TEXAS 11-1-21

TEXAS EDITION

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WAYS TO MAKE YOUR WORKSPACE WORK FOR YOU COVER STORY

GIANNA CERULLO WHY DELEGATING IS THE KEY TO LONG-LASTING SUCCESS

FEATURED AGENT

TERESA HILL CONNECT BEYOND REAL ESTATE TO ATTRACT FUTURE CLIENTS

HOW TO BUILD A TEAM THAT WILL

WIN BIG

NO MATTER ITS SIZE

The futureTEXAS looks EDITION bright; she can’t wait to see what’s in store for her in the coming years. Dallas is continually growing, and she is ready to help more people with TERESA HILL

Teresa Hill started her real estate career 14 years ago. She needed to find7work to provide for herself and her daughter, and found the real estate industry fascinating.

Taking a leap of faith, she plunged headfirst into life as a full-time Realtor in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and never looked back. Through excellent communication and deep familiarity with her local market, Teresa has built an extensive network of fellow agents and past clients, and her already impressive business is only growing as time goes on.

GIANNA CERULLO

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access ant to b are buy them gu decision

When it comes to her listings, takes her marketing seriously. She tises heavily over social media an professional photography, Matterp tours, and drone footage to highlig strengths of each property. Most tantly, Teresa knows the significa staging in attracting buyers, and sure each home looks its best be hits the market. Teresa closes arou transactions per year, and looks fo to maintaining that level of produ as her career progresses.

For more information ab please call 214-213-431 email gianna.cerullo@c TERESA HILL

Through her transparency and generosity towards her In her free time, Teresa enjoys spending time w clients, Teresa provides an unparalleled quality of cusdogs (she is a huge animal lover) and travelin Copyright Topof Agent Magazine tomer service to each her clients.

She is a straight her family - she is remarried as of the last five shooter who keeps herself available to answer questions and loves spending time with her husband, ch for clients as they come up, and she makes a point to set and grandchildren. She also used to be in the N realistic expectations for her clients to ensure a successCharity League and is a Military Relocation Profes CONTENTS ful transaction experience. “I come to each client with who offers discounts and additional services to complete honesty,” Teresa says.

“Everything I tell them ans, DELEGATING first responders, and teachers as a way of 4) CONNECT BEYOND 20) WHY is the truth as I see it, and I treat their decisions as if I thank you for their service. For the future, Teresa REAL ESTATE ATTRACT THE KEY LONGwas theTO one making them.” Clients love herIS personal to workTO toward her goal of getting 100% of he approach, proven by the fact that she gets more than ness from repeats FUTURE CLIENTS LASTING SUCCESSand referrals while continuing t 80% of her business from referrals and repeat clients, every one of her clients’ needs. If you’re looking and Teresa is proud to conduct business with many secagent in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who is hone 14) HOWond TO BUILD A 22) 3 WAYS TO look MAKE generation clients. hard-working, no further than Teresa Hill!

TEAM THAT WILL WIN YOUR WORKSPACE Teresa was born and raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth BIG NO MATTERITS SIZE WORK FOR YOU area, and is intimately familiar with its market trends,

landscape, and history. She loves showing people the place where she grew up and still calls home, and is more than adequately informed enough to help clients make the best possible decisions for themselves and their families.| “I’m a big people-person, and I love Phone 310-734-1440 Fax 310-734-1440 helping people find their place here,” Teresa says. “I’ve mag@topagentmagazine.com | www.topagentmagazine.com lived here my whole life, and my network of people me be to reproduced give greatinrecommendations for without contracNo portion of thisallows issue may any manner whatsoever prior consent of the publisher. Top Agent Magazine is published by Feature Publications GA, Inc. Although precautions are taken to ensure the accuracy of published materials, Top tors around town.” Teresa lives an active lifestyle - she Contact Teresa at (817) 688-3450 or Agent Magazineloves cannotthe be held responsible for opinions expressed or facts supplied by its authors. opportunity to interact with so many people To subscribe or change address, send inquiry to mag@topagentmagazine.com. teresa@teresahillteam.com, and visit her we every day, and helping them navigate contracts brings Published in the her U.S.great personal fulfilment. at teresahillteam.com for more informatio www.

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CONNECT BEYOND

REAL ESTATE

to Attract Future Clients What kind of content are you sharing on your blog, website, and social media? Does most of it have something to do with buying or selling a home? While sharing the latest market information or tips on how to qualify for a mortgage, or when someone should buy or sell is important and demonstrates your value as a REALTOR®, it shouldn’t be the only subject you cover. If you only focus on real estate, you’ll be missing the chance to connect with future clients that might not be ready to move just yet. By sharing a lot

of industry-heavy content, you are only going to appeal to those who are currently in the market rather than a broad base of potential clients.

To pull in those other future clients you want to provide fresh, interesting content that will appeal to those possible future clients that aren’t quite ready to move yet. However, you also want to still tie this content back into your business goals.

So, how do you share content that will speak to a wider audience, but also still be relevant to your business?

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Talk About Your Philanthropic Activities

The philanthropic work you do to support your community says a great deal about who you are as a person. Many people will be attracted to working with you because of the charitable works you are involved with. While you may be hesitant to share these efforts because you feel it may come across as bragging, you also need to remember that sharing information about the charitable organizations you support will actually help those organizations. Many of them have small marketing budgets, so any free exposure you can give them helps to promote their cause.

In fact, they want and need you to promote them.

And you can promote them without coming across as a braggart. Focus your content entirely on the organization. Talk about why you support them, how they help the community, and how others can also get involved. This turns what could have been bragging into something that benefits everyone. n

Your Local Community

We humans are connected to each other through our community – our local sports teams, parks, churches, schools, and much more. What better way is there to connect with people in your community than to talk about your community? Demonstrate that you are an expert on your community, and bring that community to your followers. Share information about a local event; perhaps even share the actual event through live-stream video. Interview city officials to get the low-down on the latest development project. Share information with your followers about things they didn’t know about their community. Consult with local historians or the historical society to share interesting information about your community that your followers will want to read. You could even turn it into a series of podcasts or videos. n

Use Your Creativity to Connect

Find creative ways to engage your followers on the topic of real estate. Try engaging your followers in an interactive project such as posting photos of interesting front doors. Doors are the entry point into our homes as well as our private lives. The way we adorn our front door can give someone a sense of our style and personality. Ask followers to submit photos and choose one to post each Friday. Make sure to watermark each photo with your logo at the bottom and include an inspirational quote that ties back to the importance of home. You could also ask your followers to provide a little story or caption to go along with the photo that tells something about them and their home. These kinds of projects are interesting and unique, and clearly connect back to your business. n

Share Your Hobbies

Are you an adrenalin junkie who has bungee jumped from some of the tallest bridges in the world? Are you a foodie that grows your own organic vegetables and fruit? Do you have a Top Agent Magazine

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secret passion for photography? Everyone has hobbies that they enjoy outside of work. When you look past the surface people become quite interesting. People also happen to find interesting people interesting, and tend to remember people based on their distinctive traits. We humans love discovering a person’s behind the scenes story, the mind behind the face. While you don’t want to talk too much about yourself, sharing pieces of your personal life and things that interest you can be a great way to connect with followers. By sharing interesting facts about your life, you will find that many followers will feel a strong, personal connection to you based on your hobbies and personal interests. n

Divulge Interesting Experiences

This is somewhat similar to the idea of sharing your hobbies. Sharing some of your more interesting personal experiences such as a fateful conversation with a stranger or an exciting adventure you had while in another country can be a great way to connect with followers as long as it also relates to some kind of life or business lesson. Talk about experiences you’ve had with clients or purchasing your own home. Experiences that relate to your business are great ways to connect with future clients in a manner that goes beyond the world of business. n

What and Who Inspires You

No matter what you’ve chosen to spend your life doing, you didn’t get there alone. You may have had a mentor that made a special impact on your life or someone already in the business that you looked up to and who perhaps inspired you to get into real estate. You may have found inspiration through a love of architecture or design. People want to know why others do the things they do. Sharing who or what influences you in your personal and business life is a great way to connect with followers. Recognizing that you didn’t get to where you are now by yourself shows humility, and talking about those people that had an influence on you shows others that you stay connected to the world and people around you.

Connecting with potential clients is something that is essential to any REALTOR’S® business. If you’re doing the work to create interesting blog posts and make those connections, you want to make sure that you’re sharing the right kind of content to draw in those future clients. It takes a lot more than simply providing the latest market news. To get the most out of what you share, you need to provide a wide array of interesting content

that will draw in a broad range of followers.

Providing the right kind of content can make all the difference when it comes to connecting with future clients and building the right kind of relationship with them right from the start. Connecting through your website or social media and sharing more than just real estate advice will help you build confidence and trust with future clients before you even meet them.

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GIANNA CERULLO

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Top Agent Gianna Cerullo serves the greater Dallas area, withthe vast majority of her business consisting of repeats and referrals, a testament to her superior service and dedication to clients.

NICK VLASIDIS

For Gianna Cerullo, real estate was the perfect way to combine her love of people with her passion for business.

She got her start at the suggestion of a friend, when she was working as a personal shopper and stylist. “He thought my talents would benefit me more in the real estate industry, so I decided to get my license,” she explains. Nearly 16 years later, Gianna hasn’t looked back since, and is loving every second of her career. Serving the greater Dallas area, the vast majority of her business consists of repeats and referrals, a testament to her superior service and dedication to clients.

“I put their needs first,” Gianna says.

“I’m one phone call away for every-

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thing, if they need a decorator, a plumber, or anyone, I am good at solving problems and I’m very responsive.” Under pressure, Gianna remains calm and collected, able to focus her energy on the issue at hand.

Knowing that this is one of the largest Top Agent Magazine

transactions her clients will ever make, she takes them step-by-step and ensures no questions are left unanswered. For her buyers, she listens carefully to their needs and searches tirelessly for their ideal home. When it’s time to submit offers, she Copyright Top Agent Magazine9

utilizes her negotiation skills to get them the best price possible, while also making sure they are competitive against other buyers.

For her sellers, a thorough marketing plan gets their listings in front of as many eyes as possible. “Through Compass, I have access to a great platform and exceptional website,” she says. “Our aesthetic is more Copyright Top Agent Magazine 10

architectural photography, and it makes our listings stand out.”

After working with Gianna, clients love to tell their friends and family about their experience. One recently said, “Gianna’s extensive knowledge and expertise of the Dallas market landed us in our dream Top Agent Magazine

“Through Compass, I have access to a great platform and exceptional website,” Gianna says.

“Our aesthetic is more architectural photography, and it makes our listings stand out.” home. We absolutely loved working with her! She helped us find what we were looking for, while providing sound advice at every turn. She was forthright throughout the process and was able to guide us, first time home buyers, smoothly to the finish line. Due to her guidance we now have the confidence of a great investment and a Top Agent Magazine

place that we call home. We can’t wait for our next chapter of growth in order to call on Gianna again. Thanks so much G!” Dallas is important to Gianna, so she frequently donates her time and money towards community projects, events and associations. “I participate in the Council Copyright Top Agent Magazine 11

for Life and give back to Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army and similar non-profits.”

The future looks bright; she can’t wait to see what’s in store for her in the coming years. Dallas is continually growing, and she is ready to help more people with

their real estate goals. “Some people think they don’t need an agent, but we can offer so much. As REALTORS©, we also have access to off market listings. It’s important to be connected to that. Whether they are buying or selling, we just want to give them guidance so they can make the best decisions possible.”

For more information about Gianna Cerullo, please call 214-213-4314 or email gianna.cerullo@compass.com

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How to Build a Team That Will Win Big No Matter its Size In the real estate world building a team is a goal almost every agent strives towards achieving. Doing business with a team as opposed to solo has numerous advantages. With more agents handling clients as well as other employees specialized in areas such as marketing and administrative support there to assist you; you can greatly increase your business and sales.

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So, when creating a team, logic would tell us that the bigger it is, the better, right? Wrong. When it comes to real estate teams, size doesn’t matter so much as the players you bring onto that team to work with you. A team doesn’t have to be big to win big, and here are the secrets to building a team that wins big no matter its size.

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Hire the Right Team Members

Put Your Team Members in the Right Positions to Win

You’ve probably heard the saying, “you’re only as strong as you’re weakest link.” That idea holds true for any kind of team, including those in real estate. If you have weak members on your team, then it’s not possible to have a strong team. Drawing strong team members to your business is essential.

Finding strong team members is just one part of the equation. As the leader of your team, you now have to assess each member’s strengths and weaknesses and position them appropriately. You want the best player for each role playing that part and catering to their strengths. Choose your team member’s roles wisely, and place each individual in the position where their strengths can shine and they can best contribute to a win for the entire team. Every role is important to the team working smoothly and winning as a whole, so it is important to place each team member in the role most suited to his or her skills.

To better understand what kind of person would make a strong addition to your team, you need to ask yourself what skills and characteristics you want your team members to possess. The strongest members are often ones that share their leader’s values. When you share values with your teammates, you are all running along the same course towards the same goal as one. Your definition of a victory in this case is also your teammates’ definition of it. This helps strengthen even the smallest of numbers because you are all working together toward a common goal.

Another characteristic too look out for in potential team members is a positive attitude. You can teach someone the skills needed in real estate, but you can’t teach someone how to have a positive attitude.

Positive members tend to achieve more due to their optimistic nature, but more importantly, they spread that positive attitude to the rest of the team, which improves every members’ performance.

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Communicating Your Vision to Your Team

Your team members are the key ingredients to ultimate victory, but what recipe do you follow now to lead them to victory? That is what communication is for a winning team; the recipe you will use to

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help best utilize each team member and instruct them on how they need to work together to fulfill the recipe that will lead them to be a winning team. Your team members need to know the plan and you must give them the tools to successfully execute it.

It is up to the leader of a team to help your players see your vision and help them understand what a victory looks like. The goal may seem simple and obvious to you, but you must communicate it over and over again to your team members, so they understand it as well as you do. With different personalities coming together to form a unit, you are going to be dealing with numerous challenges such as competing agendas. You will find this on any team. You must keep the goal and at the forefront of your player’s minds in order to encourage them to put aside their own personal desires in order to come together as one cohesive, single-minded unit and push towards the team’s goal.

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Give Your Team Members the Tools to Help Them Perform at Their Best The final thing all great leaders do is equip their team members with the proper tools and training needed for them to succeed. You have to show them how they can each come together with their different strengths to work as a team towards one unified goal. This involves more than simple skills training, but also endurance, so they can last as a team and win even those matches that seem unending and impossible.

Think of all the challenges that they could possibly face ahead, and clear their path to victory by giving them the necessary training and tools they will need to get past any obstacle. As the leader, you must be prepared to continually communicate the team’s goal and your vision. Use that vision to motivate your team members throughout the journey towards victory.

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Laughs!

Graham Harrop Graham Harrop Cartoons Cartoons

Putting the power of humour to work for you!

Putting the power of humour to work for you! grahamharrop.com

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Laughs!

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TERESA HILL Teresa Hill started her real estate career 14 years ago. She needed to find work to provide for herself and her daughter, and found the real estate industry fascinating.

Taking a leap of faith, she plunged headfirst into life as a full-time Realtor in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and never looked back. Through excellent communication and deep familiarity with her local market, Teresa has built an extensive network of fellow agents and past clients, and her already impressive business is only growing as time goes on.

When it comes to her listings, Teresa takes her marketing seriously. She advertises heavily over social media and uses professional photography, Matterport 3D tours, and drone footage to highlight the strengths of each property. Most importantly, Teresa knows the significance of staging in attracting buyers, and makes sure each home looks its best before it hits the market. Teresa closes around 65 transactions per year, and looks forward to maintaining that level of productivity as her career progresses.

Through her transparency and generosity towards her clients, Teresa provides an unparalleled quality of customer service to each of her clients. She is a straight shooter who keeps herself available to answer questions for clients as they come up, and she makes a point to set realistic expectations for her clients to ensure a successful transaction experience. “I come to each client with complete honesty,” Teresa says. “Everything I tell them is the truth as I see it, and I treat their decisions as if I was the one making them.” Clients love her personal approach, proven by the fact that she gets more than 80% of her business from referrals and repeat clients, and Teresa is proud to conduct business with many second generation clients.

In her free time, Teresa enjoys spending time with her dogs (she is a huge animal lover) and traveling with her family - she is remarried as of the last five years, and loves spending time with her husband, children and grandchildren. She also used to be in the National Charity League and is a Military Relocation Professional who offers discounts and additional services to veterans, first responders, and teachers as a way of saying thank you for their service. For the future, Teresa hopes to work toward her goal of getting 100% of her business from repeats and referrals while continuing to meet every one of her clients’ needs. If you’re looking for an agent in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who is honest and hard-working, look no further than Teresa Hill!

Teresa was born and raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and is intimately familiar with its market trends, landscape, and history. She loves showing people the place where she grew up and still calls home, and is more than adequately informed enough to help clients make the best possible decisions for themselves and their families. “I’m a big people-person, and I love helping people find their place here,” Teresa says. “I’ve lived here my whole life, and my network of people allows me to give great recommendations for contractors around town.” Teresa lives an active lifestyle - she loves the opportunity to interact with so many people every day, and helping them navigate contracts brings her great personal fulfilment.

Contact Teresa at (817) 688-3450 or teresa@teresahillteam.com, and visit her website at teresahillteam.com for more information.

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Why Delegating is the Key to Long-lasting Success Delegating isn’t a dirty word. In fact, it’s the secret weapon of some of the most successful real estate leaders out there. Those that want to succeed and lead a business built to last understand that delegating is the key to growth and longevity. While the idea of delegating may sound nice, consider a few ways in which delegating adds professional value that goes far beyond efficiency.

DELEGATING DEVELOPS YOUR MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUE Have you ever considered that delegating tasks and responsibilities can help you, as 20

a leader, develop your managerial skills?

While the main objective of delegation is to distribute work in a balanced, efficient way, it’s also a chance to assign tasks with insight, calibrating your team in the process.

Consider delegation an opportunity to build strengths and address weaknesses on your team by choosing specific tasks for specific employees. You can also work on and expand your communication skills, find ways to streamline your delegation tactics, and create opportunities for collaboration. Don’t just delegate blindly, be thoughtful in how you parcel out the workload and responsibilities. Doing so will allow you to fortify your

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While the idea of delegating may sound nice, consider a few ways in which delegating adds professional value that goes far beyond efficiency.

management skills, in addition to lightening your load for the better.

DELEGATING BUILDS COLLECTIVE CONFIDENCE Another byproduct of delegating is that it builds collective confidence in the ranks of your office. By giving employees the chance to flex their skills and control their own small slice of the pie, you’ll be fostering a sense of responsibility and growth on your talent roster. Not only will your staff benefit from the chance to step out on their own, but the team will also benefit as a whole, as each member will attack their duties with a renewed sense of confidence and competence. This collective aptitude will translate to clients and industry colleagues, who will sense the power of a practiced, well-calibrated team in which each member has the chance to shine.

DELEGATING SHARPENS WEAK SPOTS IN OFFICE COMMUNICATION Proper delegation requires clear communication and the careful outlining of responsibilities, goals, and expectations. By regularly delegating to staff, you’ll be giving the whole office the chance to curtail careless communication habits and establish a new benchmark for quality correspondence. Begin by setting an example by clearly communicating delegated responsibilities, leaving the door open for Top Agent Magazine

questions, and by making progress reports the standard. After a while, these good habits will become engrained in your team, and your office will benefit from a uniform and effective communication style, no matter the project.

DELEGATING TURNS ACCOMPLISHMENTS INTO A TEAM WIN The ultimate goal of delegating duties is to get the job done, but when you practice delegation, each team member will have a stake in the outcome. In other words, a job well done can be celebrated by all. Giving your team the chance to invest themselves in an overarching project allows for a big pay-off once success is achieved. Not only does this boost morale and provide meaningful motivation for daily work, but it also builds a sense of comradery among the ranks. What’s more, team members will know they’re taken seriously and considered valuable to the team’s dynamic. And don’t forget: a job well done is a reward in and of itself, but it also doesn’t hurt to demonstrate your gratitude for a team goal accomplished.

Delegating responsibilities isn’t a new idea, but the benefits are more plentiful than most imagine. With that in mind, capitalize on opportunities to delegate and you’ll not only be bolstering your business, but building your team and your own professional profile for the long haul.

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3 Ways to Make Your Workspace Work for You Productivity experts agree that a curated workspace positively impacts productivity and mood, but oftentimes we settle for bland desks and cubicles that lack personalized details or considerations for workflow. Why miss out on the opportunity to optimize your surroundings when it could brighten your day—and boost your performance? Keep in mind some of these tactics to make your workspace your own and reap the benefits along the way.

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DETERMINE YOUR WORKING STYLE AND DECORATE ACCORDINGLY For the creative set, a colorful and art-filled workspace can inspire fresh ideas and reduce stress. Likewise, casual yet aesthetically pleasing furniture, accessories, and décor set an inviting yet functional mood. A pop of color from an office tool—even something as basic as a stapler—can inject a sense of fun and modernism into your daily tasks. For the more analytical, right-brained worker, clean

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lines and zero clutter go a long way. A few well-chosen personal photos in tasteful, unassuming frames can provide a motivating connection to the world beyond the office, while accessories and supplies that are sleek, monochrome, and contemporary inspire a sense of calm efficiency.

BUILD A WORKSPACE WITH YOUR DAILY ROUTINE IN MIND If you find yourself spending hours on the phone per day, or assembling stacks of documents and brochures, or even coming and going from the office with frequency—there are simple adjustments you can make to your workspace that will save you time and energy. If you sit for long hours—responding to e-mails or making calls—try incorporating an ergonomic chair or keyboard wrist-pad to maximize comfort. If you spend a long time assembling presentation materials, then file organizers, trays, and easy-to-pull labels can shave valuable time off your efforts. Lastly, those who step out for frequent meetings can reduce the hassle of being on-the-go by making your space mindfully organized—a coatrack and a dish for your keys by the door, an auto-brew coffeemaker, or an easily edited whiteboard calendar can make jet-setting simpler.

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ADD EASY DETAILS THAT ENRICH YOUR WORKING EXPERIENCE While organization and décor can rally productivity and mood, there are also a few extra details you can introduce to your workspace to improve the quality of your working life.

Healthy, easy to grab-and-go snacks—think nuts, homemade trail mix, and fresh fruit— can keep your energy up without the sugar crush or guilt. If there’s a window nearby, a hard-to-kill plant like a philodendron or a fern not only cleanse the air around you, but also provide a welcome connection to the natural world. Being prepared in a pinch is another great way to make your workspace work for you: a spare tie, a tube of lip balm, hand sanitizer, or a box of Band-Aids can save you a trip to the store when an unexpected need arises.

While we take great pains to make our homes our sanctuaries—complete with the decorations, furniture, and food we favor—we often overlook our work areas, even though we spend a sizable portion of our week sitting at the same desk. Challenge yourself to add a few of these personalizing, productivity-boosting details to your work area and bring the comfort of home to your working life.

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