Everyone thinks being a real estate agent  is a quick way to get rich. After all, so many reality shows make it look so easy and glamorous. “You can sleep til 10 and still drive a Mercedes!” While the reel you see on Instagram is cool, it is not really “real”.  Being a real estate professional is very rewarding for sure, but there are so many things that we end up doing that no one will ever know or see. 

So with all that said, I assume you are a real estate professional because you're reading this article. You are interested in growing your real estate business. The good news is you have come to the right spot. We will uncover one of the secret ingredients that successful agents like myself use. Ready to hear what it is? Drum roll please…love.

“Wait a minute Jamie. I want to know how to sell more cribs and you are talking to me about love?” 

Yes,love. Now I am not talking about relationships with family,significant others etc, I am talking about loving you. 

“But Jamie,isn’t loving myself wrong,selfish and short sighted?” 

A wise man said to love your neighbor as you love yourself. 

You see, if you have a poor self image of yourself,neglect yourself etc why would anyone want to do business with you? Successful people regularly take time to care for themselves so that they can care for others.

Tips from seasoned real estate agents

What are things that we can do? I am going to share with you things that I do in order to keep myself sharp and consistently achieve next level results.  Many of them are simple things, yet in life some of these are easy to do and easy not to do. The key here: do not get complacent on caring for yourself.  There is a famous song by Casting Crowns that says “it is a slow fade…people never crumble in a day…a price will be paid when you give yourself away”. Complacency will hasten your slow fade to a crash and burn. Cheers to preventing your crash and burn…it starts now!

Fitness 

Why start with the most obvious? Because without it nothing else really matters. What good is wealth if you don’t have the good health to enjoy it? Makes sense right? 

Start in small increments. Fitness is a journey, not a sprint. My recent challenge- self admittedly I am not a huge cardio person- is just to do 5000 steps a day. I find I usually do 3500 steps in my normal day so doing 5000 takes just a bit more effort that is easily attainable. It is that extra 1 percent effort that compounds over time to great results. 

If you have a hard time staying motivated, hire a trainer. The pain of what you are paying will incentivize you to show up. I find if I don’t pay, I let other things get in the way. Even though at this juncture I know what to do after training for nearly three years 2-3 days a week with a trainer, I need that accountability. 

The other thing is to do your workout early. You don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn, but I try to do mine before the day starts if possible. Or I do a mid-day session to break up the workday. Whatever works for you, do it consistently.  Feel free to private message me if you want to see what the before and after results of working out just 2-3x a week for 30 min look like. 

Health is your Wealth

One thing I do regularly is see the chiropractor and get massages. The goal is to keep the body running optimally so that you can serve your clients and even your family well. 

How do you feel when you are exhausted? Grumpy and short tempered probably are near the top of the list. Figure out how much sleep you really need. For me, I average about 5 hours a night during the week and I may take a nap at some point during the day or even early evening. Listen to your body when you “hit the wall”. This is a key aspect in growing your real estate business. 

Have fun

If you aren’t enjoying the fruits of your labor, why labor? Makes perfect sense that there should be some fun planned. Working all the time will not save you a dime. In fact, not having fun will cost you more than you would have made.

Without fun in your life, you will live in a perpetual state of stress. A wise man once said “be still”. I find when I take time to do that, everything around me flows smoothly.

This means schedule your vacations in advance. You mean I have to take a vacation? Yes! As I write this to you, I am sitting at the airport returning from one of my monthly trips. However, I still, with less than 5 weeks before Spring Break, haven’t planned the family vacay lol I plan times to get away with my kids and without. We all need that “break”

What if vacationing isn’t your thing, think of other things that are fun for you. Attending sporting events, concerts, wine tastings etc are all easy ways to have fun without taking up an inordinate amount of time or money.

As a side note, find a few things at home to destress. I grew up playing video games but as an adult have made sure I stay away from them because of their addictive nature. My son turned me on to a game called Retro Bowl and it definitely has provided some fun, and perhaps prolonged the amount of time it’s taken to write this lol. 

Mental Mindset

This one is huge. Without the right attitude, nothing good will happen. Growing your real estate business will not happen without the right mindset. One of my mentors, Jefferson Santos said that “our attitude will determine our altitude”.  So true. It is truly hard to achieve greatness on talent alone. You may do it for a time, but will likely fall- think how many Hollywood and professional athletes have fallen because of their attitude. Inspect what you expect. 

What do I do when I wake up? I praise God, thanking Him for allowing me to see another day. One of my pastors Richard Alawaye  used to say often we are not guaranteed tomorrow so what will we do with today. One thing my wife said when we were courting is that the present IS a present. All of that is so true.

The next thing is I have a quiet time. For me, that is completing a devotional in the Youversion Bible app. Sometimes I do several. Proverbs and Psalms in particular have many applications for business. I usually have one that I do with my wife separately and then we compare our notes to one another. 

Another option is to listen to something positive. Jim Rohn,Zig Ziglar, Les Brown, etc are all great choices to get you started. Then read at least ten pages of a book. Not sure what to read? Do a Google search for the top business books of all time and get started. 

Practice gratitude daily 

When you are having an off day, make sure you focus on what is working and not only on what isn’t. My wife often asks me what my 5gs are- and she doesn’t mean cell phone coverage lol. It is a thing for us and our kids (although they can be resistant). Picking out five things on the fly you are grateful for will immediately redirect your thoughts to more positive things and likely increase your serotonin levels.

Vision

Create a vision board of where you want to go/be/become in the future. Nike founder Phil Knight designed the house he lives in way before he ever was even close to being able to build it. He had it sketched in early vision boards. 

Baggage: Leave Home without It

Now is the time where we can’t let our past dictate our present and future. Too often we hold ourselves back because Johnny did this to me and Suzy dumped me when I was…What will you let define your life? Johnny and Suzy are likely having fun and had no idea they did something so life altering to you while you become paralyzed by the injury of their words or actions. 

How do I know this? Picture it: the summer of 2020. As agents, we know that 2020 and 21 were some of the hottest,if not the hottest, years in the 16 years I have been an agent. Well life as I know it would change fast. 

A series of events that could have undone me happened. My wife of 25 years left our family (I recently got married to my dream girl and am so grateful). I became a single dad with primary custody of my two kids. Less than a month later my dad got COVID and soon after passed away. I then had a car accident while showing homes. Also had a major insurance claim on a rental home and had to fire an employee I had in another endeavor. And if that wasn’t enough, in month four of all of this, I sold my own home and bought a new one, but as a single dad. 

What if I told you I had my highest transaction count that year I had ever had -62- as a solo agent!  I had a choice to make- to either rise up or crumble. I chose to rise up and never looked back. Since that time, the flood gates in my business have opened and there are so many opportunities coming my way at unexpected times. I feel very blessed indeed.  Whatever your challenges are, rise up! They will make you stronger and open the door of abundance. 

Growing as a real estate agent

Growing your real estate business is more than just making phone calls or going to network meetings. It is about growing yourself first. When you grow yourself, you will find that you have unlocked the secret sauce that helps a majority of successful entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. Rock on!