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The Tom Ferry Cult... or Learning to 'Live My LIFE by DESIGN!'

By
Real Estate Agent with California Lifestyle Realty DRE# 1780607

                                  

Tom Ferry is not a cult leader.  But when I joined The Lori Bowers Group over a year ago, I was afraid that he was.  My broker, Lori Bowers is not only a fan and follower of Tom's, she has been Coached by him and has become a Coach herself through his Coaching program Our entire group spoke of him with such reverence and respect, chanted his mantras at meetings, and tuned in to his You-Tube videos.  I was afraid that I was'nt joining a vibrant, progressive, successful Real Estate Group, but a crazy, creepy cult!

And I did not buy in!  At least not right away.  For months I listened during our Monday morning meeting to the preachings and teachings of Tom Ferry... the benefits of Coaching and being held accountable.  Lori even set up weekly Coaching meetings with our Team members.  I did not buy in!  I was not going to be sucked into a crazy, creepy cult!  My Mom had warned me about things like this!

Then one day last spring, I heard whispers of the upcoming Tom Ferry Summit-- right here in the desert.  The guru was coming to us!  I wondered what price we would have to pay to see him in the flesh.  I wondered if I had saved enough cash to cover the "brainwash weekend".  My broker made it easy--she would pay for the Summit and we were STRONGLY cncouraged to attend.

I went with many doubts, reservations and fears.  I asked how long each day we were required to stay.  I did not want to go.

                       __________________________________________________________________

The Tom Ferry Success Summit last summer changed my attitude, my dedication, my resolve and my life as a Realtor.  I stayed until the end of every session.  I learned from every speaker.  I could not get enough.  I came away from that week enthused, excited, committed, and armed with a thousand new ideas to take my business to the next level. 

The Result, you ask, is that this year I have invested in myself.  I joined ActiveRain and have racked up over 100,000 points in 9 months. completed the E-Pro Class, purchased several domain names, built a Real Estate web-site, a desert "lifestyle" site , joined the Twitter community ( follow me!), joined Facebook and created 2 Fan Pages!( livethedesertlife.com and 365 Things to do in the Palm Springs, CA Area). 

                 I have built the infrastructure in my business to become successful... now, I am ready!

 __________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have been looking forward to the release of 'Life by DESIGN', by Tom Ferry, since hearing about it's beginnings at the Success Summit last year.  After reading the excerpt, I was intrigued by it's inward, soul-searching type exercises.

The Questions regarding Professional, Lifestyle, & Health & Vitality hit home with me.

As I discussed in the paragraph above... Professionally I am feeling and living strong.  I am a little worried about the economy, but I feel that if I keep working, blogging, learning, and investing in my profession that I will be rewarded. I am passionate about my work and the people I work with.  I am current and love the new technologies and opportunities with Social Media.  I constantly strive to be the "expert" on and off the golf course in my area and I believe I am Operating by Design in this area of my Life.

In the Lifestyle arena, I am very lucky and thankful to have a committed and loving relationship with my husband of 12 years.  Together we have a busy and fun social life, we have many friends who come to visit us, entertain often, travel, spend quality time together and we get to play alot of golf.  I am blessed with many strong friendships besides my husband, and I love the beautiful desert we live in.  I would like to make more money, (who does'nt), and have the freedom to travel more, but basically I am very happy.

As far as Health & Vitality, I am not completely satisfied with my less than committed workout routine.  I do play golf regularly, swim when the weather is warm, and cook healthy and delicious meals at home.  My Professional fervor this year has taken away some of my "me" time and I am ready to work on that.

Overall, I feel that I am Operating by Design, but I am excited to read the entire book and see what challenges Tom has us face and hear his ideas for making all areas of our life RICHER!

 

 


Tom Ferry: LIFE! By DESIGNThis post is to help promote Tom Ferry's upcoming book, LIFE! By DESIGN. The contents of my post are the result of some self reflection the preview chapter of the book asks us to do about ourselves.

You can Pre-Order the book now by visiting TomFerryBook.com. You can also participate in the promotion being done by ActiveRain for a chance to win some great prizes and 2500 points by visiting the promotional post here.

Everyone that orders a copy of the book between now and April 23rd, 2010 will also receive one ticket to attend Tom's Success Summit, August 24-26th and the MP3 audio role play program: Objection Handling for Buyers, Sellers and Short Sales.

In exchange for writing this post, I could win an iPad or other cool prizes, and this is to let you know so the FTC doesn't fine me.

 

 

 

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Kathy Schowe   760.333.8886  California LifestyleRealty  California Lifestyle RealtySchowe Properties                                           

        

                  
                                   

Bob Stewart
ActiveRain - Seattle, WA
ActiveRain Ambassador

Fantastic post Kathy! Thanks for being the first one in the pool. I really appreciate it and I know Tom does as well. I'm glad to see you came to realize Tom was less of a cult leader and more of an inspirer. I can recall having people say that ActiveRain members are like a cult. I prefer to think of us as equally inspired by one and other. I'm pretty sure Tom draws his inspiration from the people he coaches to the same degree they draw their inspiration from him. Equally inspired!!

Apr 14, 2010 10:56 AM
Linda Humphrey
Humphrey Home Connections Realty, Reno, Nevada - Reno, NV
CRS, Broker/Owner HHC Realty

Way to go Kathy...first one out of the box! I don't know anything about Tom Ferry except his name, and I definitely tend to be the skeptical type, but reading your blog has given me the courage to get over it and give this a shot. Thanks!

Apr 14, 2010 10:58 AM
Terry Chenier
Homelife Glenayre Realty - Mission, BC

Kathy,

Good post and first too. I'm getting in on this as well.

Apr 14, 2010 02:20 PM
Cal Yoder
Keller Williams Elite - Lititz, PA
Homes For Sale in Lancaster PA - 717.413.0744

Kathy,

Great job and I definitely want to live my life by design. Ironically, I am enrolled in BOLD, a Keller Williams program entitled, Business Objective - A Life by Design.

Hope your designed life is a great blessing to you and to others.

Cal

Apr 14, 2010 03:36 PM
Sharon Parisi
United Real Estate Dallas - Dallas, TX
Dallas Homes

This is a tough act to follow.  Great job!

Apr 14, 2010 03:59 PM
Kathy Schowe
California Lifestyle Realty - La Quinta, CA
La Quinta, California 760-333-8886

Thanks Cal-- for the kind words and for following my blog! 

Terry,  I can't believe I was the first to post!

Sharon-- thanks for the kudos! 

and Linda-- I read your post and loved your honesty! 

Good luck to all with your posts!    Kathy

Apr 14, 2010 04:05 PM
Fred Carver Real Estate Consulant
Retired BC Realtor - Victoria, BC
Accredited Real Estate Consultant

Hi Kathy..Congratulations on being 1st and getting 100,000 Points Blogging in the Rain, this in itself is a big accomplishment...Thanks for showing us the lead :O))

Apr 14, 2010 05:01 PM
Lottie Kendall
Compass - San Francisco, CA
Helping make your real estate dreams a reality

Great post, Kathy; you set the bar high for the rest of us. Congratulations on your great example of commitment to and enthusiasm for your business and life.

Apr 15, 2010 02:52 AM
Kryste Adams
RE/MAX Key Properties - Luxury Homes, Golf Course Homes - Bend, OR
Bend, Oregon Real Estate

Hi Kathy - Great post, sure inspired me to read the exerpt...going to do that right now!

Apr 15, 2010 03:17 AM
Tom Ferry
Tom Ferry-yourcoach - Newport Beach, CA

You know what I think Kathy :) I'm just so proud of what you have accomplished and created since August

Keep on rockin!

TF

Apr 15, 2010 04:35 AM
Kathy Schowe
California Lifestyle Realty - La Quinta, CA
La Quinta, California 760-333-8886

Thank you for all of your comments... and especially Tom Ferry.  What an honor to have you not only read my blog-- but to give me a cheer!  wow!  Kathy

Apr 15, 2010 10:21 AM
Anonymous
Kaboomski

Kathy,  Great blog! your hard work and stay on top approach will surely lead to much deserved  success!

 

Apr 15, 2010 10:55 AM
#13
Lorraine or Loretta Kratz
Crescent Moon Realty, Inc. & Land N Sea Auctions. - San Marcos, CA
Certified Negotiation Consultants

Kathy:

I also was on the fence, I had been a long time devotee of Mike Ferry his father and was torn when I attend the event that you did in Palm Springs. I was surprised at the many things that I walked away with from brainstorming ideas to new way to implement social media into my marketing strategies.

Apr 16, 2010 07:43 AM
Joshua Zargari
MJ Decorators Workshop LI staging and home decorating - Lynbrook, NY
MJ Decorators Workshop

Good post!

Apr 16, 2010 10:29 AM
Lee & Pamela St. Peter
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices YSU Realty: (919) 645-2522 - Raleigh, NC
Making Connections to Success in Real Estate

Thanks Kathy for sharing your insight into the Ferry cult.  I too have had reservations.  But I believe we learn from everyone.  Those we agree with and those we don't!  Glad to hear of your success with your coaching!

Apr 16, 2010 10:42 AM
Cliff Kavanaugh
Keller Williams Realty of Charlottesville Virginia - Charlottesville, VA
ck@kw.com - 434-466-5128 - www.CvilleHomeSearch.com

OK, Folks, here is my promo blog for MyLife! By Design:

My Life! By Design

Apr 18, 2010 08:55 PM
Anonymous
Lori Bowers

For all of you - Kathy is a really neat lady- she does live her life by design. She has a wonderful husband and family, a huge circle of friends who love her, a great business, she is a championship golfer, a very caring giving person, and a ray of sunshine to all of us on our team! Thanks for the great sharing! Very well- written and presented! We all love you, Kathy! She was also the 1st one on our team to sign up for Summit 2010. See you all there!

Lori Bowers

Apr 19, 2010 01:40 AM
#18
Kathy Schowe
California Lifestyle Realty - La Quinta, CA
La Quinta, California 760-333-8886

Thank you Lori for such a nice comment here on my blog!  I really appreciate all of your support, and especially thank you for opening my mind to Tom Ferry, coaching, and life as a working agent!  Kathy

Apr 19, 2010 08:58 AM
Lisa Hill
Florida Property Experts - Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Beach Real Estate

HAHAHA!! I would have been exactly the same as you! I always think that people who get sucked into these things are freaks! Fortunately, I've been to a Tom Ferry conference before. So I won't worry about the cult problem for now ;-)  lol

Good job!

Apr 21, 2010 01:27 PM
Kathy Schowe
California Lifestyle Realty - La Quinta, CA
La Quinta, California 760-333-8886

Hey Lisa,  Thanks for the comment... it is always cool when people get your humor, blog!  Let's connect via facebook, or whatever!  Kathy

Apr 21, 2010 03:12 PM