When I first got my Real Estate license, I had zero clients and zero prospects.
It took me three months to complete my first transaction—a sympathy listing—which I screwed up royally.
Then I went straight back to zero clients and zero prospects.
Slowly but surely, I figured out what to do, and by the end of my first year, I had earned $180,000 in commissions. From my 2nd year on, I earned between $590,000-$865,000 for 12 consecutive years, all as an individual agent.
I get asked all the time HOW I ramped up so quickly, starting from nothing. 🤔
But when I answer, agents always look at me sideways and walk away, muttering that I must be lying.
Sometimes I feel like just making up an alternate story, but it’s not in my nature. So, believe it or not, here is EXACTLY what I did:
1. I read numerous books and articles about customer service
2. I talked to other agents about what made them successful
3. I looked at hundreds of properties (by myself since I had no clients), taking extensive notes
4. I worked on developing and refining my systems and procedures
I also had a successful business background, so that certainly helped. But here’s the key:
Instead of wasting my time chasing after clients and not knowing what to do with them, I spent my time developing my skills FIRST.
To this day, when I’m not busy, my mind wanders to figuring out how to be better. What tiny (or gigantic) improvement can I make to become a better agent?
Some things take five seconds, while other bigger projects need to be broken down into numerous chunks.
But no matter how tiny (or gigantic), EVERY idea and task gets written down on my Brain Clutter List. More about this system in my last post:
4 Ridiculously Simple Tips for REALTORS® to Become 10 X More Organized
One agent read that post and asked me:
“OK, Ted, But what exactly do you write on your list?”
My answer: E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.
Every tiny (or gigantic) thought that pops into my skull—20-30 items a day on average. 💀
He responded, “But doesn’t your list get cluttered and unmanageable?”
Well, I suppose it would if I never managed it!
It’s not about writing things down and forgetting about them. It’s the opposite. It’s about having a system to remind yourself about everything you need to do and then taking action.
I’m knocking things off my list all day long. In fact, every time I look at my email, I scan my Brain Clutter List at the same time. Then, every morning, I review the “leftovers” and move some items onto my calendar, or onto a different list, or sometimes I just leave it, knowing I’ll get back to it later.
Read this if you’d like to learn more:
5 Easy Steps for REALTORS® to Defeat Procrastination
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Let’s get back to how I was able to advance my career so quickly:
First, I was ALWAYS trying to think of what I could do to become better, and then I spent my time implementing those ideas. But here’s a vital lesson:
It’s not one GIANT thing that will change your business and life. Instead, it’s hundreds and thousands of tiny things all strung together.
But those things simply don’t get done if you don’t write them down! Ask yourself:
What improvements have you made in the last week?
Nothing? Perhaps you should start writing things down (and taking action). People who rely too much on their memory rarely advance their careers at any measurable pace.
So, the answer to the big question, “How did I ramp up my business so quickly?”
1. I had a mindset of constantly trying to get better, and;
2. I wrote down EVERY idea and acted on it.
You can do the same thing!
Try it for ONE day, and you’ll be shocked at how much more you get done. (Or, how little you got done the day before.)
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By the way, did I give the impression that all my ideas actually worked? Hahaha! 🤣
I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours learning the hard way. But you don’t have to.
Take a tiny leap of faith and sign up for the Agent Skills Master’s Program and learn EVERYTHING I know without all the trial and error and sweat and tears that I’ve expended over my entire career.
I wish someone had made a course like this for me when I first started. Try it for FREE for one week (first two modules). You don’t pay unless you decide to continue.
