So I have now had my Real Estate license for 7 years. Yes, I got into this business at the wrong time I know but after spending years in the pharmaceutical industry I wanted a career that allowed me more flexibility with my schedule so that I had more time with my kids. Well I have A LOT of time now! I have never been so frustrated in my life as I am now. I have always thought of myself as a go-getter. I am definitely driven and never take short cuts. I like to work and actually thrive off of it......so why can't I seem to get going in this industry?
I started off on a team with a team leader who for the most part, gets clients by being a social butterfly. That's great and it works but I have 3 kids ages 2-10, so being out is not an option. I coach local lacrosse and field hockey teams, volunteer at church, my children's school, local sports boards etc.... so I figured that amount of socialization along with my wide group of friends would more than make up for my inability to be out every night. After becoming frustrated at the lack of progress I switched teams. I love my new team and have nothing but respect for the two ladies that run it, but don't seem to be getting anywhere again! Our region is experiencing a listing shortage, so there is no place to put buyers and sellers don't want to list because there is no place to go.
I had a great year last year. I was busy for the first time since I started in this business from the beggining of the year till September and then it went downhill. I had two contracts fall through, one for a home inspection and one for a title issue where the seller did not actually own the land the home was located on. Totally not in my control. Things shut down after that. So what do you do? I have reached out to all of my sphere, talked to friends, friends of friends and have even been going neighborhood to neighborhood delivering CMA's and letting people know that now is the time to list. I am getting nowhere fast. To say I am frustrated is actually an understatement. I talk to other agents at other brokerages and of course they are all so busy, but my own team leaders tell me this isn't so even for them who are both super successful. Today I am going to be totally taken out of my comfort zone by trying their approach and calling people in a search for listings. For whatever reason this scares the beJesus out of me!!! I like to see people face to face when I talk to them and this fear is apparently genetic since my mom and kids hate the phone as well!.....but what else can I do? I have a family to feed, and more bills than I know what to do with. My husband is an appraiser but after the industry made changes to how appraisers work, he does his job for half the money as the managment companies typically pay an appraiser only $200 or less of the $450 they are collecting from the clients.
I have had a lot of people tell me to get out of this business. Go back to pharma, but I don't want to. I want to be a success and dammit know I am an excellent agent. Do I need to become more aggressive? I guess so. I hate high pressured sales people but don't know what else to do. I even considered becoming an REO agent as I am already a CDPE but as with everything else, including my CDPE I feel like everything is a scam. Pay for this and we gurantee this etc... etc.. etc... I have fallen for it many times and am still here, in the same place, wondering what to do next.
I hope this new approach works and this blog will for the most part be dedicated to me documenting my struggle to conquer a fear I have and see if this is truely the way to be successful. I will occasionally digress as I have been told over and over again that my life could be a sit com!
So stay tuned.......and of course if you have any advice, please feel free!!!
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