About six days before my 28th birthday (October 19), I fell ill from what appears to have been some sort of bacterial infection from a tick bite. My blood tests proved inconclusive, and I was given heavy antibiotics as a precaution. Within days, I was feeling great. My fever was gone, my aches were dwindling, and I was almost ready to return to work. And then I nearly died.
On October 16, during the evening, my left leg began to hurt. It wasn't too bad, but it was annoying. Then at 5am I looked at my leg and could see that my calf was severelyswollen. I touched it, and it was hard. My entire calf muscle felt like it was expanded as much as the skin would allow. I thought it may have been related to my illness, but since it was a new symptom, I called my on-call doctor and it happened to be my primary care physician. After describing the symptoms to him, he said that if I came to him at 8am he was going to send me to get and ultrasound for a blood clot, OR I could just go straight to the ER. I was already suffering from some unexplained anxiety, and when he said he thought it may be a blood clot, I immediately decided to go to the ER. I knew from dating a surgeon that blood clots go to your lungs (and cause a very fast death), and a clear, common symptom of blood clots in your lungs (pulmonary embolisms) was unexplained anxiety.
A few minutes later I was in the ER. Within 15 minutes the ultrasound revealed that I had a massive blood clot from my hip to my ankle and severely limited blood flow in my leg. Then a CT scan revealed that I had large blood clots in both lungs. They told me that I got to the ER just in time. Within a few hours, I would have had enough clot go to my lungs to stop my heart.
I was put on blood thinners in the hospital and stayed there for five days. On my 28th birthday I had a procedure done to remove as much clot as possible from my thigh to prevent potential long term complications (and guys, a catheter without anesthesia is about twice as painful as it sounds). I was released a few days later barely able to walk. I walked with a cane for several weeks, and now I'm walking again, but I have constant swelling in my left leg. But I'm just glad I'm walking...and alive.
So what does this have to do with sales?
For me, I reached a new level of fearlessness. I thought I was relatively free of sales reluctance, but as I lay in the hospital that first day, I discovered that I did have some very powerful personal fears about life, business, and sales. The first fear was that I would never have the lake house that I have been dreaming about owning since I was a little. The second, just as powerful, was that I would never build my blog, Daily Agent Tips, into the respected information resource that I want it to be. During those tense moments, I promised myself that I would be fearless about getting my lake house, and fearless about promoting Daily Agent Tips, and fearless prospecting, talking with buyers and sellers, etc. I figured that nothing, and I mean nothing, could be scarier than going to sleep fearing that you wouldn't wake up.
I also realized that I need to reach out for help. In order to grow my website, agents need to visit, maybe even subscribe, provide comments, and feedback. I also need agents to submit their own ideas to be shared with other agents. Some people say that we have AR for that, but I have no desire to compete with AR. Daily Agent Tips is focused on day to day strategies for generating business, increasing sales, and generating revenue. I don't know everything about business, sales, and real estate...but I do know that I know a lot, and each of you knows a lot, and each of you have ideas you can contribute. So, today, I'm asking you to just visit Daily Agent Tips and comment on some of the posts (actually comment on the site and not AR in response to the posts), and if you are feeling bold, send me links to articles or posts you think my be beneficial to reads of Daily Agent Tips. You can even submit your own if you'd like.
So, I guess all I have left to ask is... "Will you help me out?" If so, go ahead and visit Daily Agent Tips right now.
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