Maybe you’re like me and have been in the business for a while and had become complacent in the hot market we just went through, during which it was enough just to show up. Or maybe you’re new to the business and haven’t quite “made it”, yet. I’m betting that you guys are out there.
I’m no guru. I’m a Realtor who recently made a decision to commit to the business (again) after seriously considering a career change. In a sense, I’m starting over. In the process, I’m rediscovering things I once knew--things that contributed to my earlier success, things I had forgotten.
Here’s the first one: You cannot succeed in this business if you have your bags packed by the door. If you are saying something to yourself like, “If real estate doesn’t work out I can always ________”, you won’t make it. If you're new, you'll never get off the ground. If you've been around for a while, like me, dreaming of greener pastures will cause you to stagnate and lose your edge.
Maybe you're reading this and don’t think you could stand to remove your contingencies, so to speak. If that’s really true, there’s a good chance that you should find something else to do for a living. It takes a great deal of energy and commitment to succeed in real estate sales. If you have an escape clause in your business plan, you’ll probably bail when the things get tough. But maybe real estate is exactly what you should be doing, and you have a self-defeating tendency to deal with difficulty and stress by escaping to a fantasy of greener pastures. If this is something that you recognize as a pattern, you know it stems from fear and that it will keep you from ever becoming excellent at anything.
If you’re a new agent I want to encourage you to seal-off your exits. If you’re old and burned-out, you can turn your business around. It’s never too late to become a great agent. But you’ve got to make a commitment and throw your hat over the fence. You can do it.
I’d love to hear from anyone out there who can relate. Or is it just me?
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