about those time blocks. So in essence, having a time block is actually setting an appointment with yourself. And you're actually just blocking it out. And if a client phones you, the tip is, hey, by the. way. I've actually got an appointment at that time. Can I meet you at 1130? It's as simple as that. And one thing that I found personally is suddenly that client suddenly looked to me and went, this agent is busy. They've actually got appointments. So it actually helps in another way. The third tip, and it's really a tip, we are human beings. And so too often, what we try and do

Starting point is 00:15:07 is we try and internalize everything. We try and remember everything. We're trying to hold everything within ourselves. And ultimately, you just cannot do that. Leverage technology. That's the third tip. Leverage technology, like things like Google calendars, CRM packages to maintain your databases, giving you reminders and so forth. Make sure that you leveraging that technology. It just helps you when you wake up in the morning and you just got this notification of these are your three tasks for the day. This is the time that you need to do. it, you actually are controlling yourself and eliminating everybody controlling you. The fourth tip is one that is extremely difficult and the reason behind it's so difficult is because

Starting point is 00:15:58 we love it. It gives us dopamine and these are distractions. Distractions is one of the areas that can knock a real estate agent. In fact, I'm not an entrepreneur off their game. Dopamines like, let me just double check social media. Three hours later, I'm still on social media. These type of distractions can absolutely take your entire calendar away. So eliminate them all together. When you're doing time blocks, shut down emails, shut down messages, even turn off your phone if you don't need to be using your phone.

Starting point is 00:16:34 Get rid of all of those particular distractions so that you can actually focus on that particular the priority, which is absolutely key on that. The fifth one, and this one here, I'm a very big believer that nobody succeeds alone. And the way that we actually succeed when we go forward is we work with others. So the fifth tip and the fifth key really is enlisting support of the people around you. If you find that you are battling with something, don't spend two, three hours trying to understand it. Rather ask for help. If it's something where you look at this particular task and you go, you know what, I've got to send out 10 emails.

Starting point is 00:17:20 I just don't have the time. Get yourself a virtual assistant. Get them to send those emails. When you start looking at all those tasks, there are certain tasks that somebody else can actually do for you. So big one, and that's number five, is that delegation and support. Make sure that you can actually work with the people around you because everybody succeeds alone. And you can actually look at that all over. The sixth one.

Starting point is 00:17:46 And this is something that I did personally. So this is something that really worked well for me. I'm a person that works with systems. I love systems and they really help me to start going forward. And what we find is there's a lot of processes that have repeatable steps whereby I go to an appointment. I do X, then I do Y, then I do Z. And it's a repeatable process on an ongoing basis. And what I actually found was setting up a checklist of those repeatable steps,

Starting point is 00:18:18 having that little checklist so that when I'll go through to an appointment, I know I need to do one, two, three, four, five, and I know everything is done. Because again, we're human beings. We're trying to internalize it. We try and remember it. We miss out on booking the photographer, the professional photographer. And then suddenly we like three weeks down the line and you've got a seller going, why is my listing not live?

Starting point is 00:18:44 And you're going, I actually forgot to do the professional photographer. So have that checklist for the repeatable tasks. It's something that is extremely powerful and it actually simplifies your business. Plus, if you grow into a team, they're actually going to match what you do. So your service level actually becomes growth, becomes almost like a standard. And the very last one, this one is something that I work with a lot of entrepreneurs actually around the world on. And this is maintaining a work-life balance. And this is so, so important.

Starting point is 00:19:18 When you're starting to put in 12, 14 hours, you're actually starting to have a negative effect on your life balance. And that life balance is just so, so important. So your family and your friends, it is so vital that you have that. for you to actually survive as a human being. So this maintaining this work life balance is about putting in boundaries. Having boundaries that 6 p.m., it shut down. That's it. I'm not taking calls.

Starting point is 00:19:48 I'm not doing anything. 6 p.m. That's it. And you actually set those particular boundaries. And for me personally, I used to take the boundary of only doing my buyer appointments. And this was for me and my business, only did them on. a Saturday morning between 10 and 12, all by appointments, all came in at the same time to the various properties that I had. And that allowed me to actually take back the time. Someone who

Starting point is 00:20:17 would say to me, hey, can I view the property on Tuesday at 3 o'clock? My immediate response is, I'm actually going to do it Saturday between 10 and 12. And pulling all together actually was then putting more of a control. And it gave me that time back because now I could actually actually spin it with my actual family. So those are my seven key points that really if you start to implement and they're very simple, you will start seeing how one, your productivity will start to increase because you're actually more in control than being out of control. And out of control equals stress. And there's there's so many good things I want to go back to. I was scribbling my notes, right but you know I had to I had to just going back to leveraging tech and

Starting point is 00:21:05 distractions right you know it's when you have your CRM dialer right go into the phone right the problem with the phone ends up being you know you hang up that call and then it's like ah it's really easy to from from the phone app to go to Facebook to go to Instagram and you know it can be well honest intentioned things whether you're maybe you're checking business you know did did anybody reach out to you through Messenger like it can start with the best of intentions and then you just find yourself doing the doom scroll and that's a problem. I had to figure out a way to make my dialer call into my laptop to minimize that distraction, right?

Starting point is 00:21:48 So that way I was just calling on the laptop. The phone was out of the equation. I have an iPhone, right? So you have focus time. You have these different little productivity things. And I remember using that. But not everybody has a high-powered CRM. But it's amazing what you can do with just taking activating the focus time on your iPhone or Android and what you can do with a Google calendar. There's a lot of different ways to really leverage that. You also talked a little bit about towards the end about, you know, I've talked about a burnout as well. that, but real estate's a bit of a lifestyle, right? How can agents balance the demands of their

Starting point is 00:22:33 real estate businesses while maintaining that healthy personal life? So that, that is a great question to ask because there's always an overlap and the overlap comes in. Well, hey, I'm going on the weekend and I'm going to go to a social. Now, that's supposed to be downtime. You get to that social and the first person that comes up to you says, hey, how's real estate? And then what happens? Suddenly, you switch clicks and for the next three or four hours, you are in real estate mode. You're actually taking appointments, you're setting up inquiries, you're getting all of this information. And ultimately, there's your family sitting there going, all right, now you've excluded us.

Starting point is 00:23:17 So that's one of these areas which becomes quite difficult. But one area that I've personally found to be the easiest way to do it is I actually enlisted the support of my wife. And by enlisting the support of my wife, what she would actually do is I set the boundary every evening, 5 o'clock was my personal shutdown time. 5 o'clock, 5 p.m. I shut down everything, including my mobile phone. I'd make sure that it was on silence. So if you phone, it would just go through to message and I would phone you back the next day. Now, if it got to about 20 past five, she would come into my office and she would actually say to me, you do realize you're actually into family time.

Starting point is 00:24:01 And it made me aware. Now, I gave her the privilege. I gave her that, almost that authority to come to me to give me that particular, hey, you're actually in family time. So that was one of the biggest things that I actually did was enlisting the support of my family to actually give me that reminder because we can just go down that rabbit hole and that rabbit hole is deep and it's dark and you cannot see the light for day. So that was my biggest tip was actually doing all of that. But many people have done elements where they actually set alarms on their phone, where it cuts off. Having different types of scripts. So if you're in a social environment and someone says,

Starting point is 00:24:50 hey, do you mind if you come and see my property afterwards? Just having a script or say, you know, that's absolutely fantastic. Let me take down your details. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to call you Monday morning and we're going to set up that appointment. And really leading the conversation to that desired outcome, that becomes such a powerhouse where you don't fall into that trap where you are desperate for everything. And you find that when you're actually open and honest and having those type of conversations, your buyers and sellers, they respect you. This is not a 24-7 business. That's the truth.

Starting point is 00:25:25 Yeah. And you just mentioned this. The agents that are out there where everything just feels like it's urgent. How can we, how could you, how do you coach agents to prioritize tasks when they're dealing with, you know, everything is urgent, everything's on fire. They're chasing the call. What are some of those practical tips that you coach your clients on that an agent could turn around and implement today if they're, you know, starting to feel that burnout? Absolutely. So it puts into the context of what is that urgent request coming in. Now, typically those urgent requests, it's either coming from a buyer's or it's coming from a seller. Those are, those are normally the two urgent ones.

Starting point is 00:26:09 buyer urgently needs to see that property within the next 10 minutes because they're getting on a plane to fly to a different country. And that's this urgency that's got to come through. And when I work with agents, the first thing I say is nothing is urgent. That's the truth. Nothing is urgent. All right. There is a time and a place for everything. So when you're working with a particular buyer, what you need to do is you need to do the qualification.

Starting point is 00:26:39 of those buyers and really digging deep. Can they afford it? Do they have the money for it? You know, getting this, this understanding of those actual buyers they want their needs. And ultimately, I've even experienced it when I was a rookie, I take them through. They saw the first picture. The buyer saw the first picture. They loved it. And then they go, oh, it's only two bedrooms. I need six. You know, they didn't read the fine print. and you're going, well, I've just wasted that time. So it's very important that when you're working with those buyers, you actually slow down the process by asking them those questions so that you can understand their wants and needs at a very deeper level.

Starting point is 00:27:21 When it comes to a seller, it's a slightly different type of conversation because generally with a seller, you've got a mandate to sell and market that property. And the urgency, the biggest urgency that comes through is, hey Stuart financially I am suffering I need an offer like now and that starts to really start to blow up and ultimately what I do with sellers every time it's something urgent I set up an appointment with him I say fantastic let's set up an appointment I'm going to come around see you tomorrow at 1130 and we can actually discuss us and make sure that we come up with a particular plan and in doing that

Starting point is 00:28:02 it actually starts to almost take you to a level of professionalism. I can't sort it out on the phone. It's something that I need to sit in front of you. I need to have the discussion and we start going from there. And nine times out of ten, it's going to be a price counseling type of discussion. And ultimately, their urgency, their need to sell actually gives that motivation to start doing those price counseling. And then suddenly, you're actually in a place where you've got to want.

Starting point is 00:28:32 well-listed priced property and next minute sells. And then you're the best person out there. So urgency, nothing is urgent. You just need to know how to actually handle it to a desired outcome. Again, it's a script. You know, I remember when I was a rookie dealing with buyers and, you know, the phone rings, right? And the expectation is that the property is going to get shown, you know, right now, right? The NAR settlement here in the states kind of forces this process to slow down rather substantially, which is a, which I think is a good thing, because it was really awkward when I would have to have this conversation with a buyer that's coming in, right? Inbound lead, right? And I would say, well, I like to do a consult before I start showing houses, right? You know, so for me,

Starting point is 00:29:30 it was very natural to start the process of asking for representation agreements and whatnot. However, that hasn't been a very natural conversation for many buyers. But when I started doing that, when I just slowed the process down to qualify a lead, as opposed to I'm going to try to qualify you inside of a house that we're looking at, right? So there's not a ton of rapport there. There's not a lot of professionalism there. you know, I had this objective where I just don't want to show houses on Sunday, right? I don't want to have to do appointments on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:30:03 And then that spilled into I don't have to, unless I really want to, unless we have nothing going on on a Saturday, I don't have to show a house on a Saturday either. I can fit all of these appointments Monday through Friday. Seller appointments can fit during the work week, buyer appointments can all fit in the work week and it really when you when you focus on understanding that nothing is truly urgent right not every you know there are a few things in life where everything must cease in order to address this the situation circumstance in front of us when that becomes accepted as a principle of your business the business gets a whole lot simpler how do you encourage because I was at the

Starting point is 00:30:49 precipice of burnout, right? For me, it was, I'm drowning, doing 20 deals a year and I'm trying to grow. That was my pain point. How do you encourage agents to set these boundaries with their time and energy, ideally before they've burnt themselves out? Look, that's actually quite a challenge for most people, because you don't know your limitations. So you actually don't know how far you can actually push yourself. And most people, especially when you're in a deep hole, that financial negative position, you just push yourself further and further and further. So one of the key things is to make sure that every single thing that you're doing, you are in control. That is absolutely key. So when you're doing an action, it's not someone saying to you, hey, Ian, I need you to

Starting point is 00:31:40 make a photocopy. Hey, Ian, can you please actually drop off these flyers at this particular place? Now, those are instructions. Those are somebody giving you instructions which actually starts to create levels of stress. So everything that you do, you just take one step back, you take a deep breath, am I in control of this particular action? Is it a desired outcome that's going to leave me closer to my goal? And if the answer is yes, then you start to move forward. If the answer is no, well, it's probably that you're going down that little rabbit hole again, those distractions, or you're doing something for something. somebody else. So the big thing that I say to everybody, and it's very challenging in the beginning because you don't have that almost that intuition to say, let me stop. You're just on that go, go,

Starting point is 00:32:31 go, go all the time. And you just have to take that step back and just go, all right, let me breathe. Am I in control of this? Yes or no. Is this action going to take me closer to my goal? Yes or no. All right. It's yes. I'm in control. Yes, it's getting me closer. All right. right, let's start going forward again. And in doing that, you actually start to eliminate a lot that creates burnout because burnout is associated to anxiety, stress, etc. So making sure you just take that little deep breath, ask yourself those questions, and then you start to go forward and you will find that you actually start to relax. And burnout becomes something of a limitation. Yes. I love that.

Starting point is 00:33:17 Stuart, this has been such an insightful conversation. I love the seven key takeaways that you've shared. I love some of the time blocking and some of the strategies and just understanding that, you know, not everything is urgent and very few things in life are actually urgent. And, you know, how agents can scale and grow and time block and manage their time effectively and avoiding burnout. We've covered a lot of ground. for our listeners, what is the, if we could just distill this whole thing down to one single piece of advice that you'd like them to take away from today's conversation, what would

Starting point is 00:33:56 that be? I would actually say this. And there's one takeaway is time management, it's not about doing more. It's about what matters most. You know, that I think is one of the big things is when you know, you're actually managing just your life, it's not about doing more and more and more and more activities. It's about doing those activities that matters the most for you. And ultimately, if you can focus on what matters most, you will actually make those decisions. And it could

Starting point is 00:34:31 be what matters most for me right now is my family. And that's what matters most. If what matters most for you is about looking for sellers, that's what matters most. So having that, I think is absolutely key. Stuart, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, your experience with us today. For our listeners who can catch more of Stewart's insights on his podcast, Simple Truth with Stewart, that's streaming right here on KGCI, Real Estate on Air. We're also available everywhere that you listen to podcasts. Stuart, thanks very much for joining us on KGCI, Real Estate on Air.

Starting point is 00:35:07 No, always a pleasure. I look forward to it. KGCI, Real Estate on Air live. I'm Ian Wheatley. favorite things since starting KGCI Real Estate on Air is the understanding that I've come to that this station is borderless and strong real estate business building practices transcend borders. And I love having a conversation with Stewart because he's all the way in South Africa. And the truth that he brings in the simple truth with Stewart podcast heard here on KGCI Real Estate on air is borderless and it can impact your business wherever your business lies. So I think one of my key takeaways in all this is that time management isn't about doing more.

Starting point is 00:35:48 It's about doing what matters the most, right? Many agents believe that managing time effectively means squeezing in more tasks. But as Stewart emphasized that success really comes from focusing on what truly moves the needle, whether it's lead generation, client follow-ups, or even, honestly, some of our personal time or prioritizing the right activities. it's not just about filling that day with busy work. It's key to sustain success to focus on what matters most. I also thought that the biggest agent mistake that he pointed out is to chase in every call without any qualification at all, right?

Starting point is 00:36:26 One of the most common pitfalls that Stewart shared was that he sees agents dropping everything for every new lead without assessing its value, right? Pre-qualifying buyers and sellers before, right? running out the door, it does ensure that agents don't waste hours on leads that don't convert, right? Instead, agents should slow the process down a little bit, ask those key questions up front, and set the boundaries before going out on appointments. I think my third takeaway in all this is that time blocking is absolutely essential. I know that that has been the key to success when I've been at a high production level. It's that time blocking is just one of the most powerful productivity strategies, but agents often break their own schedules, right? Especially when a client asks for a different

Starting point is 00:37:13 time, right? Stuart did stress that agents should treat time blocks as if they're a real appointment that you have, right? Whether that's lead generation or follow-ups or personal time, right? And agents should be offering alternative times instead of always just simply saying yes, right? When the need arises, the need arises, right? It's that Eisenhower matrix, right? It's, is anything really urgent, right this discipline creates efficiency and it builds a perceived value with clients also you know a couple more things that he had pointed out along the way is that distractions and a lack of systems are just these silent little business killers okay agents often underestimate just how much time these distractions steal from their day he pointed out that social media scrolling and necessary emails phone interruptions

Starting point is 00:38:01 they can just derail even the best plan schedule so he recommended leverage technology, okay? Use that Google calendar. We had a long conversation with Sarah DeLansig host of the Keeping at Real Estate podcast. She's an ISA. We talked all about CRMs and automations to stay on track, right? We did that conversation one week ago. You can hear it anywhere that you listen to podcasts. He also recommended turning off the distractions, right? During time blocks, silence those notifications and eliminate interruptions. If you got an iPhone, okay, use that focus time. It's a God's a God's He also pointed out using checklists and repeatable systems, right? Don't rely on memory.

Starting point is 00:38:41 Use that CRM, okay? Create step-by-step processes for tasks like listing presentations and client follow-ups. And I think my key takeaway in the conversation that we just had with Stewart here on KGCI Real Estate on air live is that burnout happens when you lose control. Take your time back, okay? Burnout isn't just about working too many hours. It's about feeling out of control. And Stewart explains that agents who are always in reaction mode, constantly answering calls, saying yes to everything, and never setting a boundary are the ones who burn out the fastest.

Starting point is 00:39:19 And what was his advice? Do you remember? Set boundaries. Stick to office hours. All right. Stick to those for calls and stick to those for emails. And set your schedule. Okay.

Starting point is 00:39:32 Don't let clients dictate your time. Delegate when possible, right? If a task can be outsourced, outsource it, and create a work-life balance. Whether it's dinner with the family, or in my particular instance, it was taking off on Sundays, right? Make time for personal life. That is non-negotiable. And if I needed to distill this down into just one single thought, time management is not about doing more. It's about focusing on what matters most.

Starting point is 00:40:06 And with that, let's lighten things up. We call this Real Estate Confessions, where we share your stories from the wild world of real estate. But before we dive in, we've got to get one thing straight. Real Estate Confessions features stories from the wild world of real estate. Names and details may have been changed to protect the innocent, and occasionally the not-so-innocent. All confessions are shared in good humor and do not reflect the opinions of KGCI Real Estate on air, its hosts, or affiliation. no agent's licenses were harmed in the making of this segment. Enjoy responsibly. All right. Don't forget, these are your stories. Send us your real estate confession, whether it's

Starting point is 00:40:47 video, whether you want to record some audio, you just want to send us some text. You want to send that to us via Facebook and via Instagram via your messenger app. And with that, let's dive into real estate confessions because truth is always stranger than fiction. Five minutes into my open house, I noticed a woman following every buyer and whispering comments like, I heard the foundation is cracking, and the last owners got divorced over this kitchen. Turns out, she was the next door neighbor trying to scare off buyers because she liked things quiet. I unlocked the door for a showing, and the second it opened, six tiny chihuahuas came flying out like a security team on high alert.

Starting point is 00:41:36 My buyers were laughing, but I was frozen in place while these little guys surrounded me, barking like I owed them rent. The cellar showed up just in time, shook her head and said, They don't bite, at least not much. The cellar swore up and down that the basement never flooded. So, of course, halfway through the showing, we heard a faint splashing sound. My client looked down to see water creeping toward their shoes. I asked the cellar again if it flooded.

Starting point is 00:42:04 He shrugged and said, only when it rains a lot. You got yourself a wild real estate story your own. We all got them, and we want to hear them. Send us your real estate confession, the crazier, the better, by messaging us on Facebook or Instagram. And while you're there, be sure to follow KGCI Real Estate on air for more stories, insights, and some behind-the-scene moments.

Starting point is 00:42:25 And who knows, your confession may soon make it up on the air. It is up on Facebook and Instagram, and let's keep them stories coming. Thank you for joining us on today's KGCI Real Estate on air live. And also big thank you to Stuart Hissloff for joining us for all the way from South Africa to break down the time management hacks that you need to conquer your day. And we're not done with this just yet. We're going to be diving in deeper on time management with our upcoming Friday focus. So be sure to tune in Friday all day.

Starting point is 00:42:55 But we're also going to be looking into accountability strategies. And if you haven't taken a vacation in a while, we'll share exactly what you need to do to actually take time off. real estate. That's all coming up as part of our Friday focus here on Friday on KGCI Real Estate on Air. I'm Ian Wheatley. This has been Real Estate on Air Live. Be good.

KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Master Your Time: 7 Hacks for Real Estate Agents to Avoid Burnout with Stuart Hislop

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