All Aboard! When you embark on your journey into real estate, just know that, as with any career, you might hit a few twists and turns. To help you navigate those turns and have the motivation and support you need to become a real estate super hero for your family, you’ll want them on board.
Step one: Have an honest conversation. You need to explain to your family that the early days might be tough. As will happen with any new profession, you’re going to live out of balance for a little while. You’ll need to put in extra time than you would at a “regular job” because you’ll be both learning and working, which will mean less time for them. You can assure them that, eventually, real estate can provide a very, very lucrative income. Frankly, as much as high-end professions such as law and medicine, without the huge expenditure and time it takes for the education and internship.
The first year is the most important one. As in any business, it’s the time when you are building your foundation. It’s a critical year. The more hours you put in, the better positioned you are to become a success.
Step two: Set goals with your family. By engaging your family in the goal setting process, you help them understand that their goals are part of your business goals. When they support the work you need to do, they will also reap the rewards. Brainstorm everyone’s big dreams and ideas and work together to make sure that everyone is on the same page, and everyone is represented. These goals will help you get to your Next Level®, which is a vision bigger than where you are at the moment.
Step three: Create a vision board. The first goal would be what I call your Next Level®. To help you stay focused on your Next Level®, you can use the Vision Board. The Vision Board is a board (usually a poster board or bulletin board) that represents the things you’d like to accomplish for you and your family. Find some visuals from magazines or online that represent the things that you would like to accomplish. Then attach the pictures onto your board. For some, this may seem like a silly practice, but I can assure you, it is game-changing. I have a Vision Board in my office, and my students who have implemented the Vision Board swear by it. I think that what you need to do to help your family members deal with potential frustration during your new career is to sit down with them and set some goals. Then take those goals and place them on your Vision Board. It can be a fun practice for the whole family!
Step four: Create a short-term goal that’s fun for the whole family. You will also need to have some more immediate rewards for your family. Obviously, a Vision Board of something that you’re going to accomplish in the next year or two is not going to help them in six months when you’re working six or seven days a week. So, your second type of goal is short term, as long as six months or as short as 30 days. It could be to go on a vacation or perhaps to buy something special for your spouse or your children. Whatever the goal may be, place a dollar amount on it and then create one of those “thermometer” charts like the ones you’ve seen in high schools during fundraising drives. The thermometer chart shows how much money the schools have raised. Students color in the charts with red markers as they get closer to the goal. I recommend that you do the same thing and hang the chart up in your house where everyone can see it. That way, you and your family can follow the progress on the chart and get excited about it. It becomes a game.
Step five: Get to work. The most important thing for you to do is jump in with purpose. Find the right real estate buddy and the right training to help you navigate the early days and develop your listing and prospecting skills to build your foundation to be strong right from the start.
You’ve got this. I’m here to help, with a passionate community of Power Agents® that can be there for you as well. Learn more at www.ThePowerProgram.com/NewAgentSuccess.
Darryl Davis, bestselling author of “How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate” and owner of Darryl Davis Seminars, has trained and coached over 100,000 real estate professionals around the globe for more than 27 years. He is the founder of the Next Level® real estate training system, The Power Program®, which has helped agents double their production over their previous year. For more information, and the new agent tools that can help take you to your Next Level®, please contact darryl@darrylspeaks.com or visit www.ThePowerProgram.com/NewAgentSuccess.
