REALTORS’ SURVIVAL GUIDE, PART III. “Profiles: Use It or Lose It.”
I guess I’ve been a little pre-occupied with the sluggish economy (is that understated, or what?) in this Series. I hear housing starts are up .5% from the worst month in history, though. That has to get everyone fired up! NOT!
Anyway, as Realtors®, we are really feeling the effects of this economy. Unemployment remains at near record levels and the figures do not include the hundreds of thousands of Realtors® who are making next to nothing…or any of the other “sales-people” in other industries who are dead-in-the-water. So, what do we do?
I could start canvassing my community, knocking on doors and handing out chocolate chip cookies. This would get me some business, no doubt…but that just is not me. (Sometimes I wish it was). My solution is to dig into the Personal Profile (the toolbox) and figure out what is in there that can help me through these times. In Part II of this Series, I wrote about using my graphic arts background to help defray the costs of being in Real Estate. Now I need to actually bring in some money both within my full-time Real Estate job and, also, outside of it.
We all have wildly different backgrounds and different areas of expertise. I looked at MY life experiences with the idea that I could co-mingle my past life with my present life and, hopefully, create a scenario where I could effectively impact my life as a Realtor® while creating an income stream outside of real estate. BEST OF ALL WORLDS.
I spent the first 28 years of my “professional” career as an owner of a Screenprint/Embroidery company (St.Croix Screenprinting & Embroidery, Inc.). My contribution to the company was that of an artist and a salesman. Both of these fit in well with Real Estate. Our MLS has close to 350 Realtor® members. I have come to know many of them. This is a fairly impressive potential client list for the sale of imprinted apparel, embroidered caps, mugs and all kinds of promotional items. St. Croix Screenprinting & Embroidery, Inc. is one of the most respected companies of its kind in the Midwest. I could sell these products with TOTAL confidence to my North Idaho fellow Realtors® and know that I could bring to them a level of service and quality that is second to none. EVERYONE WINS!
In addition, with every sale I make outside of my MLS “farm”, I am interacting with a potential client for the Sandpoint Real Estate market. This is pretty similar to knocking on doors with chocolate chip cookies but better. North Idaho, however, is not a major metropolitan area so, as good as all this sounds, it still doesn’t pay all the bills. I still needed to add another income stream without burning out by juggling too many balls. Answer…TENNIS.
If you are PASSIONATE about what you are doing, it is difficult to burn out in life. I love tennis. I have played and/or coached tennis most of my life. It has always been my dream to semi-retire and coach the Sandpoint HS tennis team. Given the economy, the “semi-retire” part of the dream evaporated but that did not mean I couldn’t still live the “coaching” part of the dream. As luck would have it, the head coaching position opened up and I was able to land the job. Coaching HS sports is a paid position, but no one takes on this challenge for the money. We do it for the kids. The rewards are unbelievable and the energy it manifests is difficult to describe. It was only after several weeks of coaching that I realized this was a pretty good “FARM”. FARM or no FARM, I would not give up coaching, but I can’t complain about the fringe benefits.
In conclusion, DO NOT be afraid to use the tools in your “tool box”. …and live with PASSION. You gain a new life experience every day and those experiences will lead to a successful career.
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