Meet Tiffany: A Day in the Life

Hello there! In the last three months since I joined the Cohen Group NW, a common question I’ve gotten from friends who see my Instagram stories is “...so what is it that you do, exactly?” 

And the question makes sense. I’m a licensed real estate agent with experience in transaction coordination, but most of my chatter about work involves old houses and planning taco parties, so the confusion is understandable. Let’s take a quick look at a conglomerate ‘day in the life’, and some of the hats that I wear on a daily basis. 

Day in the Life:

8:14AM As soon as I take off my jacket I flip the sign on Chris’ and my office door to “Do Not Disturb”. It’s a writing kind of morning,so if someone talks to me, I’ll have to time travel from 1906 or 1895 back to the present before I can understand what they’re saying. The DND sign helps me justify the blank stare I’m stuck with as I mentally make my way back to 2019.  

8:19AM I toss a question in one Facebook group and a weekly topic thread in another. The extrovert in me enjoys engaging with people pretty constantly, but the introvert and social-anxiety side relish having most of those interactions mediated digitally.

8:26AM The National Register of Historic Places website is a goldmine for researching historic homes in Bellingham. Cooper and I publish the “Bellingham Then & Now” blog series (read one of my favorite posts here) every week, and it’s easily a favorite part of the job. We find an old photo of the place and Cooper takes a current one for us to present side-by-side. For me, it’s a chance to nerd out about either the people that built this community, or the historic trends that shaped why Bellingham is the way it is, or just as an excuse for me to dive into the larger stories showing how art influences history, and history art, and how these dance back and forth through generations. 

9:32AM Leo breaks into the office with a cheery “What’s up party people?” and he updates Chris and I on an ongoing deal. Along the way we mention a few plans for the future, a few ideas for client gifts are tossed around, and I’m re-inspired about one of my projects that’s been stuck for the last few days.

10:45AM I’m sitting in Leo and Cooper’s office going over social media strategy. Coop’s the only one wearing shoes - several of us have an affinity for walking around Suite 120 in sock feet (one of the perks of a closed office). Around here, “whiteboard” is a verb, and it’s our preferred method for brainstorming visions, goals, and timelines.

11:58AM Our Clean Water Happy Hour is coming up in a couple weeks, so I’m planning what will go into the two gift baskets from Umpqua Bank, and following up with a few other business sponsors who have showed interest in participating. I snap a few shots of gourmet mead (lying on the floor to get just the right angle on the tall bottles) and save it for the series of teasers I’ll put in our Instagram Stories before the event.

2:14PM I work up a door hanger in Canva for a Humane Society drive and drop off a few dozen at the Buyer Division office. Canva is an absolute lifesaver for non-graphic-designer like myself. The first hundred buyer guide magazines arrived recently (I may have teared up when I saw it in print), and now I’m working away on the sellers guide. But even outside these bigger projects, I’m in Canva every day for something or other: anytime something has to be prettier than an email or Google Doc, it’s a Canva project.

2:30PM Ping.  One of my (many) timeblocking notifications hits my inbox - it’s an easy one to swipe away. No housewarming parties scheduled for this week, but this notification will come in handy next week - I need to take stock on our supplies inventory; definitely don’t want to realize I’m low on paper plates an hour before picking up 150 tacos.

4:01PM There’s a stack of cards on my desk, signed by the team at our meeting earlier this week. I love addressing and mailing these notes - there’s something about textured cardstock and small ivory envelopes that just wraps the short handwritten message with a feeling of “I care.” And we do. That’s something I’ve seen over and over in the few short months I’ve worked with Leo, Chris, Cooper, Layla, Emelie, Mikala and Margaret. There’s a lot of honest-to-goodness caring about people, both those within the team and without.

4:12PM I’ve switched Pandora stations a few times today, and now One Republic is the soundtrack to some foundational work - I’m splitscreening like a boss and taking a slew of choppy ideas for a large project our team has coming up, and putting them into grids, categories, lists, and timeframes to create one of my favorite things….we all have our buzzwords, and for me one of them is definitely plan. To me, a plan is what takes a cloud of hazy sparkles and turns them into a lightning bolt.

6:20PM I often catch a second wind when the office gets quiet and the sky darkens. I’m reading through a set of CCRs (the documents the govern how a plat is developed) and just like the insurance policies of three years ago, and the real estate contracts of a year ago, this legalese is slowly becoming more understandable. 

So that’s it. A busy busy day in the life of a part-time event planner, part-time Client Concierge, part-time blogger, and happy full-time team member of the Cohen Group NW.