"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude". - Thomas Jefferson
Real Estate is like no other business I have ever encountered in my entire life of various companies and careers. This may come as a shock to some folks but I actually don't like Realtors. Truthfully, I can't stand the large majority of "so called" Realtors. Most of them are in real estate because they can't or won't work for anybody else. That being said I love real estate professionals. The true business people in our industry are something to behold. A real estate professional adapts to the market day in and day out, year end and year out. A true real estate professional never panics; they stay focused on the prize. Market variations rarely if ever catch them by surprise. You see, they are prepared to adapt and continue on the road to success no matter what happens. They're not "good time, part time Charlie's" they are here for the long haul. They adjust with the market they have seen coming. Real estate schools for years have made a living implying people would get rich selling real estate, when in reality, they teach them to pass the real estate test and rarely anything more. We have new agents everyday visiting "Now What" that can't understand why customers aren't beating down their door with business, only to find out they weren't told about sales and marketing or how to develop even a basic business plan.
Imagine a scenario where we basically say "here is your diploma (license) now go out and succeed". A school teacher has to student teach to learn the ins and outs of her chosen profession and police officers rides with a senior partner till they learn the ropes. A plumber even serves an apprenticeship. I find it truly amazing that the guy that fixes the toilet in your nice new home probably has a better idea of what a business plan is than the Realtor that sold you the home in the first place. We founded "Now What" to correct this problem in the Real Estate profession. By some estimates there may be only 5% of the active and licensed Realtors actually making a living in the business today. That means 95% are not making a career out of the industry they are trained in. It's the lowest percentage of any trained profession in our country. And, it all boils down to EDUCATION and MOTIVATION. You see if you lack either education or motivation you're doomed from the start. Oh, there is no shortage of folks that will break you, telling you how to be successful. If you just buy this or spend that you can't fail they'll promise. And the more you spend the more successful "they" become.
Well I'm here to tell you that you don't need to spend a fortune to be successful in the real estate business. However, you do need to be creative, fearless and of course have a plan. There is a whole industry almost as large as the real estate industry that makes billions selling to you the Realtor. Almost all is created by someone who is not even in the business today. I for one want to know "HOW YOUR DOING IT TODAY" not how you did it 10 years ago. That's why we still have an active real estate company today. We deal with the same problems and market conditions you do on a daily basis. That's right were out there on that plank with you. We deal with the same loan companies and customers you do. And guess what? We make a nice living at it and so should you. Do we have set backs? You bet we do, but those are lessons and they prepare us for the future. If you do everything right all the time how are you going to learn anything? Also, it means you're not pushing yourself hard enough if you make the right decision 100% of the time. I look at results when it comes to people in our companies. If they learn from their mistakes and keep moving forward, I have no problem with them. Most of the time a mistake equals progress and progress always equals profit.