Smart City Work Diaries – Meet Conner

In our Dallas office, the clock strikes 9, leads start getting passed, and if you’re not at your computer and ready to go, you’re behind. In the midst of what seems like a much trendier, much Dallas-ier version of the mall scene from Mean Girls, sits Conner.

A simple mention of this centered, curly-haired Dallas sales representative makes people who know him soft-smile and swoon. He oftentimes responds in conversation with things like “I love your brain,” or leaves them with a verbal ellipse of “I have to go; I don’t feel fulfilled by this conversation and we have to pick it up again.” He is very much a gratitude-over-obligation type of guy, and his calm demeanor and unique perspective bring balance to the gritty Dallas grind of apartment locating. A day in the work-life of Conner is very much a “vibe.” By the time you’re done reading, you may find that you’re more relaxed, itching for a convo with a close friend, or scrolling through your Spotify to pick tomorrow’s alarm clock song that will set the tone for your entire day. You’re welcome.

Conner in his element, hiding what his mother would call “unruly” hair, showcasing a smile that radiates gratitude.

MONDAY

6:30am – Today’s alarm clock vibe: Norah Jones. Curly hair fam where you at? You know our hair has never dried the same way twice. Woke up with what I consider a level 6 hair day – not tame enough for church, but tame enough for a Monday at the office. Let’s roll.

8:30am – I told myself that for the month of October if I wasn’t going to do a morning workout, I must read at least 50 pages of a book. So, I kicked the morning off with Shoe Dog, a memoir by the creator of Nike, Phil Knight. 

So, this book– I’m addicted. This morning, I read something incredible that struck me; something that made me smile ear-to-ear, reminding me that I’m right where I need to be for this phase of my life. After finding out his wife was pregnant and before Nike was any type of market leader, Phil said, “We’d have to buy a new home, of course. But could we afford it? And in which part of town should we buy? And how was I supposed to research real estate prices, plus all the other things that go into it? Should I go back to something more stable?” Wow…this is why I do what I do!

11:30pm – SNAPPY weekly huddle with the team to go over team goals and company news that needs to rest at the forefront of our hippocampus as the week unfolds. On to clearing actions off my to-do on our CRM (our CEO is a badass and got fed up with a client management system we were paying for and decided to create her own from scratch.) Some of us get a little stir-crazy in the office on Mondays, so we walk over to Ross and Hall to continue our workday on the patio. I just got back from Spain last week, so today is a giant client follow-up day for me.

4:30pm – Packing up early today because I’m driving to Houston to deliver gifts from my trip (I have a big beard, so I’m feeling a lot like Santa Clause.) I guess it’s referral season because I got two client referrals in the past 30 minutes, one of whom cold-called me and the other of whom sent me a pic of their dog (if you’re reading this and you have pets, please, please, please always send us photos. We gush over them.)

TUESDAY

6:30am – Today’s hair rating: 3 (womp), but got to stay at my parents’ house last night so I got served breakfast first thing (win). Most days, my commute to work is 15 minutes in Dallas; this morning – just a quick 45 minutes into the Houston office (S.O.S -send new podcast recs)

12:00pm – I love being able to work from offices in other cities. Just here for one day, though, since the rest of the week consists of video tours for a client moving from Florida. I visit with old friends and pick up where we left off. We went on a lunchtime run for an air fryer…yes, an air fryer. I never buckled but your boy is now convinced (Mom, I hope you are reading this…please add this to my Christmas list.)

7:00pm – Another 45-minute commute to my parent’s house, so it’s the perfect time to take a call from a client. I could go on about the conversations we had or how the drive is making me tired, but I think what you really want to know is what my next alarm clock vibe will be.

* Sets tomorrow’s alarm clock song to “So Young” by Portugal. The Man *

WEDNESDAY

“So young, just began;” the smoothest jam to wake up to helps me kick start this mid-week stretch!

6:00am – I have some video tours to get done this afternoon back in Dallas, so I get on the road. (I’m the type to wake up incredibly early to drive to my destination, partly because watching the sun come up is still a precious art to me, and I have, like, way too much energy in the morning, so a three-hour drive is the best thing for my brain.)

My podcast pick for today’s drive – You may have noticed a theme with me – I love entrepreneur stories. So, on my drive back I listened to a podcast series about the creation of Gimlet Media as told by Alex Blumberg, called “StartUp.” The series gives a behind-the-scenes look at the journey it took to get Gimlet Media where it is now, dating back from its beginning days in 2014. Truly inspiring and a reminder that success doesn’t happen overnight.

11:30am – My client moving to Dallas from out of state picked two places she would like to see video tours of. Although it’s different from feeling out the vibes in person, video tours for clients who can’t tour themselves still do the trick – I approach it like recording an episode of MTV Cribs, throwing in anecdotes to help clients visualize themselves in the space. The rest of my day will be spent following-up with clients who have tours scheduled for the weekend.

6:30pm – Tonight, a good friend of mine in the entrepreneur world of social networking (how’s that for buzzwords) is hosting an event for like-minded individuals to come and meet, and four other Smart City agents join me. Shout-out to People’s Revolt for having plenty of icebreakers to keep the conversations rolling (I think people are getting tired of hearing about the current book I’m reading; but, like, you should read it.)

8:30pm – I end the day with a softball game with some friends, which I love because it catapults me into the end of the work week, which for us, is the busiest time.

* Sets tomorrow’s alarm clock song to “Drops” by Jungle *

THURSDAY

“When you’re so high you (Don’t think)

When you fall from the sky you (Won’t break) So come down from the clouds

Come down.”  Tonight, I’m going to a concert at the House of Blues and Jungle was the last band I saw there. If you need to dance or just a solid record to spin on a Sunday, give this one a try.

8:00am – In the office early to pick, what I think, is the best seat in the house for the busiest day of my week. Three searches to run and tons of follow-ups; I situate myself in a break-out room, complete with a small bookshelf and two salt lamps, aka the perfect vibe for this guy to stay focused. I call it “the vibe room.”

12:30pm – Since the weather is still superb, a large group of us head over to Ross and Hall for a little midday work grind. I love that I can change my scenery throughout the day and for the next two hours, we all share chicken strips and mounds of tater tots and knock out some searches.

4:00pm – One more search to go at this point and slowly but surely the client responses start trickling in, even though I sent follow-ups at 9 am. Clients text us at all hours of the day, and some sales reps will even respond to the late-night messages. But, as you might have learned by now, I’m an early riser, so I miss most of those 1 am texts.

7:30pm – Concert time and somehow I have managed to wrangle 10 other sales reps to a happy hour before the show. We have some of the most hectic schedules closer to the weekends, so the fact that we could manage a happy hour made my night.

* Sets tomorrow’s alarm clock song to “Alley-Oop” by Big Wild *

A gaggle of Smart City Sales Reps talking apartments over a good brew or two.

FRIDAY

“Alley, alley-oop, now I’m in too deep

Fell for your love, swept me off my feet.”

I guess starting my Friday with this song is right. I have had a ton of social interaction this week and the common theme was what this song embodies- love always wins.

9:00am – One of my clients starts touring bright and early today, and although I can’t be with them for all of the tours, I like to do what I can and set up guest cards. If you have never toured an apartment before, the opening conversations always go the same: they ask for basic info and then immediately ask if you have pets, which is the first icebreaker to the conversation.

11:30am – My client toured a place and then called me to go over how she felt. Not all clients do this but I love when they do, especially if we can’t tour with them. Touring can take a lot of time, so being able to reassess where we’re at in the process helps keep it efficient. A lot of times it goes like: “Okay, so I noticed you didn’t like ____, so let’s skip XX unit and go straight for XX unit.” Most of the time, clients are like, “holy shit, you’re right…yeah, let’s go with that plan.” And I’m like…COME AT ME, House Hunters!

5:00pm – It’s party time at Smart City. We’ve got an employee shindig planned, so tables are flying everywhere and most of us cracked a beer open about an hour ago to aid as we move furniture around. The squad here in Dallas is a lively one, so it’ll be a great time tonight. 

* Sets tomorrow’s alarm clock song to “Monster Mash…” jk, over it. Sets alarm to “Party” by Beyonce *

WEEKEND FLOW

 A lot of agents tour on Saturday but sometimes I like to go to the office and accept leads that are coming in. It’s usually a different vibe on Saturdays mainly because we see each other in low-key pajama status. Comfy AF and working with clients tours and clients to come through that day.

I got a lead and this one seems like it will be so much fun. She will be coming from Chicago and is completely new to the city. She’s a social media influencer and has more followers than I could ever imagine. She will need a 2-bedroom unit – one room to sleep in and one room for her wardrobe.  What a cool-ass life…a room just for clothes!

* No alarm set for Sunday *

I woke up at 5:30 am (not mad about it) and finished the book I’ve been obsessed with. 

I actually have some clients touring today and a new client I received on Saturday. So, after some breakfast, I start running a prelim list, then wake-up my touring clients with a text that has their itinerary for the day, complete with address, unit numbers and price for easy reference.

On to touring with a client. She has been focused on bright light so when running my search I would, legit, call every single place and handpick units facing east (good morning). This takes quite a bit of time but I can tell that she’s already happy about our focus on the tour.

* Sets tomorrow’s alarm clock song to “0122” by Black Grapefruit *