Is it rude to Reblog yourself? This was actually my first, or second post here on Active Rain, and it's something I wanted to share with agents in my office as well as anyone out there geering up for their 2010 business planning.

If I'm being rude, please forgive me ;-)

Originally posted December 1, 2007 (the day I discovered Active Rain!) dates modified:

If you're anything like the average Real Estate Professional, you're probably choosing to either ignore goal setting and business planning for 2010, or youre groaning and resisting and will "eventually get around to it". (Which means you'll procrastinate until November '10 when you'll start thinking about how you should have had a plan and maybe you'll do one for '11) And if that's you, then you're likely to continue to stay an Average Real Estate Professional.

Does every high producer have written goals and a written business plan? Probably not, but I'd venture to say that as high as eighty percent of the top twenty percent do. (Just can't escape that 80/20 rule can we?)

What I've found helps agents to buckle down and get their goals and plans on paper, is to help them see why goals are important in the first place and how the plan is the road map for their achieving them.

The "Sugar" I refer to in the planning process is goal setting. I  find it motivating and energizing and it can really help change your mental attitude. But there's a system to goal setting which I think can help you be more  effective & efficient.

So Why Have Goals?

Without written goals, your business is going to drift. You probably know this kind of agent who is side tracked by this, that, and the other thing? First they're prospecting one way, then another "latest and greatest" presents itself and gee, that's got to be even better, so they stop doing the first thing and move on to the next "best" thing", and so on and so on. If the shortest point between where they are now and where they want to be is a straight line, these folks are zig-zagging all over that line and it's going to take them forever to get to the end result!

I'm sure many of you have heard what I refer to as the "Goal Story". The study done in 1979 & 1989 of the Harvard MBA Graduates. I believe this story is referred to in the book, "What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School", but I've heard it told at many seminars as well. In case you haven't heard it or need a refresher, here goes:

In 1979, Harvard MBA grads were asked whether or not they had clear, concise, written goals for their future, and detailed plans for achieving those goals. Here was the breakdown at the time of graduation:

3% of Graduates said Yes they had goals and a plan in writing

13% of Graduates had Goals, but not in writing and with no written plan

84% had no goals in mind at all

Ten years later, the graduates were reinterviewed and this is what they found:

The 13% who had goals were making approximately 2X the amount of the 84% who had no goals at all. But the 3% who started out with written goals and a written plan were earning 10X the amount of the other 97% of graduates.

Why? Because the clearer and more detailed your goals and plans, the more quickly you will be able to achieve them. Of course many of these Harvard Grads went on to earn as much or more as those first 3% members, but the point is that the 3% earned more money much more quickly.

So here's a good starting point..... Before you begin setting your goals, it's important to get a really clear picture of what you want.(Really want!)

 Get out a blank piece of paper and begin to ask yourself some really broad questions:

If money were no object, what would I be doing with my time?

Assuming everything in my business was perfect, what would that look like?

• Where am I working?
• How am I communicating with my Clients?
•  Who am I working with?
• Where is my business coming from?

How much am I earning each month? Annually?

How much am I saving each month?

Etc.

These area the kinds of questions which will stimulate your thought process and help you begin to see what you'll need to do to convert this imaginary picture to reality.  

 This is a great time of year to work on your plan, sit down w/ a glass of wine (or two), a cup of hot chocolate with some relaxing music and let your mind go.

 It doesn't have to be grueling!