7 Tools to Growth-Hacking Your Real Estate Business

When deciding to become a real estate agent or a mortgage loan originator, we dream of the freedom this business affords us. We get time off when we want, get to set our own schedules, and work for ourselves. We get to be in control of what are day-to-day looks like. Something money can’t buy.

One thing that takes many people a while to understand is that YOU ARE IN BUSINESS FOR YOURSELF. In other words, your real estate career is one of the entrepreneurial journey.

This may be hard for some people to wrap their heads around, especially if they have been employees for many years. There are so many moving parts as a business owner, that in order for you to grow, you really need the tools and systems in place that will keep the operation running smoothly.

Once the reality sets in, and you start booking client meetings, showing properties, writing loans, etc., how do you keep organize?

Better yet, how can you stay organized FOR FREE?!

Client relationship database: Streak CRM plugin for Gmail

I’ve tried several CRMs and I find them to be quite complicating. And not only that- but expensive to boot!

One thing that I found particularly hard, especially if you are growth hacking your workflow for free, is that you are more likely than not using Gmail as your email provider. Even if you are using it to forward from your domain.

The Streak Plugin has been incredibly great for organizing email correspondence and keep on on schedule with each lead/ relationship/ project.

The idea of Streak is for you to pay for their premium product, which allows for certain features like phone call follow-ups, call logs, email reminders etc. But I hacked a free version and have created a tutorial , if you’re interested in checking it out.

Tasks and to-do lists: Asana.com

You need to have a centralized place where all of your accounts/ projects and their respective tasks live.

Asana.com has been the most incredible lifesaver for all of the moving parts of a business. You are able to to create projects, tasks within the projects, and subtasks within the tasks. You can also assign things to different people, share projects only with certain people (if they are only part of that project) and assign due dates, create progress reports, shows tasks on calendars, etc. It’s the bomb-diggity. Here are some examples of how I use projects, tasks and sub tasks.

• Create projects
  • Marketing
  • Admin
  • Accounting
  • Client Projects
  • Loan in Underwriting

• Create tasks within the projects
  • Call database A-B
  • Go over payroll
  • Schedule walk through
  • Open Escrow
  • Order Appraisal
  • Schedule Instagram photos
  • Follow up with client
  • Write blog post

• Create subtasks within the tasks
  • Make sure payoff demand is ordered
  • Follow up on a requested item
  • Make graphics for blog post
  • Schedule blog post

Asana is a great place to put the streak to-do lists that are recurring like: Following up with leads and contacting your database.

Asana is also great for scheduling social media posts, writing blogs, etc. All of these tasks can be automatically added on a weekly basis as reminders, rather than you having to remember to do them.

With that said, If you want me to create a video of my workflow in Asana like the one for Streak, go ahead and shoot me an email and let me know. If I get enough responses, I’ll whip one out.

Data Management: Google

Having a cloud-based hub for all of your documents is CRUCIAL when you work in multiple locations and are on the go. Google Drive is the perfect resource for stashing your agreements, loan scenarios, contracts, etc.

Google Drive also makes sharing documents easy with your team, because you can always guarantee that the form is up-to-date and you don’t need to worry about which version someone is working on. Believe it or not, I’ve come across teams that don’t use a cloud based system and their operations are a nightmare to detangle. There are already so many fires to put out in our industry, tracking paperwork shouldn’t be one of them.

Time management: Pomodoro Technique

The pomodoro method is simple and has been the single most effective tool I used to make me SUPER productive.

It’s time blocking. Simple as that. You set a timer and block out however much time you want to work on a SINGLE TASK. Once that timer goes off, you take a break. You can do whatever you please during that time. Then, you guessed it, once the break is over, you can either finish that task (if it wasn’t complete) or you move on to the next task.

The standard session for using the Pomodoro method is as follow:

Work: 25 Minutes

Break: 5 Minutes

So your work day would look like this:

Work: 4 Sessions

Long Break: 15 Minutes

Work: 4 Sessions

Long Break: 15 Minutes

Work: 2 Sessions

Day is complete.

You'd have done 10 sessions at 25 minutes each with 5 minute breaks in between. And a long break of 15 minutes after 4 sessions.

The idea is that you work 2.5 hours of concentrated, non-interrupted time a day and are able to get an 8 hour day’s worth of work done.

And like I mentioned before, the able to manage your own time is E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G so having this pomodoro method in effect is what will get you there.

Personally, I have found that 42 minutes of work and 15 minute breaks for 4 sessions gets me in the zone and I can accomplish what I need to. I’ve also been doing this method for several years and have been able to work my way up. I definitely started at 25 minutes.

There are several apps you can download for your phone or you can plugin the chrome extension on your computer.

I use the BeFocused App for iPhone and Macbook Pro.

You can get the chrome extensions here.

Goal Setting: The ONE thing

Goal setting can be a challenging and overwhelming task. Coming up with the goals may the easy part, but sticking to them is where the trouble may start. One of the best hacks I’ve learned is the compound effect: doing something little EVERY DAY that will propel my business forward.

So if I just do the ONE thing I can do today that will propel my business forward, what would that be?

And if you did nothing else, but that ONE thing, day in and day out, it would compound into MASSIVE momentum.

I have a calendar that I put 1 point on if it I do that task. (I explain more under Daily Habit.)

Daily Habit

Deciding to and sticking to one daily habit is crucial to success. With so many things ever changing on the entrepreneurial journey, especially the ones for real estate professionals, it’s important to have a daily habit in place that keeps you grounded.

Think of one thing you want to conquer, whether it be 5 minutes of silence each day, walking for 30 minutes to break up the day, drinking a gallon of water, calling a parent, etc., having a daily habit in place will remind you of the goals you’ve set for yourself and will create positive momentum in your life.

This goal is also tracked on the calendar with the ONE thing. So I always aim at getting 2 points per day. I use a spreadsheet to track but you can add it anywhere that makes sense for your workflow.

Track Sleep: Smartphone

Sleep is one of the most underrated necessities that tends to get overlooked. I believe that sleep is just as important as diet and exercise. If replenishes your cells and fuels you up in a way that nothing else can do.

There’s nothing more rewarding that waking up from a good night’s sleep. It really feels like you’ve hit the restart button and you can conquer anything.

I’m not sure when I picked up this habit but anytime I am grumpy, rather it be from being tired, hungry, achy or just in a good ol fashion bad mood, SLEEP is what gets me through it (well, minus hunger…. I’ll eat something to hold me over but then fall asleep because I make poor food decisions when I’m grumpy.)

Sleep is something to focus on. To monitor and to make sure we are getting enough of. Our bodies regenerate themselves, given the necessary time to do so.

I just use the Health App on the iPhone to track and do my best to get at least 7 hours.

How much sleep are you getting a night?

How can you improve the quality of it?

Next Steps

Try out some of these growth hacking tools and see how they improve the quality of your business. If you need help or have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.