A Little of This...A Little of That

Student...Teacher...Repeat

Without knowing the exact number, I would have to believe that about >90% of Realtors entered real estate after other careers, or as we say had "another life before." And frankly, you want this in an agent. Being a Realtor doesn't have any actual training for the job; it's basically life lessons of empathy, emotions, compromise, hustle, hard-work, resiliency, and more. It's actually quite complex and learning them for the first time on the job without any other previous experience (life experience from work, relationships, personal success, and failures) doesn't get many far.

Having been in real estate for several years now, I am always going back to something I told my first managing broker when asked why I wanted to be in real estate. My response to him was "change it". He asked what I meant and I told him if I knew, I would come in and do just that. Additionally, knowing that this is an industry with powerhouse names, multi-generational, family based agents, and essentially 60k+ agents and thousands of committed partners such as attorneys, lenders, and more, this would not be an easy task. Also, I never said I would change it because it was broken or wrong, I wanted to change it because I see opportunity to make it better and also, I wanted to be the agent I needed for my own deals of buying and selling about 7 years prior to that interaction that did not go well.

One of the most critical things I have learned that I want to share with the world is that it doesn't matter what you do overall for everyone, it only matters what you do for that one person. Meaning, if I have 100 clients and 99 are ecstatic about my work but one of the hundred didn't reach their goal, then I essentially live through that one client. It's painful. However, with this in mind (and is always a practice) I have learned communication is critical. We know we can't win everything. It's impossible. However, communication, and "as clear as possible communication at that" is what matters. People know things can happen and will happen. However, it's the agents that blame, finger point, and fail to take responsibility that make things worse for everyone. We have all been there in some form or fashion and it hurts, but we can all be better. It's a practice.

In the upcoming months, my goal is to focus on two things: providing the best service to my clients and providing the best service to other agents. That seems strange, doesn't it, saying the best service to everyone essentially The reality is ensuring that when all are getting the best service we call achieve whatever it is that we need---and make it fun as well!

P.S. If you're wondering why there is a plate of food as the main image, it's a reminder that a lot goes into a great meal---high quality ingredients, detailed planning, best in class service, years of experience and more. Just like a good transaction in real estate! Plus, my "life before" was in the hospitality industry, from marketing, operations, and more.