Last week, Thursday at 4pm my cell phone rang.... it was my wife calling to deliver the news. Did my 12-year
old daughter, Kendall, make the middle school basketball team or not? I dreaded answering the call. I was bracing fo a "no", that would be followed by the broken heart and sobbings of my sweet Kendall in the background.
Earlier in the year Kendall tried out for and missed the cut for the volleyball team. She's been playing for years and missing the cut was totally devastating. Rather than completely giving up, Kendall decided to be the team manager which entails the same schedule as the players but with the added responsibility of getting to everything earlier, leaving later, and all kinds of off the court projects.. a lot of extra work for the parents!
When Kendall came to me a month ago and said she wanted to be on the basketball team it took everything in my power to say, "Sounds great, I'm sure you'll do wonderful". What I really wanted to say was, "Really, are you kidding? You've never played basketball. I'm not sure we can support you being team manager of another sport. I can't take it!"
Needless to say, we spent the past month practicing her new sport and preparing for tryouts. First day we practiced together I realized she had no chance of making it unless we saw significant improvement. Over the past month, and in between being the volleyball team manager, Kendall has committed countless hours to practicing basketball; dribbling, shooting, layups, etc. Each day brought improvement and I could see her progressing but still wondered how she would stack up with other kids who have been playing for years.
Like Kendall, many of you have been thrust into a new environment, playing a game you've never played or even ptracticed before. I see new agents hit the streets daily. Full of ambition, wanting to succeed, with a hope of making a better life for themselves. 80% of agents don't make it their first year. 60% of those that make it in year 1 don't survive year 2. How scary! Experienced agents know the odds. They see the "new" flock of agents come and go, month after month, year after year.
So how do new agents make it? How do elite agents stay on top. I've picked up a few things that I believe to be true of all successful realtors. Many of which I blog about regularly. There is one common thread amongst these elite real estate professionals; WORK. Elite realtors never give up, they never back down, they get up early, they go to bed late, they work work work. Good things happen to those that work hard. Workers can always be found doing the right things, in the right places, at the right times, and with the right people.
When my wife said, "Kendall made the team!", it took everything in my power to hold the tears of job back. I knew how much this meant to her. She had a goal and she went after it, holding nothing back.
I truly believe that each of can experience the same success that my little girl has if we will simply go to work.
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