By John Polito
First a little background information. I am an active real estate broker presently with Coldwell Banker, with 34 years of experience, working within the City of Kawartha Lakes,. I’ve been through some good markets and bad, and watched numerous agents come and go. Obviously hard work, imagination and enthusiasm are all ingredients for success.
However, a man or woman can have all these attributes and remain a poor earner or worse, become a casualty of the real estate wars – which begs the question, why the high mortality rate within the profession? To address this question I have drawn from my own personal experience and observations.
Now let’s go to the dark side and meet the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse. Make no mistake, they are relentless, and their only purpose is to destroy real estate careers.
The First Horseman: Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Unfortunately, for far too many Realtors, it’s not them, because they have sacrificed their health and peace of mind in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Their relationships and self esteem are in ruin. They are bankrupt in all areas of their lives, save money.
I am in no way a health expert but I have seen a lot of friends, and way too many Realtors, hit the health wall. Meet the first Horseman of the Apocalypse. His target is the agent who is immersed year in and year out in extended periods of stress, with no relief. He has no down time, is on call 24 hours a day, has a lousy diet, carries too much weight, drinks too much booze and coffee, smokes and gets too little sleep and no exercise. Sound like someone you know?
I am not saying you should get in shape to run the Boston Marathon, but I bet you could stand to take better care of yourself.
If you had a million-dollar race horse, you wouldn’t keep it up all night smoking, drinking and giving it coffee and donuts at Tim’s in the morning. Common sense dictates you would look after your investment more carefully than that.
Bottom line – The most important piece of equipment, the most valuable asset and the only indispensable person in your business is you.
“Sounds good John, but I’m way too busy to worry about this stuff right now – got to make some money then I’ll…” Meanwhile, you and your spouse are drifting apart, the kids are growing up and you’ve got chest pains. Say hello to the deadliest Horseman.
The Second Horseman: I know this will never happen to you, but God forbid should there ever come a time in your real estate career when the sky is no longer blue, your sales volume is in freefall, Bob your friendly banker has your cell number on speed dial and you are wondering if it can get any worse. Unfortunately it can because the Second Horseman of the Apocalypse has arrived and he is looking for Realtors with cash flow problems.
He will kill your career if you allow it. Your only salvation from his relentless attacks is to become very tight fisted about parting with each and every penny. Pay bills in little tiny increments, trickle it out, and negotiate new terms as fast as you can. Put little dabs of grease on the squeakiest wheels, but never, never ever spend down to zero, or worse below zero, to appease credit wolves. Let them stand out there howling and scratching at your door.
Next, cut costs with a chain saw, and I mean cut to the bone. You can’t be too gentle or conservative in cutting. Next, put a plan together, a believable realistic step-by-step, back-to-basics business plan with an abundance of detail for the first six months and more general ideas for the next six. Then start working your plan. Small successes will lead to bigger success. Peace of mind will return, sleep will come and confidence will come back.
This is big-time important: if you owe a ton of money to a lot of demanding creditors, don’t hide. That’s a big mistake! Take responsibility, keep the lines of communication open. Facing trouble head on, more often than not, earns respect and promotes co-operation. If you keep at it, sooner or later the hoof beats will become fainter – trust me.
The Third Horseman: Have you ever thought seriously of getting out of the real estate business altogether and taking an easier, less stressful job, say with Uncle Bob? I have on more than one occasion.
Make no mistake, a real estate career is a survival test. Daily we go into battle with an incredible number of forces, including our own emotions. You can go for weeks or months, with no measurable progress. The emotional toll can be incredible and it fosters self-doubt. However, the battle to end all battles you’ll fight with yourself will occur when you fail. Say hello to the Third Horseman of The Apocalypse.
If you look around at a number of really successful Realtors, you’ll find that many have one thing in common – they have suffered from business failures, bankruptcies, divorce and/or great humiliation during their careers before putting the pieces together the right way. If you don’t believe me, just ask them. In my opinion the way you deal with failure today controls your future opportunities to deal with success tomorrow. From personal experience, it is through failure that you learn to overcome the fear of failure, and once experience demonstrates that failure isn’t fatal, you can move on.
Some agents, when they experience failure, give up trying. Others smother themselves in guilt. They centre on every bad decision and every ineffective plan to build a millstone and grind themselves into the ground with it.
A Realtor has to acknowledge and understand these common responses to failure, then control and manage them and refocus on positive goals.
The lines become blurred. Most Realtors do not differentiate between responsibility and guilt. You have to understand the difference. Take on responsibility, not guilt, and remember that you are traveling a well-worn path.
The Forth Horseman: Time vampires. They come in all shapes and forms but the most dangerous ones hang around real estate offices. Their mission in life is to waste your time. They’re out to suck up all your time. In the process they also bleed out a lot of your energy, leaving you white, weak and behind schedule. These are your friendly day-in day-out drop-in visitors. We are allotted only so much time in a day.
Exceptional success is the result of directing more and more of your valuable time to the activities you are very good at and very excited about. You will never reach your potential if your time is being wasted, lost, sucked dry by a time vampire. For your own good, drive the proverbial stake through the heart of every time vampire who drops into your office. End of conversation.
In retrospect, some will say I have painted a too bleak picture of the profession, especially those presently living under blue skies. However, for those agents experiencing sleepless nights, I have tried to add balance and encouragement. For your peace of mind, talk to the high roller down the hall. He or she will have stories to tell. If they found their way back, so can you.
The Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse are relentless.
John Polito is a broker at Coldwell Banker RMR Real Estate Brokerage.
