A real job - say what?! Most agents would be offended by the thought that they don’t have a real job. I, however, agree wholeheartedly with anyone who makes the aforementioned statement. When you pursue a career in real estate, you are not getting a job... you are opening a business!
As a Realtor, you are not an employee. You are a business owner. To prosper, you must think like a businessman or woman.
As an employee, your tasks, wages, and schedules are all dictated by someone else. You don’t make the decisions, don’t get to handle much responsibility, and you follow the instructions. In short, your ability to prosper and grow is in the hands of someone else.
As times have become tougher and real estate has been proven to be more challenging, I’m sure we’ve all heard from other agents scurrying off to the security of “a real job.”
I propose that you’re better off to think differently instead of surrendering when obstacles amass. Think as a business owner. Change the way you think so you won’t have to change your career.
As the owner of your own business, here a Top Ten list of responsibilities you owe to yourself! As a business owner, you must . . .
1. Generate a consumer need/desire for my product – Remember, The product is YOU and your services.
2. Convert leads into a profit source – What is your plan for successfully converting Internet leads? Do you have a reliable follow up system?
3. Provide an incredible level of service and customer satisfaction – Make yourself stand out from every other agent in your area.
4. Create “individual” brand recognition – Why should a potential customer choose you over the next agent?
5. Maintain the business’ existing and future, loyal clientele – Build residual income with a pipeline of future business. Stay connected to your growing pipeline!
6. Protect the business’ image/reputation – Take complete control of your presentation with professional marketing material. Are you viewed as the local real estate expert in your area? You better be.
7. Focus on profitability – Figure out what works and what doesn’t (don’t forget knowing why something doesn’t work).
8. Determine how and where to reinvest profits back into business growth – As you grow, so should your business.
9. Build security by investing net income wisely – Find ways to have your money work for you!
10. Balance business responsibilities with personal life – A happy and confident realtor is going to impress those qualities upon their customers!
Prioritize and attack the chores on this list one at a time. The first order of business is to create a consumer need for your product. That product, of course, is you and the services you are capable of providing. You must sell yourself before you can sell houses (By bringing customers to you, HouseHunt alleviates much of the work involved in this task).
Move on to the next order of responsibility once your lead flow is consistent and systematized. Attack this “Top Ten” list in an organized and manageable way. You cannot do every task at the same time. Create, implement and perfect a system for each area of responsibility before moving on to the next task.
The key is to manage your business as a stand-alone, individually owned enterprise. If you think as a business you won’t be in the business of thinking about another line of work!
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