Thanking My Mentor, a Motivational Marvel!!!
Do you have a person in your past business life that you would like to thank for having been there when you were "developing" your real estate career? I do, and I think it is a good time to do just that!
I have a number of people in my past business life who have provided the insight and the path to business "enlightenment" for me. The one person who comes to mind when I think of these things is a man by the name of Steven James.
He was my Sales Manager in New York City, when I was brand new to real estate and I had a desk in the upper East side office of Douglas Elliman( pre-Prudential).
Steven James appeared in my life at a very important point of my business career...He was the one who got me to see the reasons behind how and why I was going to be successful in this business. He seemed to have a "light" around him that I could actually see! I found out that he almost went into the priesthood as a young man.
I don't know what kept him from the priesthood, but I will tell you that the choice he made to become the manager at Douglas Elliman was a "calling" for him. He changed my life, just by being in it....most people who worked with him feel the same way. He is now president of the company and I hope he is as much a motivational leader now as he was then--I am certain he is!
Steven would have a "Round Table" meeting for any of his agents; at the end of our weekly meeting he would say: "If any of you have issues you are dealing with in your business and you want to handle them in a group setting, we will meet at 2:00 this afternoon; just bring your notebook and your issue with you." We (usually 4-5 people) would then hammer out all sorts of things--and he was hard on us--it was actually a "Group Therapy" session; we all felt we had gone through a month of therapy after sitting down in those groups.
Some of the remarkable concepts and ideas that he instilled in all of us; the biggest gifts he gave:
"It is only a problem if you let it become one" He taught me that anything that looms as a disaster in this business is only in ones mind. There is always something you can do to disarm, to handle, to re-direct, to deflect a situation that appears to be negative; it is only negative if you allow it to have that kind of energy. Give a difficult situation a positive approach and you will see that it works...You can turn it around!
"Think of your listings as the 'Life Blood' of your business". Listings are your life blood---Treat them as if they are the currency that keeps the business afloat because they do!
"Always pay attention to what you leave in your wake"....this is the most important thing you can do for yourself in business. Your "wake" never leaves you. It is always reverberating behind you as surely as the day turns into night. Remember to handle your business dealings at the highest level of honesty and integrity and you will never have to reflect on your past with remorse or regret.
"When working with a buyer, just shut up--let the house sell itself. The less you say when showing a house the better chances you will sell it." In other words, WE do not sell the house, the buyer will sell it to himself/herself if you give them the space to do that. We just need to be prepared with comps and local information and the rest all falls into place. This technique works better than any other one I have ever used!
Today, I am so greatful to have met Steven James and I feel very lucky that I am still connected to him. We speak frequently by phone and we still do business together through referrals. I can't help but feel that because I was in that office and began my real estate career with him at the helm, I am where I am today. THANK YOU, STEVEN JAMES!!!
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