What I love about our business is that there’re no points awarded for effort. With rare exceptions, it’s a heartless, merit based culture. Trying really really hard is for first time T-Ballers. Real estate owners don’t sign contracts promising to pay us for our efforts. They agree to pay when we produce 100% of the results outlined in that contract. 99% = go fish, no paycheck. The rest qualifies as ‘the dog ate my homework’ crappola. Coincidentally, this is why the vast majority of new agents make like steam and disappear in their first year or two. They found out the hard way, that in the real world, the world refusing to pay for anything less than the bargained for results, attempting never equals achievement.
Apparently, to buyers and sellers of real estate, results matter — they matter big time.
I write this post to those agents who’ve been workin’ like dogs, without much reward. Been there, lived that. I sympathize and empathize. You’ve already demonstrated what’s most lacking in our industry, a consistently OldSchool work ethic. Allow me to gently redirect your energy.
Join the Brother/Sisterhood of Gladiators — enter the arena of those who value achievement, read: results, over the culture of ‘Participation Trophies’.
There are two kinds of licensees. Those who enter the arena daily, and those who work their asses off to avoid the arena at all costs. The former generally make an excellent to elite living. The latter either struggle from year to year, or find what we often refer to as a W-2 job. The key factor in the new career is that they get paid whether they produce optimum results or not. There’s no arena involved.
In real estate, we’re more or less bounty hunters. No skinned cat, no paycheck. No exceptions.
We’re almost at the halfway point of 2012’s first quarter. If you’re able to look at your activities since January 1st in written form, do so. What percentage of your time were you either prospecting, belly to belly with a prospective client, or, like one of my mentors used to say, ‘out among ’em, talking’?
If you, like the bulk of your colleagues, are spending most of your time doin’ things disguised as productive work, but in reality designed to avoid having folks tell you ‘no’, I have some advice. Leave the business now. You’ve already embarked on your exit strategy — and I’m here to tell ya it’ll work like a charm. It’s been a tried and true game plan for generations now. It’s the surest way I know to make minimum wage as a real estate agent.
The hundreds of thousands of agents who’ve been told this before, thought they could Gump their way to the big money too. They were just as outa touch as the majority of today’s agents are.
To Repeat: Those unwilling to enter the arena daily are doomed to abject failure.
Your only hope is to join a team whose leader is a gladiator. They’ll do all the fighting for you, hand you leads they’ve generated, then show you how to convert them to closed transactions. Tragically, most agents have shown over time that they can’t succeed even when spoon fed directly by a gladiator. Ask any team leader. They’ll roll their eyes in agreement — and astonishment.
The #1 reason 70-80% of agents are outa the business in a couple years or sooner is cuz they simply refuse to do what’s known to work — what they must know in their heart of hearts will work. There is no #2. Proof of their fear of rejection? They tend to fail at nearly the same rate even when ‘protected’ by a gladiator. Therefore, they’re limited to transactions fallin’ outa the sky.
If the perusal of your 2012 schedule/activities shows you’re playin’ dodgeball with what really works, be honest. Ask yourself why? Then ask yourself what’s stoppin’ you from quickly morphing into a gladiator. Then ask yourself, why not? It’s not magic. It’s a decision. A decision you can easily choose to make — or not. If all else fails, ask yourself how your current strategy has been workin’ out for ya lately.
Those makin’ the good money are battling in the arena every day. They do it with OldSchool methods, high tech ‘systems’, blogs, you name it. The common denominator between them, the elephant in the room for those avoiding it like the plague, is they embrace the possibility of rejection. Unlike Rome’s gladiators, they learned rejection doesn’t mean certain death. It’s a million dollar epiphany.
The Takeaway
In fact, and here’s the takeaway, experienced gladiators will tell ya that rejection affects them the same way the death of an anonymous cockroach does. It literally means nothing to them. That gives them a monstrous advantage over their competition. It always has, and it always will.
And that, ladies and gents, is why tryin’ really really hard, doesn’t matter a whit to your success, when all you’re doin’ is workin’ yourself to death avoiding what actually puts cat skins on your wall.
Let me help you get started. The arena is just around that corner over there. The gate’s always open. Anyone is welcome to enter.
Russell Shaw says:
So true. So true. I hope some of the people who really need to see this – see it. Thanks for writing it
February 13, 2012 — 1:54 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Much appreciated, Senor.
February 13, 2012 — 5:00 pm
Dan Connolly says:
I think the fear of rejection is a handy excuse for lazy people to avoid work. I think it’s really more like fear of acceptance. Its easier to sit in the office and bitch about the lack of business, play on the internet and do a deal every now and then that climbs into your lap, than it is to do the hard work it takes to make a real business.
They ask themselves why they would want a bunch of listings or to fool with buyers. That would be like having a regular job! They got their real estate license so they could sleep as late as they wanted and work at their own pace.
Yeah 80% will fail after a year or two. So what? That’s the way it’s always been. The problem lies in why they got into the business to start with.
February 13, 2012 — 9:04 pm
Jeff Brown says:
I’ve wondered about that since I was a teenager. You’d think the word would get out by now. Real estate, as I was taught, is the highest paid hard work, and the lowest paid easy work there is.
February 13, 2012 — 9:07 pm
Jim Klein says:
“highest paid hard work, and the lowest paid easy work”
Well put, Jeff, as was the rest. I still say that the issue–across all small businesses–is a failure to understand what’s being sold.
Effectively, an agent is BEING someone else, as least with regard to a particularly important part of that person’s life. That’s mighty tough work, and it’s quite different than “selling a house.” It’s no great sin not being able to do that, but it is a sin IMO to fail to understand what’s being done.
February 14, 2012 — 7:55 am
Jeff Brown says:
Well put, Jim. We humans have the innate ability to fool ourselves. I’ve found that looking at results breaks the spell of denial every time it’s tried.
February 14, 2012 — 10:18 am
Thomas Johnson says:
Bravo.
Now, I am off to hunt cats, for that is where the cat skins are.
February 14, 2012 — 6:13 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Not only a gladiator, but a smart one. 🙂 Bravo
February 14, 2012 — 8:03 pm
Scott Grace says:
I LOVE this post! As a manager I try to tell my agents that it’s 1/2 skill and 1/2 a numbers game and to get out there and get some business. They don’t seem to listen very good. Rejection is the key reason that they don’t do what they are told and then they get that 2nd job to supplement their income. Sad…
February 17, 2012 — 11:59 am
Jeff Brown says:
Hey Scott — I’ve always maintained that the backbone of the real estate brokerage industry is the working wife. 🙂
February 17, 2012 — 12:36 pm
Jonathan Karlen says:
“I’ve always maintained that the backbone of the real estate brokerage industry is the working wife.”
That sentence speaks volumes in so many ways!! 🙂
February 20, 2012 — 2:01 pm
Jeffrey Barber says:
Thanks for the post.
While reading this, I couldn’t help but wonder, “How many people reading this are the bounty hunter type or the “avoid the arena at all costs” type?” I’d like to think that those reading blogs such as this and trying to improve their skill-set and business approach are the gladiators, taking the good, learning from their mistakes and going out and applying what they’ve read. The “W2” type will nod along while reading this, only to go read another 20 blogs without actually getting out of their home office or coffee shop. It’s a dog eat dog business, and as you rightly said- 99% won’t cut it. Almost does not exist in real estate. Some thrive in this environment, others prefer a career where they can half-heartedly work and expect good results. I applaud all those who have the old school work ethic and drive. Off to collect my bounty.
February 26, 2012 — 9:57 am
Jordan James says:
working like dogs is really not good. Its better to put more efforts in a small time this will improve the profit for us.
April 7, 2012 — 11:28 am