More Ways To Make Your Dallas Home Office More Efficient For Your Apartment Locator Job

In our previous article, we discussed some of the biggest ways that you can make the most of your home office when working as an apartment locator in Dallas. It’s very important to have a space of your own that you can call your office, because otherwise your brain can interpret “temporary workspace” with “temporary career.” We also talked about how important it is to have comfortable office furniture so that you’re not in pain at the end of the day. Finally, we discussed the importance of dressing the part even if you don’t leave the house that day. Dressing like you could interact with a client at any time fools your brain into taking your home office more seriously.

Those are some important ways to increase your efficiency at home, but far from the only way you can improve your performance as an apartment locator. Here are some more big steps you can take.

Friendly Drop-bys

The Problem: When you work from home, people know where you are during the day (unless you’re in your car helping someone with your apartment locator job). While they might not dream of stopping by an office to interrupt your work, they have no problems stopping by to interrupt you at your home where you watched the Super Bowl together a few months back. After all, “you’re working from home, so you’re always free,” right? Family can be the same, especially those who worked at the bank for 30 years and feel that “not going into the office” means “you’re not working.”

The Solution: It might be difficult to tell people to not stop by, but it’s imperative that you are firm with friends and family who might want to stop by. Remind them that just because you’re not going to a traditional office doesn’t mean you’re not working. Let them know that you’re not available during certain hours for the simple fact that you’re very busy. You’d love to have lunch with them, but it needs to be scheduled.

Tell them that they should call if they need anything, and don’t just stop by. After all, you’ve started ignoring…

The Doorbell

The Problem: If you ever had a Monday-Friday 8-5  job and then took a day off to work around the house, you might have been surprised how many times the doorbell rang. You might have even been happy knowing that you’ve missed the bulk of roofing contractors, painters, and religious proselytizers who were stopping by and standing on the porch.

The Solution: This is an easy one: post a “NO SOLICITORS” sign at your front door. In Dallas and throughout most of Texas, anyone trying to sell you something must look for No Solicitors signs. If they see the sign, they are legally required to leave without ringing the doorbell or knocking. If they flagrantly ignore the sign, criminal trespass laws might just come into play.

Sure, you might miss out on your opportunity to purchase Girl Scout Cookies, but we’re sure the Girl Scouts will be selling them at the entrance the grocery store soon!

The Home Phone

Problem: The home phone rings, and you feel compelled to answer it.

Solution: Ignore it. Trust us, nine-out-of-ten calls you’re getting are telemarketers or political surveys, even if you’re on the no-call list. If you miss some calls, only go and access the voicemail during your lunch break or after you’re done for the day. Also, so many people have gotten rid of their home phone and gone completely cellular; you could be the next home to do so.

But what if it’s an emergency? First of all, anyone trying to get through to you will try multiple times. If the phone rings four times, stops ringing for 10 seconds, and then rings again, by all means go pick it up. Second, most people in your life will be calling your cell phone instead of trying to get ahold of you on the home phone. After all, you’re often showing people locations as part of your apartment locator job, so they already know to call your cell first if they really need to get ahold of you.

The Dangers of the Kitchen

The Problem: Every time you head to the kitchen, one of two things happens: you feel compelled to do the dishes or you grab something to eat.

The Solution: Do what you can to avoid the kitchen. There’s always something to do to distract you, whether it’s loading/unloading the dishwasher or washing the wine glasses by hand. Even if you’re not one who likes to do housework, the dishes can be tempting if you’re trying to avoid making a particularly disagreeable call for your apartment locator business.

Second, roaming around the kitchen can lead to unhealthy eating. When you work at home, it’s easy to wander by the pantry and see that bag of potato chips left over from the weekend’s barbecue. Or remember the ice cream in the freezer. Hey, look at all the soda that’s just there for the taking! If you have problems with snacking, don’t allow yourself to go to the kitchen. Some people go so far as to pack their lunch and take it with them to their home office! If that’s what you need to do to avoid living an unhealthy lifestyle, make it happen. It’s certainly fine to give yourself a lunch hour and head to the kitchen, but staying out of it while you’re trying to work avoids many problems.

Do Whatever You Can To Be the Best

Remember, you’re at work even if you’re in your house. You need to act as if everything non-work-related isn’t there, isn’t even an option. It will make you better at your job.

What’s another way to elevate your career? Work with an agent who can teach you even more and take many of the day-to-day problems off your shoulders. That’s what you’ll get when you enter into a broker sponsorship with Spirit Real Estate Group. Click here to watch a video about how it works!

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