A Mentor Can Show the Way
I am sitting in a hotel in downtown Los Angeles, a place I haven't been to since ... well, a concert two years ago. I never come here because I am a mountain girl from Crestline, Calif., and small town living is what I love and enjoy. However, the AIREEC ( American International Real Estate Expo and Conference ) is being held here, so I left my mountaintop to learn all that I could about international real estate marketing and sales, and so I could meet folks who have investment opportunities in other parts of the world.
So far it has been well worth the money (and the money I saved by registering early!). The community that I work in is a resort community that draws an international crowd, and so I find it refreshing to open up the horizons of my business.
However, occasionally I get the feeling that everyone else in the room listening to these phenomenal speakers (some filthy rich speakers, I might add) are much more successful than I am.
When I am sitting in a class with others, I can't help but to wonder what led them to make these investments in properties in Belize and Malaysia? Where did they start, and how did they end
up living in Costa Rica for the last 16 years in their late 30s? What risks did they take? How much money did they begin investing with? A paltry sum of maybe $5,000 or $10,000? Did they clear out their savings to take a chance on something? Where did they get the guts?
I have no investments other than the "safe" vehicles of higher interest savings accounts and a 501K. I have learned that I should also have a self-directed IRA that can own real estate for investment purposes, and that there's even a class to take that provides software to show the buy and sell points of a stock. Not to mention, for the sum of nearly $1,000 I too can have the tools to make myself wealthy (OK, so that wasn't the greatest class; I didn't know that it was going to turn into a product sales pitch).
I think the most important thing that I have learned at this conference is the importance of networking and finding a mentor. I had one person in my life who I would truly call a business mentor. My mentor, an associate manager at a real estate office, taught me something that was invaluable to me at the time: All he knew about Publisher and using Publisher for your marketing materials. I am a quick study and I was soon teaching the classes to the rest of the office.
But when my mentor suddenly left the company after my first two months, I felt lost.
I have not found another business mentor since. I have aspirations of being the best REALTOR® that I can be, and selling more real estate and having a great investment strategy so my family is provided for adequately.
Do any of you have a mentor? How did you find that person? Were they in the same company as you or at a different company? Were they in the real estate profession or a different field? How willing were they to teach you everything they know?
Amy Steele is a full-time REALTOR® with Bibby Realty in Crestline, Calif.
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Comments
Using a real estate coaching service is an idea of having a mentor too. They're more than willing to teach you everything they know, and they bring out the best in you.
I met my real estate coach through one of the CE classes she was teaching, and she was a real estate agent for many years too. More interestingly, she use to be a psychotherapist too - I highly recommend her if you decide to look into a real estate coaching service. She's very personable and has lots of energy! Check out her site www.LoriCox.com
Good luck! :-)
Comment on my post too, at http://narblog1.realtors.org/mvtype/ypn/2008/08/marketingbusiness_tools_bigges.html
Posted by: Dina Takai | September 16, 2008 01:54 AM