The Wild Party, the Hangover, and Rehab..... Where are the success stories?

It was 2003 and people where starting to show up to the party. If you got there early you didn't really know how many people were going to show up. Once they did the scene was crazy.

Agents, (new franchises by the dozen) buyers, sellers, and lenders everywhere, it was the ultimate pick up event. Buyers outbid other buyers for homes and were never happier, probably because they felt as if they had won. Agents worked with sellers they didn't like. That's okay the house will be sold in a week. Agents left the party with buyers they didn't know. (Ahhh, they were buying right?) Buyers worked with agents and lenders they picked up at the party. They couldn't remember their names the next day but so what they bought a house.

We were buying advertising like it was a new bauble. "Hey, that's really cool give me 2 pages will ya?" The advertisers were drunk with love for us and always coming out with another place we would want to see ourselves. How much was all this costing anyway? Does it matter? Naw, we'll just find us another buyer at the watering hole.

Then someone had the nerve to turn the music off and the lights on.  What was left, too many agents and lenders without reserves, sellers upside down on their homes and buyers without money. Boy that was some party!


Time for a little personal reflection. Some folks got out of the biz, that's okay they needed too, others though went through rehab.

· Why am I am I in Real Estate?
· Do I work better with Buyer or Sellers?
· What's my Budget? Budget is that word in the dictionary?
· What's my business plan?
· Have I created relationships with other agents in my market? Or do I have some making up to do for my bad behavior during the party?
· Do I even have my database together? Ughh
· Sphere - Is that a circle thingy?

I am happy to say a lot of great agents have come out the other side. Will you share with us, "What's the one single greatest thing you learned?"

For me it was, "I didn't have to outspend my competition on marketing. I had to learn to say NO." Actually it's really easy. Try it... No, No. See it only takes a second, calls over and you didn't spend they money you don't have to impress other agents when the consumer is the one we need to impress. Hello! (disclaimer, we need to impress each other with the service we provide)

Share some love and tell us the best you learned____________.