Interesting times since COVID-19 stay at home orders are keeping most of us at home. It is clear to me that there are many who do not recognize disruption when they see it. This is disruption.
We in the real estate industry are being bombarded with advertising. I had no idea that so many real estate agents are new to working from home offices. I think I understand some of the issues. Working in a real estate office would be a big challenge for me and there would be an adjustment period but if I had to do it I would manage somehow.
Working with clients that I never meet in person isn’t new to me. Most of them have no interest in using ZOOM but I do have it and have used it on occasion. It will be replaced with something better, which will be replaced with something else any day now.
My sympathies to those who can not work without video conferencing that they don’t know how to use. For those who do know how to use it, and have to use it I can’t imagine how exhausting it must be to ZOOM all day. I know you are super busy and that isn’t a humblebrag.
There are vendors and others who seem to believe that this is the time for me to re-learn the real estate business and that when this is all over life will be grand. I think they should take this time to rethink their own business strategies if they want to survive the recession after the apocalypse.
The marketing advice, in particular, has been off-key. People keep saying we are in uncharted territory yet they want to promote the same tired marketing with the words “covid-19” and “uncertain times” added.
I can’t think of anything less appealing right now than the “back to the basics” that marketers and others are trying to cram down my throat.
I resent the assumption that I need to go back to anything or that there are basics I have forgotten of that I don’t practice.
I definitely don’t want to spend what could be the last few days or weeks of my life working on my business.
For me, the basics have changed. They are about making the perfect loaf of bread without all of the ingredients or how to make each roll of toilet paper last longer.
One use of any extra time I may have during this apocalypse is to beef up my spam filters and unfollow tone-deaf marketers and stop reading condescending Facebook pages and real estate news articles.
This is a great time to cull out the noise and start thinking about how to get through each day and what comes next and I am not thinking just about my real estate businesses.
If you survive the apocalypse and go back to business as usual good for you. If you want to go back to the good old days good for you. If you don’t rest assured even though you believe you are essential there are many with similar businesses who are happy to take your place.
By now everyone has heard of Clubhouse, the latest social media platform that is just for real estate pros.
