This episode of the podcast comes hot off the heels of a week-long series by Stacie Peterson about affording yourself clarity in your business and your life by mastering your mindset.
Recently I conducted a strategy session with a small team of people doing about $15M in revenue. I took these guys through a conversation about how to make the transition from agent to owner. I’ll ask you the same question I asked them:
At the end of 3 years, if you had to support yourself only through real estate, what would you have to work on right now in order to get closer to that goal? How would you shift some of your time now to guarantee that that becomes a reality?
I have been scratching my head - all the coaches I have been working with and listening to over the years have been telling me how to work harder, how to fit more things into my schedule, but nobody was telling me about de-linking time and money and adding value to your time so that you’re making 500 or 1000 dollars per hour.
Instead of spending every Friday afternoon building those systems and working towards implementing processes, those same coaches I was listening to were out there killing deals and getting commission checks. The advice that a lot of you are hearing comes from people who are ‘traditionally successful’, but by no means have they achieved time and money freedom.
The Eisenhower Matrix measures urgency versus importance. Some things are hugely urgent but aren’t really that important in the long run, and then there are things that are critically important, but they aren’t so urgent.
What would it look like to achieve your vision? Draw a line in the sand and give yourself some time today to build a system that runs like clockwork.
You have to mentally make the shift that you’re going to be a business owner - the same way that a Mcdonald's franchise owner isn’t in there flipping burgers, or even at the restaurant all day, every day, and on weekends.
Only 15% of licensed agents in the market have an administrator. That means 85% of real estate agents aren’t spending enough time doing the work of a business owner. They’re not coaching others, holding others accountable, creating leverage, marketing better, etc.
Where is your mindset holding you back?
For me, I was super clear with myself from the start - I knew, having sold 44 homes in a year, and being stressed all the time, I was going to fail if it kept up like this. I didn’t want to be in the business. It is possible to envision a future that doesn’t rely on you being in the middle of your business.
Traditional success in this industry is extremely hard. That’s why we create systems. Once you master a system, it works for you, and frees up more time for you to be the best business owner you can be.
If you don’t have the mindset of being an owner, and you’re okay with just being an agent, you’re setting yourself up for a lot of stress. A lot of weekends spent working. Maybe the money is good, but not what it should be for a top producing agent.
Real Estate B-School is an organization of support and leadership. It’s for people who are in the middle of all of it - and looking for a way out.
