Working IN the Business vs Working ON the Business

By John Mangas, Broker/Partner RE/MAX Preferred Toledo, Ohio

We are all in business, and self employed…

And upon occasion we all fall into the certain traps that are part of being human. Let’s face it, sometimes we allow ourselves to take the easy path and yet there are times when we are super motivated, organized and on our A+ game.  Why is that?

Psychologists tell us that the majority of us do the same 8 or 9 things every day. This includes the work patterns that we manage our business and our personal lives with. They also tell us that of these 8 or 9 tasks, only 1 or 2 is pro-active and drives business.

This is a great time of the year to analyze how we manage our business and activities. How much time do we spend working IN the business vs working ON the business?

Working IN the business can be thought of as day to day busy work much of which could be delegated. It also includes some bad habits that many of us also have that ultimately hold us back. Unfortunately, the majority of us spend way too much time on the minutia.  For example, one of the bad habits I often see among agents is that they expect technology to drive their business. Many agents love spending time exploring technology options. Technology is just a tool and does not create relationships or translate well in a negotiation, however it can be helpful to enhance an existing relationship.

Now let’s shift to working ON the business. This includes creating and monitoring systems and efficiencies, being the rainmaker (enhancing relationships and creating new opportunities), evaluating priorities and managing the processes. When I think of these activities I see agents at opens, working expired listings or by owners, being in the community and actively seeking new business opportunities with business owners, HR managers, builders etc. This includes making sure that systems and processes function well and in turn allows the agent to be working at their optimum efficiency.

I know from my own personal experience, I do a much better job working ON the business the week before I leave for vacation. Suddenly, I become very organized and go into “crush it mode”. In my opinion that is an example where instead of doing 8 or 9 tasks of which only 1 or 2 drives the business I am performing at a higher level and perhaps 6 or 7 of them are driving business.

Hope is not an effective strategy. What I mean is hoping that 2013 is better than 2012 just doesn’t cut it.  As we look at 2012 and plan for 2013, I encourage you to honestly ask yourself if you are spending too much time IN the business and not enough time ON the business. Increasing the pro-active tasks to 3 or 4 is manageable and doubles the amount of time that you are ON YOUR BUSINESS! Here’s HOPING that you spend more of 2013 like each week is the week preceding a vacation and that you WORK ON YOUR BUSINESS like never before!