Lessons Learned from Giants
I have been very fortunate in my life to have been able to benefit from the wisdom of others' greatness. When I first started selling real estate, I was young and naïve. I didn't know much about the housing market or even marketing. I had to rely on watching other agent's success to try and find clues that I could learn from.
Early on in my career, my first mentor was my trainer, Garth, who taught me early on that good old-fashioned hard work would be my key to thriving and surviving in the real estate industry. He also taught me that doing thing right the first time would save me a lot of time along the way. He had a lot of great advice, but I was hungry for more. I knew that if I wanted to become a true expert, I'd have to watch the experts in action.
There was another agent in my office, a gentleman named Jeff, who seemed like everything he touched was gold. He was the number one agent in our entire marketplace and always on the go, always busy. When I was just getting started, I would rarely see him, but he made an impression, because when I did see him, he was always very intentional. He always had someplace to go, something to do - yet he would always take just a moment to give me little nuggets of wisdom. And I decided to study how he did it, I wanted to know what it was that made him so successful.
So, I said to him one day, "I would love to shadow you," because I wanted to learn from the best. And I remember the words he told me, "Kid, I don't have the time to babysit you, but if I ever see you following behind me, I'll know you're shadowing me."
And that gave me the permission I needed to drive and follow him where he went. I watched what time he came to the office. I watched how many listings he brought. I looked at every piece of marketing he did - I would tour every one of his listings just to see what his flyers looked like. I watched this man like a hawk. I wanted to learn his patterns and figure out what made his business tick. He was focused and on a mission. He'd be in neighborhoods straightening up signs, going into the MLS, going to Chamber of Commerce meetings, city council meetings, stopping by the business planning department. Maybe that sounds a little creepy, but I was just getting started and it was one of the best things I ever did.
And what I learned about him was the same thing that I learned from Garth, and that was that Jeff was a good old-fashioned hard worker. He started early and stayed longer than most. Most of all, he was not afraid to try new things. This was one of the most important lessons that I ever learned in business - how to combine hard work with innovation.
Innovation comes from learning new things, being the first one to be at that new seminar, the first one to learn new information, a new system, a new piece of software. The first one to see market trends - like being the first to dig into middle housing even before Washington State had started drafting bills.
For example, today, I'm studying AI and how AI will change real estate. I'm studying the latest building technology so that I can stay ahead of the learning curve. I am adding learning into my daily routine every day and I have done that throughout my career for over 30 years.
Even if it's for 20 minutes, I'm going to learn something new every day. I'm going to read something that I don't know enough about. I'm going to grab a paper and read an article. I'm going to go to a class. I'm going to go on YouTube and watch somebody teach me something about something. Having a learner's mind, being a hard worker, and being ethical along the way has absolutely been my key to success.
Today, I pass on that moment from early on in my career. I stop when somebody asks me a question. I answer a call when somebody needs to talk to me. If there's a text message and somebody's hanging off the phone because they need some advice, I'll answer it. Just like my own path many years earlier, I had people that were there for me and that's why I give it back.
 By Denise Lones CSP, CMP, M.I.R.M. |
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