Many Realtors have associations that they belong to in addition to their real estate careers. Does your hobby or volunteer work enhance and solidify your career? It should!
My particular "hobby", and I use that term somewhat lightly, because it is really more of a commitment to lifestyle, is singing with a Barbershop Chorus. Now I know many of you are already thinking "Oh No" and I must admit, before joining with this chorus, I had some of the same preconceived notions of what Barbershop singing was all about. Let me tell you the story of how it came about and then share with you how I found this to both enhance my life and also associate it with new clients.
I have been singing all my life, from church as a teen to singing for weddings, to solo's during religious services, quartets, octets, and several mixed ensembles. In the year 2000, I was visiting a friend and in his family room he had several pictures of this large group of men that were taken from various performances that they had given all over the country. I asked him what these were all about and he told me he sang with an A'capella chorus. I asked what type of music they sang and he told me barbershop. My enthusiasm vanished. You see, my mind immediately envisioned 4 guys standing around singing with a little nasally sound and not always quite on key and old songs that I didn't really like or know. I never really talked to him too much after that, but every once in a while he would call me and ask me to come listen to them rehearse. Well I managed to put him off for over a year. What a mistake. One evening after several real estate appointments and a long day at the office, I had arrived home about 6:30 and had no sooner taken a bite out of my dinner when my friend called me and asked me to come out to hear them. He said I had put him off long enough, so I begrudgingly went out to the building that they held rehearsal and found myself in the midst of men of various ages and backgrounds and many of their wives and girlfriends, children and parents. Rehearsal started at 7:30pm so I took my seat with the other visitors and family members and the chorus began too warm up. Let me tell you that within the first two notes of warm up, my jaw nearly hit the floor and I said to myself, "this ain't no church choir, these boys are serious". The warm up exercises were in tune, the harmony was tight and there was something different to the sound that I really couldn't pinpoint. I later found out that the difference was in the way the music was arranged. When the chord arrangements are sung properly they create overtones which makes it sound as if instead of 4 part harmony, there is 6 or 7 parts. Truly amazing.
Well, by the time rehearsal was over, I was ready to sign up. I went home that night kicking myself that I did not take advantage of seeing this group when I was first asked. The next morning I told my wife that I wanted to join this group and her immediate response was, "well how much is it to join?". I think at the time it was around $100 which was the membership fee. She immediately thought I had lost my mind and told me we could use that money for paying bills. I tried to tell her that she just didn't understand and that she had to come to the next weeks rehearsal. The next week finally came, she went, and within 10 minutes of them singing, she turned to me and asked who we needed to pay.
What I didn't know was that this group of men known as the Ambassadors of Harmony competed every year at the Barbershop Harmony Society's International Competition. This competition takes the top 20-25 Barbershop chorus's in the world and they compete against each other. This group has been in the International arena for several years and had been in the top 5 for 5 or 6 years prior to my joining. I have been with them now since 2000 and in 2004 we won the competition, gold medals on chests and known as one of the top chorus's in the world. We have toured Germany, Holland, Sweden, and England. We have performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and also at the MUNY in St. Louis. Some members, before my joining had been to Scotland, Ireland, Russia, Japan and several other countries. It amazes me that this organization is so huge and I had never heard anything about this type of group in all my years singing. Each International competition has an audience of nearly 10,000.
Now, I know this has been a lot of story to get to my point, but here it is. How can I show people that this benefits them with regard to acting as their Realtor? There are several reasons I believe. First and foremost it shows a work ethic. The practice that goes into singing at this level is astounding in itself. Three hours every week at rehearsal and probably 3 more hours on my own during the week. Secondly, I have a Gold medal to prove that I am committed to excellence. Last, I believe you have to have a passion for what you do and want to share your gift with others and change their lives.
I truly believe that is what I strive to do with my career. In real estate, I will work hard to produce the result that my clients desire. I will be professional and exhibit Gold medal qualities and bring harmony to their real estate experience. When I can put all these things together, it should change my clients life for the better. There is no greater feeling in the world than seeing someone you have done this for, come up to you, and all they can get out of their mouth is, "THANK YOU". I have seen this over and over at performances when we come out and greet our patrons and I have also seen it with my real estate clients. The clients that show it the best always seem to be the one's that you have had to work the hardest for. First time home buyers that you may have had to really work with to help them fix their credit, divorcees that are trying to get their lives back on track and have a home on their own to start over and the elderly that you had to hold their hand while they cried a for awhile because their spouse had recently passed. Going the extra mile in all you do will pay rewards even greater than any commission, because it touched someones life.
I know that his has been an extremely long blog, but felt it was necessary to share. If you don't have a hobby or volunteer somewhere in the community, please consider finding something you enjoy doing and go do it. Our lives should be more than just work. Our lives should also be a form of ministry because we are all on this earth for a purpose and if you find something you enjoy it makes it all the more fun to work at it. Share your skills with someone. You'll be surprised at the number of people you touch that you didn't even realize had noticed. They are usually the ones that call and say, I saw you at your (insert your volunteer or "hobby") and noticed that you also sold real estate. I'd like to talk to you.
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