So, I went to a seminar where they told me 70 percent of the people in our business were emotional, 30 percent logical. What they didn't tell me was just how emotional.

As a manager I get a lot of emotion thrown my way. Sometimes the agent is angry, or frustrated, or feeling the desperation of our current reality. It is not even unusual for me to want to come home and cry myself to sleep from the sheer exhaustion of it.

But then there is the flip side. There is the exhilaration you feel after watching a rookie

Continue reading "The Emotion of it All" »

Posted on March 10 at 10:33 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (7)

Young, Professional, and Network are three powerful, meaningful words that can give us direction and clarity. Let’s break each down:

Young. With the average age of a REALTOR® 51 years old, young real estate professionals face a set of challenges and opportunities in this field. When dealing with the risks and importance of real estate matters, many customers may automatically choose an older agent. That’s fine. There may be little or nothing that you can do about that.

However, being a young real estate practitioner can offer you certain advantages and benefits that you may not otherwise get. After all, young people, in general, tend to be technologically superior. Therefore, you may have the know-how to offer podcasts through your Web site regarding your listings. You may understand the importance of offering MP3s or digital photo CDs in your marketing materials. Digital cameras, iMovie videos, text message marketing, and other media may offer you a distinct advantage over older agents. Additionally, your overhead may be lower since other non-technologically savvy agents must hire others to do this for them.

Youth can be energy and opportunity. And, growth, humility, and work can produce expertise.

Professional. We participate in a very important service industry, from the constitutionally relevant issue of private property rights to the financial importance of real estate transactions. To be professional is more than dressing well, practicing good grammar, or showing up on time. Professionalism is about appropriateness, attentiveness, acceptance, perception, expertise, willingness, and decisiveness.

Becoming a professional is a process. We can fake it ‘til we make it only so long. If we lack

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Posted on February 29 at 02:17 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

We’re roughly two months into the New Year and as young professionals I am sure we all have set goals or resolutions for our businesses and ourselves. But have you been sticking to them? Yes, no? If no, why not?

While speaking with a close business contact the other day, we got on the topic of giving ourselves permission to take time for us. Too many of us focus so much on our business that we forget one key element. As practitioners we are our business and if we don’t function at the top of our game our business falters. It can be easy to get wrapped up in the meetings, showings, calls, and all that comes along in our world.

We need to give ourselves permission to take time for us. Here are some top priorities for 2008 to put in your planner:

• Exercise regularly. Exercise is proven to relieve stress, and our bodies need to feel great so we can fight in the trenches.

• Eat properly. By giving our bodies the right fuel we can keep our minds sharp and energize the machine.

• Sleep. As real estate practitioners, we probably don’t get enough of this, but it’s an important part of the process for healing our bodies.

• Leisure time. This is one of the most important elements, without it we become

  Continue reading "We are the machine!" »

  Posted on February 21 at 03:14 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

As we reflect on 2007 and strategize for 2008 what started as a joke and clever marketing title — “Power Couple” — has taken a true meaning in our lives.

When we first started in real estate it was a way to supplement our income, work from home, and be available for our four children. A few years later we exceeded our income goals and comfortably work from home, but as our business grew and expanded, we seemed to constantly battle for quality of life and personal time.

So we decided to take a Power Approach and implement strategies that allowed us to enjoy our life beyond real estate. Here’s our guide to having a successful real estate business and a real life at the same time:

• Let go of your “I can do everything” complex. We like to joke that to be in real estate we have to be attention deficit individuals because we have to juggle so many demands and hats. From chauffer, counselor, financial planner, and transaction manager … do we need to go on? We have to stop being all things to everyone else and then giving ourselves nothing. And, we need to stop beating ourselves up about what doesn't get done.

  For example, we get up every morning at 6 a.m. to get our pre-teens up and ready for school. At the same time we are unloading and loading laundry, making school lunches, and dealing out breakfast — all within 45 minutes. We don’t have time to worry about if we sent handmade Valentines to school — the generic -rip and insert- cards are just fine. We get done what we can and accept what we can't. After all, in order to excel

  Continue reading " Juggling the Workload" »

  Posted on January 29 at 10:45 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)