Happy Sunday Everyone:
I don’t want to be the guy that keeps saying “the market is hard right now” but the market is hard right now! Mortgage applications are down 68.2% compared to a year ago (Thank you Rob C.). It’s never been easier to call a compadre and start the conversation with “are you slow”…and then 15-30 minutes later getting off that call w/ less energy than you started. As a salesperson, this is a really bad recipe for success. This doesn’t mean we all need to live in a fake world of optimism when we’re truly on edge about how to handle a changing market, but we must ask the question if we’re simply looking for the comfort of the negative water cooler talk or putting ourselves in a position for future success.
For me, I need community. For most of us on the distribution list, we need community. If you asked me why I still coach today, after 12 years, it’s probably not because of the new business strategy or tactic, I’m chalk full of those, its 100% because of the community of people. Why do I work with the business partners that I do, it’s the sense of community. I’m a firm believer that the communities we keep will have a massive outcome on the quality of our lives. I look to my communities to breathe life into me when I need it. I witnessed two things last week that make me sit back this morning and realize I run with the right people, the right communities. First thing that happened is my great friend, Lisa Wells, called me and told me she was going to do the Circus. The Circus was created by another coaching friend, Oleg. Day 1, 130 calls to business partners, day 2, 130 calls to unconverted leads, day 3, 130 calls to past clients. I’m sitting there Monday morning crying the blues about the market, not feeling great about the week ahead, and Lisa tells me she’s doing the circus. This coming from a person that could retire today if she wanted to. She checked in each day, completed the assignment, felt great, created opportunities, and felt a massive level of accomplishment. Second item, I’m doing an open line call for my business partners on Friday. Theme for the call was “messaging in a challenging market”. A great business partner invites her friend to the call, only for me to find out she’s one of the top 10 Realtors in San Francisco, and she’s crushing it. I spent 30 minutes with her on the phone Thursday Morning, prepping for the Friday call, she tells me she’d been licking her wounds for 6 months about how bad the market sucked and then shifted her mindset. Literally said “i went back to the basics, I lost my ego, and realized I’m pretty good at my job, talking to buyers”. In September, her team put 11 buyers in contract for $22 mill worth of real estate.
What’s my point as I sit here on Sunday Morning typing this out? I have a few:
Be intentional with the company you keep and hang around with people that pump life/energy into you. I’d love to stand on top of the mountain and say I have so much strength, will power, resilience, tenacity, and grit, that I can do anything alone, but it’s simply not true. I need my community. No different than what we tell our kids, we’re all a reflection of the community we keep.
When things are down, we have to recognize our activity today will determine our future, for better and for worse.
We have to stay in mental shape. I’m sure plenty of you are saying/thinking Lisa is nuts to make 390 calls in 3 days. Sustainable, no, but her level of confidence and belief in herself is higher than most of us. Her results were also massive from the exercise.
I finished Friday thinking “this is the best week I’ve had in months”. In large part it’s because of the community I keep, and I have so many of you to thank for that!
Have a great week ahead.