What an Auction Company Actually Does All Week

The building's cup runneth over. That's really the best way to describe things around here lately. We've had several auctions in motion at once, and if you've ever wondered what an auction company actually does all day, buckle up. Most people see the auction online. They don't see everything that happens before it ever gets there. Fair warning — it's a lot.
Thursday
The crew split. Some stayed at the building finishing things up. Jody and David — one of our newer crew members — headed to Jonesboro for preview. Preview, for those who don't know, is a few hours on auction day when registered bidders can come look at items before picking them up the following day. The auction begins to end at six thirty. People have been bidding all week, and then it closes — or begins to close, technically, because we use an auto-extend feature so nobody gets sniped at the last second.
Friday
Jay and Scott drove up to Mount Vernon — just the two of them — to get things sorted and start setup. The rest of the crew ran Jonesboro pick up, and I stopped by for a bit. Orderly chaos. That's the goal.
Monday
The crew headed to Mount Vernon to continue setup. Meanwhile, Tabby and Tiffany stayed back at the building. Tiffany is one of our newest people. Tabby is about to have a baby — any day now — so Monday was Tabby passing things along to Tiffany before she heads out on maternity leave. After they finished training, they got back to regular work. Alex was out on appointments — that's one of his two days for showings and listing appointments. The other is Friday.
Tuesday
The entire crew went to Mount Vernon and finished it out. Setup finalized, catalog built, pictures taken. The auction goes live next week. Alex was in Atlanta working an auto auction — he works auto auctions Tuesday through Thursday every week. Tuesday Atlanta, Wednesday Dallas, Thursday Granite City, which most people know better as the St. Louis area. The man covers some ground.
Wednesday
Crew was back at the building. Morning was organization. In the afternoon, they unloaded the box truck with items we'd gathered from another location to bring back and sell at the building. Then they took the truck to Jonesboro for a second pick up and brought unclaimed items back. I grabbed Jody and we went to show a house, then drove to another town, picked up keys, walked the property, got measurements and pictures, and brought everything back to the building in time for the three o'clock second pick up.
That's fairly normal around here. In one day we might show real estate, measure a property, unload a truck, handle pick up, and prepare the next auction.
One thing that's helped keep us organized is our goal board. It's a two-week rolling list of goals for the crew. This week's were clear. I threw a last-minute project at them mid-week and they hit every goal anyway. The last goal for this week is today's pick up. Next week's board only has one thing written on it so far — it's intentionally unfinished because so much of next week depends on how this week closes out. We'll revamp it today once the crew gets back from another project.
A Few Other Things That Happened This Week
Jay had Gemini help him write an informational post. I said redo it. Kristen disagreed with me. As luck would have it, we had a visitor stop by, so I handed it to him. He said it was straightforward... but also a little witchy. Jay rewrote it. So much better.
Oh — and two weeks ago I went camping. Beach camping. Wild ponies on the shore. My laptop still worked. I got a couple of things done but mostly I walked the beach and let my brain breathe. On the way home I surprised a fellow auctioneer and he showed me around his building. Really cool to see how someone else runs their operation. The bathroom signs were fantastic. You know a place has personality when the bathroom signs are a highlight.
When I got back, everything was still running. I was behind, but the auction service hadn't skipped a beat. That's actually one of the things I'm proudest of. If one person steps away for a few days, the entire operation shouldn't stop.
Today
Real estate auction day. Kristen's at the building calling all the registered bidders. The crew is loaded up and headed to another project. I started this blog post at six in the morning. It might not get posted until later. But the work is getting done.
The funny thing is, after reading all of this, you've only seen one week. Next week will look completely different. That's the beauty of the auction business. Every auction, every seller, every property, and every day is different. We never quite know what's coming next, but somehow it all comes together. That's what keeps us showing up every morning.
Happy Bidding!
Kara C. Belcher-Miller

P..S. I just posted this at 9:19 pm, while watching Sweet Magnolias.  Pour It Out!