Where We Are Now: March 31, 2020
Work From Home — Day 16
Humor Saves The Day – I Hope!
5:00AM PST
Team –
Grace (20), Monique, and I sat around the kitchen table last night and focused on fun!
In fact, we insisted on laughter. I must say at one point, while I was sipping a beer, it exploded through my nose.
You get it! It was that type of a night. We all need one now!
We then transitioned to Google to find some laughter. Here are two we found and we hope you can enjoy!
Historic perspective on families about to go crazy.
And then our future reality!
Find a way to celebrate your day!
Thanks!
Mark
Mark A McLaughlin
Work From Home — Day 16 — Closing Bell
The Path Forward
6:00PM PST
Team –
First, Governor Newsom and six of nine San Francisco Bay Area Counties have now confirmed, by order, residential real estate to “essential services” status. This includes service providers that enable residential transactions (notaries, escrow/title companies, Realtors, etc.), as well as moving companies, rental car companies, and rideshare services that specifically enable essential activities.
As of this writing, we do not have an update from Los Angeles, Napa, Solana, or Sonoma Counties.
These policies at Compass remain firm lines in the sand:
- NO open houses.
- NO showings without seller and buyer’s written consent, and according to governmental “social distancing” protocol.
- Whenever possible, execute only urgent business and do so digitally.
Next, a special thank you to Kristen Ankerbrandt, Compass CFO, and her team for this thorough consolidation of all the various federal and state relief packages available to our professionals. With so many scattered programs and announcements, this permits anyone seeking benefits to do their research, focus, and then take action.
On Thursday, April 2nd from 11 AM – Noon PST, we will host a web-broadcast, The Path Forward [password in your calendar invite]. This will be a fast moving, high-impact event delivering ideas on:
- Federal and state relief programs.
- Digital marketing best practices.
- Virtual tours & open houses.
- Virtual notary & virtual signings.
- Business planning ideas for these new times.
- Your brand and persona – what do you stand for?
- The luxury market ups & downs.
- A lens into our business in the next four to six months.
You will hear from some of our executives and top performers, all with proven track records.
In early 2012, we closed the Pacific Union International HQ in SF. It was our perspective that the time people were dedicating to commuting could be better spent focused on their work or, even better, with friends or family. In addition, the closure significantly reduced our overhead.
In hindsight, the most powerful element of this decision was our execution of centralized functions on a decentralized basis. Everyone on our HQ team was working from the office nearest their home. We gathered for meetings on a regular cadence, but our working relationships were effectively a decentralized team.
Not knowing 8+ years later we would all be truly mobile, acclimating to this style of work has been simple. Our execution does not seem to have slowed. Our “gatherings,” now by video conferencing, are more frequent. This may be for social purposes more than professional reasons. I want to make sure you all feel personally supported. If not, please call your manager ASAP.
We look forward to gathering as a team on Thursday. I am hopeful you find the content inspiring and actionable.
This is Where We Are Now.
Thanks!
Mark
Mark A McLaughlin