Should you be limiting you and your team to a four hour work week?

One of the largest experiments of a four day work week is happening in Europe. This follows others like Microsoft’s in Japan.

Not everyone understands it, but there are many arguments for working fewer hours and days.

Productivity

It has long been understood by researchers that productivity peaks, and working extra hours yields decreasing amounts of productivity, results, and profits.

Some put this at 49 hours. Though others put this in the range of 30-40 hours per week. It has also been found that workers are only actually productive for about 3 hours out of an 8 hour work day. So, why clock all that time, or pay for it, when you are going to get a lot more out of 3 good hours?

Microsoft’s test of a 32 hour, 4 day work week showed great results.

Holistic Improvements For Your Business

In Microsoft’s case there was a 40% increase in productivity and employee satisfaction.

78% of employees were happier and less stressed.

That means they are doing far better work when they are working, they are going to treat each other, and customers much better. They are going to be speaking much more positively about your company.

This is all great for your branding, customer retention, repeat business, and overall profitability.

Financial Savings

Healthier and less stressed, and less burned out employees are going to save you a lot of money. The cost of health benefits can go down, they’ll miss less work, and you aren’t as likely to have accidents or workplace injuries.

If you are still one of those rare companies having people come to an office, then only opening 4 days a week can save a ton on energy. As well as in gas for your team to commute. If you care about the environment, it can have a huge impact there as well.

Mandatory Vacations

Extended paid vacations have become more popular too. In some countries it is common for workers to have mandatory paid vacations totaling one to two months a year.

This has many of the same benefits as above. If you don’t mandate it, then expect them to keep on working until they burn out. That doesn’t help anyone.

How are you optimizing productivity and profitability this year?

 

A good crisis can make or break investors and business owners fast. You can either be one of the majority which fail and disappear every time the cycle turns, or use it as a building block to stand out and amplify success.

Knowing what to do in a crisis is just half of the battle. The other 50% of surviving and thriving through it is knowing what not to do.

These are critical moves to avoid as we navigate the months ahead and future crises. Know them and bookmark them so that you can stay on top.

Stopping Marketing

At the first hint of a crisis many novices immediately slow down and stop their marketing. That is just a nail in their own coffin. It leads to a painful and drawn out death of your portfolio, finances or business.

We saw that at the beginning of COVID. Those that stopped marketing haven’t come back. While the few who kept consistently making the sacrifice to keep their marketing machines running, or even do more are still going strong.

Raising Prices

It can be tempting to raise prices in a crisis. Many companies do it just because they can. Banks like Wells Fargo have increased service fees, and mostly on those who are financially hurting the worst. Netflix raised their fees because they knew people were stuck at home and were more likely to want to keep their streaming services.

The thing is that people notice, and today they have so many options. When they do feel financial pressure themselves or have the choice, they will move to the competitors who didn’t try to take advantage of them in these moments. They will ditch those that tried to take advantage of them, and they won’t go back.

Reducing Services

Many companies shoot themselves in both feet at the same time by simultaneously raising prices and reducing services. If banks closed branches, reduced customer service, ended lending products, and then charge more at the same time, customers aren’t going to be happy. It’s true that some customers may not be buying much from you during these crisis moments, but if you let them go, then you can’t expect to win them back when they get back on their feet, nor all of their referrals.

This is the time you should be offering better deals and more value, and investing in your customers’ long term success. They will reward you with their loyalty.

Hide

Don’t hide in a crisis. Anyone can do that. You will instantly lose credibility. Even if you are wrong on your predictions or don’t know what's coming, just keep showing up. People need you to lead, and if it’s not you then someone else will lead them.

Panic

This crisis is probably a much smaller a deal when you look back at the big picture. Providing you don’t panic. Emotional selling will rob you, and emotional buying will too.

Giving Up

Don’t give up on things that won’t change. Real estate has survived every crisis in history so far. From wars to the Spanish Flu to the Great Depression and Great Recession and COVID, real estate is still needed and in demand. Some things and best practices may change, but don’t jump ship into the storm and then realize you are stuck out at sea and missed your one chance to get where you really wanted to go. Some things may change, like viral infections passing through hotel and apartment building ventilation and demanding we change up types of real estate. Traditional annual rentals may not perform for another year, but you can offer owner financing or use government subsidies to keep cash flow coming in from them. People still need shelter. That will never change.

 

Whether you are just starting out building out your team for investing in real estate or are scaling fast with all of the opportunities out there this year, much of your success will rely on how well you manage your remote team members.

This year, many real estate investors are finding that they are new to remote hiring or are making the leap from 1 to 10, 10 to 50 or 50 to 100 team members. It’s a great time to grow, and this is definitely still a people business. Those who master the art of managing remote teams through this season will be best positioned to enjoy a new year that is even better than this one.

Here are some of the top questions you may be asking, and best practices that can set you apart from the pack…

How Much Time Off Should I Give Remote Team Members?

Time off is vital. Too few investors, CEOs and remote workers take it. That leads to all sorts of burn out, poor performance, bad decisions, hire HR costs, and more. The opposite is also true. Refreshed and recharged teams think better, perform better, and deliver better returns.

Don’t expect your remote team members to schedule their own vacations and time out. They can be workaholics as much as you.

The last two weeks of the year are notorious in the real estate and finance space. Everything is lagging because everyone else is in holiday mode. Little usually gets achieved. Using this time to destress, get inspired and recharge may be the best return you can get on this time. Consider rotating time off for yourself and team members during these weeks, or give them the full period to really get back in the game and get pumped for the next 12 months.

How Much Should I Give Remote Team Members As A Bonus?

Year end bonuses and raises seem surprisingly popular this year from government to C suite executives, and five figure relocation packages for other staff members. You may not be in a position to hand out such large year end bonuses. Especially for part time freelancers you use a few hours a month. However, a little can go a very long way in good will. However much it is will probably be cheaper than finding someone new, testing them and training them and earning their loyalty. It could be a month’s worth of earnings, the average they would earn on a single project with you, or just enough to put a great meal on the table for their family during the holidays.

How Much Should I Prepay Remote Workers For Tax Benefits?

By paying expenses for next year in advance you may be able to generate more write offs and tax deductions. A full year’s salary might be too much when you don’t know if the relationship will last that long. Though paying ahead for work through the first month or quarter of the year could really motivate them, while improving your bottom line.

Team Building & Company Culture

Experienced entrepreneurs and executives know that team bonds and company culture are actually the most important parts of building a business. That can be tricky in a remote environment. Meetings may be kryptonite to efficiency, productivity and profits, even over the phone or Google Meet. Yet, even in this ‘new normal’ getting your team together offsite can yield incredible benefits. Take them camping or to a resort bubble and build the human connections that will strengthen your business.

Empower Them & Get Out Of The Way

If you are hiring right, there is no need to micromanage, unless you really like inefficiency and wasting money.  You might even defer many of the other decisions on this list to someone on your team. Hire well, point them in the right direction, go do something more important.

 

One of the biggest challenges facing real estate investors is the ability to focus. This is always true, but even more so during crisis moments.

Bruce Lee said a successful person is the one with laser like focus. How do you get better at maintaining that?

Limit Your Intake

It can be extra hard to maintain your focus if your mind is consumed with keeping up with evolving news. If you are checking new websites and social media feeds constantly, you aren’t being productive and you really can’t focus on what you need to do.

In reality, not much changes every hour. If you’ve already thought about the best and worst case scenarios for a hurricane or virus outbreak or economic downturn, then you should be able to take it in your stride. If you need a day to prepare for these things, take it. Then focus on your business.

It’s best if you can limit your news and social to once a day. If you are really an addict, then twice a day is plenty.

Get Your Mind Right In The Morning

Master focus by getting your mind right first thing in the morning. Take however much time you need to get in an unshakable mindset. It will pay dividends in focus and productivity for the rest of the day. You can meditate, read, exercise or anything else that puts you in your zone. Create a routine out of it.

Focus On Your Goals

Keep your eye on the goals and big vision.

Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by temporary blips. Keep your goals highly visible, so that they will always jolt you back to what you should be thinking about.

Focus On The Most Important Immediate Actions

Worrying and debating the news is not going to do much for you. Except to drag you down further. If you know your goals, you know the most important actions steps you should be taking next. That is typically signing new business so that you have more money coming in. Do that, and you’ll be best prepared for everything else.

Relax, Be Flexible

Be flexible. There are major crises which can really make it hard to focus. Give yourself a day off to get your mind right, adjust your plans and get refocused mentally. Get that out of the way, so you can be 100% in the game when you are working.

 

The next few days will be the most pivotal for what you will achieve over the next year, and how that compounds into outcomes you get every year after that. These are the four top things you need to focus on to get the most out of it.

1. Time Out To Think

When was the last time you really took time out to think? To think about the big picture, what’s most important, and the best ways to get there?

Even as highly successful real estate investors and CEOs we can suffer from tunnel vision and being stuck inside our businesses and the seemingly urgent tasks of the moment.

Use this time before the New Year to get out of the box. Don’t just take a few hours or a day to think. Give yourself a couple of days or more. Let the ideas flow and analyze and explore them.

Go stay at a hotel or go camping or get out of your city. It will improve your perspective.

2. Set New Goals

Realign your goals if needed. Set new ones. Tear up old ones and go bigger. What’s the biggest you can think and dream? Don’t ask if it is possible. Ask what if it was possible or if there was a way to do it, how big would you go?

If you’re not thinking in billions, you are thinking way too small.

3. Set Appointments

Trying to sell people in real estate during the end of year holiday season has a lot of downsides. The people you really want to do business should also be taking this last couple weeks of the year out to focus on these four important things too.

However, everyone wants hit the ground running in the new year. Set up meetings, appointments and calls for the first few weeks of the year. People will like that you are respecting their time during the holidays. You’ll also position yourself to be the first in, ahead of your competition when the ball drops.

4. Quality Time

Taking time out to think may be a form of quality time for yourself. Though you also need real time not to just be thinking about work and business. This is often where the best breakthroughs come from. Make sure you are also spending quality time on things and with people that are most important. Remember why you are doing all this in the first place. It’s too easy to get caught up in the actions and metrics, and end up sacrificing what you really wanted. There will always be more to do in business and real estate. Always. Most people don’t end up regretting not working more. But even the most successful always seem to end up regretting not taking more time out with people they love and care about.