In the real estate business, lessons are everywhere. When I started, my first
broker encouraged me to make cold calls, knock on doors, call friends and family and leave business cards everywhere. Most of those things weren't for me. I didn't mind telling friends and family about my business, but cold calling and knocking on doors was never going to happen. It just wasn't me.
The one thing that was me was leveraging the Internet to promote my business. With my connection to Active Rain, it didn't take long to get web-generated business, and it has been that way since 2011. Now, the lesson I learned has nothing to do with web-based marketing, but web-based marketing created the need for the lesson.
What was the lesson? I had to learn to say, "No." When the Internet
started flooding calls into my office I was ecstatic. I followed every lead, ran out to meet every buyer, took every REO and every short sale, and did hundreds of BPOs. Before long, I was so busy, I wasn't making any money. How paradoxical is that? You see, every call that comes in, or every email that shows up isn't for you.
n 2016, I have gotten incredibly selective in how many clients I want to work with at one time. I do give the ones I don't take to other staff members. I don't do any BPOs any longer. The pay on those has gotten ridiculously low and barely pays for fuel. Beyond that, they are time consuming and time is at a premium today.
Learning to say no has been a challenge, because I come from a "make hay while the sun is shining" generation. I get it, you want to be busy, but too many clients can become distractions and in the process of being distracted you can miss the golden clients.
Learning to say no has been one of the most economically promising things I have ever done. Linking up with Active Rain, and using tools they've offered created a scenario for greater business growth, but learning to say no has poured gasoline on the fire.
This post is a contribution for the Lesson Leanred Contest.
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