Effective Time Management Strategies For Today’s Real Estate Investors

Besides making money fast (and lots of it), one of the most popular reasons for getting into real estate investing is for the freedom and free time it can deliver. For those that really want to find success in this industry, they need to become extremely efficient with their time. So it only makes sense for investors to take advantage of the best time management tools and strategies to speed up their success and compound the amount of free time to spend with friends, family and following their other passions.

To be a successful investor, you’re required to wear many hats: Strategic Marketer. Skilled Negotiator. Shrewd Business Owner. Brilliant Customer Service Specialist.  But you won’t get very far if you forget another very important hat … Effective Time Manager.

Your expertise in all the areas that are required to be a potential rockstar investor is completely wasted if you’re distracted, scrambling, or otherwise inefficient.  Pay attention to these time management tips and tools and you’ll be on your way to reaching an entirely new level of success in your investing career.

TARGETING

The more targeted your real estate marketing and the more focused your prospecting, the higher conversion rates will be and the less time you will be wasting on deals which aren’t going to happen. Know who you want to talk to and focus on those efforts. This is not the best time to diversify.

EXERCISE

Legendary entrepreneurs like Richard Branson says exercise is his number one productivity tool. Studies have found workers who exercise report up to 70% better performance. No need to sign up at the local gym or register for the next 5K. Even walking or taking up yoga can help you get more done in the time you are actually working.

REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
While you might want to return every email immediately and personally, understand that as your number of investments, offers and deals grow, you simply won’t be able to answer every email. So be careful about the precedents you set to avoid future disappointment. For you and your contacts.

TIME MANAGEMENT APPS

Apps like Time Doctor and Rescue Time claim to recover an extra 3+ hours of wasted time each week. That’s enough to close another deal, clean house, go out for dinner and a movie, hit the beach or take the kids to the park a few times. Say goodbye to wasting hours checking your inbox, stalking on Facebook or reading worthless news – these apps analyze your time spent online and provide an eye-opening overview of your day and can even be set up to block distractions.

MAKE A PLAN

It sounds a little excessive but at the end of each day, if you map out your next day, you will stay on task more and get a lot more accomplished. Schedule specific times throughout the day for all tasks from checking emails and social media, answering emails, walking the dog and taking a lunch break. It works.

VIRTUAL ASSISTANT

Regardless of expense, no real estate investing professional can afford to be without a personal assistant. Have them screen your calls, filter your emails, handle scheduling and low level admin tasks so that you can focus on the money making actions that close deals and put money back in your bank account.

HOOTSUITE

Social media is a crucial part of real estate investing today. However, while it can be incredibly effective, cost efficient and fast to produce results it is also incredibly time consuming if done right. Hootsuite and other tools like Sprout Social provide streamlined social media management. This means being able to post updates, manage and analyze results seamlessly from one dashboard.

COACHING

Find a mentor. Troy Fullwood coaches students to implement methods like these for more success. Coaching can help even the most experienced and intelligent real estate investors stay on the fast track, stay wired into the latest trends and avoid common pitfalls. It’s always helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of and help you see the bigger picture, especially when you get stuck in a negative or challenging rut.

We all face endless distractions in life and work, but for real estate investors, juggling every aspect of a business can be a big challenge. Set aside time to focus on work, delegate tasks to others so you can better leverage your own time and eliminate distractions so you can effectively and properly complete the work that is vital to the success of each investment.