"Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worse,
That you must not quit."
-Unknown
Our kids can be the greatest reminder to practice what we are always telling them.
I was feeling bummed out for a couple of days this week, and totally ticked off for a couple as well, when I lost a listing to someone within my own company, but at a different branch, who had been talking to my sellers for a couple of months and told them that when the listing expired, he would do it for only 1.5%. According to the sellers, it boiled down to me not agreeing to reduce my commission although I had done "everything right". And frankly, I am now a bit relieved to be rid of them because they will not realistically price their home and it has freed me up to do other things (like find motivated sellers)...
My son wanted to try out for Water Polo. He's 10 and it's a very tough sport. He just learned to swim when he was 8 and has been doing baseball and soccer most of his life. Needless to say, he didn't pass the swim test and was very upset and down on himself. Luckily, we have a phenomenal Water Polo coach who told him that he had a very strong body and would make an excellent water polo player when he knew the swim strokes. He asked him to join the swim team while they had their winter practice and try again this spring.
Since last October, we have been faithfully showing up for swim team 3-4 days a week, rain or shine. He had many practice tests during that time, but it took awhile to finally start passing them. A lot of the kids were also training for Junior Lifeguards. Another very tough program that goes hand in hand with Water Polo since the test requirements are the same. Last Thursday was the Junior Lifeguard/Water Polo test. After four months of intense work (not unlike our profession and the amount of time we spend with clients) Jacob aced it! The time he needed to beat was 1:45. He came in at 1:30.
For four long months I kept encouraging him to just do his best. Sometimes you pass, sometimes you have try new techniques, but you will NEVER succeed if you STOP or let failure keep you from trying again.
I decided to take my own advice and got to prospecting and follow up this week to rid myself of the angst of these now, past clients. I set 3 listing appointments and 3 buyer appointment (one who has already signed a buyer broker this week), all because my son reminded me that this isn't the time to stop. Sometimes you just have to try something new (AR is one of them) and hang in there.
And if that weren't enough, that little diddy above was sent by e-blast from one of my favorite people in my office today, so I thought that if the timing was right for me to hear it, maybe others needed it to.
Now it belongs to all of you, have a great week!
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