Ready to live with ease? Let's get started
Whether you’re coming from spreadsheets, paper binders, or keeping too much information in your head, our goal is to make moving to Nines as seamless and stress-free as possible, so you can start saving time and improving your household operations right away.
Let’s explore how to get started with our household management platform, as well as onboarding tips that will help you build a strong foundation for the future.
Where to begin
The first step to getting started with Nines is to meet with our onboarding expert, Shelby Boudreau, who has 20+ years of experience managing multi-property estates.
We’ll start with some simple questions:
What’s your biggest challenge? Where are you losing time?
Your answers will guide your onboarding experience, because we want to start with the top priorities for you and your team.
The most important thing is to begin, because in estate management, you have more and more to remember every day.
“I always tell people: always more, never less. You’re never going backwards, and you need an easy way to keep track of everything.” — Shelby Boudreau
The sooner you start using Nines, the sooner it starts working for you.
Looking ahead: what to expect as you get started with nines
First 30 days
You've tackled the what, where and who, and created a solid framework for your household manual. You've added the details around your properties, zones, and assets, and you've created profiles for residents and staff members. You're using Nines to assign tasks and log what's happening every day, and your team is getting familiar with the platform.
3 months in
Nines is your everyday working platform. You no longer update old spreadsheets and documents, because it's easier to do everything in Nines. You add new information every day — whether that's active tasks and projects, new vendor contacts and documents, or historical information that happened to come up again.
1 year later
Every day, you're using what you built in your first year with Nines. Annually recurring tasks are automated, saving you time and eliminating the need for duplicate work. You can run a quick search for a refresher on a project you worked on months ago. You've been through everything that might come up in a year, and you're reaping the benefits.
Tips for an easy onboarding experience
Set realistic expectations
Initial onboarding can be as detailed as you want it to be. For example, walking through a property, taking photos of each zone and asset, and uploading those along with any relevant information into Nines might take 6 hours for 3,000 square feet of property. The timeline will change based on how many people are inputting information, how much detail you want to capture, and how much time you can devote to the task each day. If you set aside one hour a day to focus on onboarding tasks, focus on tackling small pieces at a time.
Build a solid foundation
Everyone’s priorities will vary based on their unique needs, but when in doubt, start with the basics. Think of it like walking around a house — start by adding high level property information, then go into each room (or zone), and finally, look closely at each asset. For people, start with your key players: residents, full-time staff, and the vendors you work with most frequently.
Start with one-off tasks and logs
Once you have the basics of “what, where, and who” in place, you can start adding tasks and logs on a daily basis. For example, rather than texting your groundskeeper about something that needs to be fixed, assign a task in Nines instead. If your property manager met with a vendor, have them log their notes so the details are captured with a date stamp. This helps you and your team start changing your habits — and start documenting history — right away.
Focus on what you’re working on today
Pace yourself, and don’t feel pressured to upload everything into Nines ahead of time. Most routine tasks can be added into Nines as they happen — which makes onboarding easier and more accurate, since the details are fresh in your mind. Recurring tasks make up more than half of the work at a property, and are the foundation for maintaining tranquility across an estate. If you build as you go, you’ll automatically create processes that define, assign, remind, and update household stakeholders about these critical repeat tasks at the properties.
Import items in bulk
Already have lists of tasks, assets, contacts or vendors? You can import them in bulk with a simple CSV upload. Our import templates make it easy to map information to the right places in Nines, so you can get a jump start on adding the information you already have at your fingertips.
Take the longterm view
Don’t wait for the onboarding process to be “finished” to start making your life easier and recording history. Any time you invest now in building out checklists and recurring tasks will come back to you in droves over time. A significant portion of estate management tasks are repeated every year — and if you can get ahead of regular maintenance, you can spend more time leveling up service standards and working on major projects. Moving forward, you’ll ensure continuity, making it easier to train new team members, provide backup when staff have time off, and preserve historical records even as people come and go.
We’ve got your back
We’re here to help every step of the way. Whether you need help deciding where to start, in-person consulting, or data entry support, our team of estate management experts can meet you where you are.
Our self-paced onboarding video course gives you the tools and inspiration you need to get started and train your team. Resources like our Modern Household Management Workshops and Easemakers community & podcast for estate managers helps you level up your expertise and connect with peers.
No matter your question, we’re ready to point you in the right direction.
