Designations: They are the Beginning, Not the End Game.

Designations abound. Everywhere we turn in the real estate biz there is another course, another designation, another 2 days and four or five hundred bucks to be “certified.” (I have to admit, I love that word) To be honest, I never took much of this certification very seriously – it seemed that you could either do deals or you couldn’t and there was no two or three day course going to light up the trail over getting boots to the ground and getting after it. In my view agency wasn’t rocket science and this quest for initials after your name was all a smoke screen and in some cases a hoax. The agent could either get in and out of a deal or they couldn’t and what really mattered was their grit, their focus, their resolve, not some string of initials after their name.

The corollary to the “can’t do, teach” rule was, for me, if they can’t sell they get “certified.” It is still true that some of the course makers out there offer little or no real information but as a general matter I stand corrected: getting certified matters.

The real marching orders are to keep out in front learning everything and never stop. No question the anvils of experience are our best teachers – and, of course, for most of us we get the most out of the ones that got away or were a genuine beating to take over the finish line. But to take those experiences and put them in the context of a broader more academic view delivered by instructors that have been there done that – well – the fact is – you move forward.

Sure you have a whole lot more information, you bet. You have taken the day or two and spent it focused on one part of doing deals and gotten a broader view and even the context that gave rise to the laws and rules that govern our best practices. More than anything what matters in completing another designation is that you are just at the beginning.