Working like a boss on holidays.
Working and holiday are generally two words that should never go together in the same sentence.
Unfortunately, as many Real Estate agency owners know, finding that right work/life balance can often prove difficult. As discussed in our earlier months blog ‘Being a Licensee & Taking Holidays’, good planning and modern technology make working remotely a breeze.
Many of you are aware that Jerome and I headed off to Hawaii for a recent holiday. As delightful as it was to have a break from the office, we continued to manage some of our regular duties from our bungalow. If you’re going to work on holidays then it may as well be in style right?
What does this have to do with trust accounting you may ask? Well, in our travels and through our own trial and error, we found some nifty hints and tips we’d like to share for those heading overseas and looking for some inside advice on what to do (and what not to do) when overseas in regards to managing your trust accounts.
Here are my 5 tips:
- Don’t buy data in Oz
Of all the options available to you, don’t buy a data pack in Australia prior to your departure. Why? Put simply, they are a rip-off and they don’t work! Found this out the hard way. Look for local options such as a prepaid SIM when you arrive at your destination. Local SIM cards usually come with lots of data and cheaper overseas calls.
- Take your banking token with you
When checking off essentials like your passport and currency, add your banking token to the list and keep it in a secure location at all times. Most hotels provide safe for your valuables so lock that baby in there too.
- Be aware of hotel WI-FI
As handy as hotel WI-FI can be, never use it to log into your trust account or any business or personal bank accounts. Especially, do not ever transfer money using hotel WI-FI as the potential for your information to be put at risk is a lot higher. When using WI-FI, the information you send and receive is spread over the airwaves and others have the potential to tap into that information. Always ensure your connection is secure and your security software is up-to-date.
- Be aware of time differences
Not only will time differences give you an unwanted dose of jetlag, it can also cause interruption between banking transactions and EFT file transfer times.
- Our final tip… stay dry
Let’s not kid ourselves, when on holidays, cocktail hours generally start well before the end of the working day. Our hottest tip is to stay dry whilst doing any trust accounting tasks. You run the risk of transferring the same payment file twice, overdrawing the account or receipting to the wrong tenant.
Complete your tasks then hit the happy hour.
Bon Voyage!
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~ Jane Morgan is the Director of End of Month Angels, a consultancy firm specialising in Trust Accounting. Jane knows the legislative requirements of running a successful Real Estate office through her 19 years industry experience. Don’t trust just anyone with your trust accounting, trust End of Month Angels and get back to what you do best – growing your business.