On Becoming A Real Estate Agent (and other things)

by Mike Farmer

Real Estate Broker

Author website

Every once in a while I get in a metaphysical mood and need to get it out of my system, so bear with me. I usually get like this when I”m transitioning from ideas and thinking to action. I’m taking actions to transform my business once again so I’m in the process of becoming what I’ve been thinking. Often ideas are stuck in the theory phase and never become a reality. Back in my heavy drinking days I had grand ideas that could change the world but they never left the barstool — probably a good thing they stayed there. I’ve always been a “thinker” and it’s too bad I didn’t have a great mind. When I was in my thirties I began making the transition from thinking into action — or, rather, I began putting my thoughts into action — although I still have some brilliant ideas I’ve never put into action like my idea to start a cafe that specializes in blackberries: blackberry pies, blackberry cobblers, blackberry tarts, blackberry sauce on pork chops, blackberry bagels…..perhaps when my Forrest Gump comes along I’ll do it.

But becoming is different than thinking about it. My wife taught me a lot about becoming the other. When she was pregnant, I was terrified of being a father and went into my theorizing phase, thinking it to death. When she had our first child I was still theorizing and thinking while she simply became a mother. I was always wondering – How does she know all this stuff? Well, she just became what was called for. I’m sure a social worker could go back and critique her “parenting skills” and find she was lacking in modern child-rearing techniques, but no one loves their mother anymore than her sons. She never sat around in an anxious state wondering what actions to take — she became a mother and a damn good one.

Becoming takes committment. Until you commit and take actions the ideas are still theoretical. One reason a lot of agents in real estate are never successful is that they never become real estate agents, they merely have a license, and real estate is an add-on to hopefully generate a little extra money. Many of them plan to transition into  it full-time once they are successful, but they get stuck in a catch-22 where they can’t committ until they see success and they can’t see success until they committ.

I couldn’t enjoy the joys of being a father until I became a father. I can’t reap the benefits of being a friend until I become a friend. We become many things during our life, mother, fathers, professionals, writers, friends, stamp-collectors, etc. but we never get there solely by thinking — we have to experience in action and become.

I read many people write about bloggers wasting time writing about so much that doesn’t directly lead to a closing. If they ever became writers they would understand. I’m not a great writer, but I became a writer in my thirties, and I will continue writing whether it  ever makes any money or not. For years I thought a lot about writing, and I experimented, but never became a writer. One day I decided to become a writer and I’ve been writing ever since.

The key is committment and action — throwing yourself into what you want to become, taking theory, putting it into practice and learning to the end from experience, always prepared to change and grow. Part-time real estate agents will not reap the benefits of the profession until they committ and take action. There is nothing wrong with being a part-time agent, if that is what you choose, but if you want to be a real estate professional, and KNOW real estate, and reap the rewards of the profession, then you’ll have to become one. The same is true, I have found, about beoming a 2.0 player. Many seem to want to wait and test a little to see if it works. I’m afraid they’ll never see if it works until they become a 2.0 player — the proof is in the committment and the action, the becoming.

I’ve made the committment to 2.0 and I’m taking the actions — I’m becoming. It’s the only way to KNOW, for me. I can listen to the experiences of others and learn some, but I’ll never know for myself until I do it. Don’t get me wrong, there are some things I don’t have to try or become until I KNOW — like, I’ve heard drinking bug poison is not good for me. Common sense and reason go a long way, but what I’m talking about is much different of course — people have succeeded at real estate, writing and 2.0 — and the only way you or I can is to committ and do it. We’ll never KNOW until we do.