What I’ve Learned

5 years ago, if you’d told me that I would be knocking on the doors of strangers and promoting myself on social media, I would not have believed you. If you’d continued to tell me that I would do well at it and be able to communicate professionally with these strangers, I would have laughed. Yet here I am, a REALTOR. I’ve changed a lot and learned just as much. 

You have to be very self-motivated in this business. No one is going to check up on you every day and make sure you’re doing your work. Mentor meetings and the onboarding process at Century21 have been invaluable, but they don’t help if I sit at home all day and wait for clients to find me. Thankfully my background as a homeschooler has prepared me very well to be a self-manager. Organization and determination are skills one cannot do without as a real estate agent. 

Rejection will come and you can’t let it get to you. People can be very polite and kind, some are even interested in my sales pitch. But other people want it to be very clear that they want nothing to do with your business. Rejection takes many forms: from rudely slamming the door in your face to politely giving contact information and then never picking up the phone. Rejection comes, but you don’t have to hold onto it. Attitude is everything. Let the rejection roll off like water on a duck’s back. 

Persistence is key. My tendency is to feel like I’m being a bother, but follow up is not being a bother. One text or phone call may not bother anyone or fill up an inbox, but it also will not generate a lead. The persistent agent gets the sale. Get creative! Don’t just call and talk to an answering machine every day. Send letters, leave cards, knock on doors, put up flyers, etc. etc. etc. 

There’s so much more I could go into, but those are the big ones. Without those 3 lessons, I wouldn’t still be pounding the pavement and burning up my keyboard. And they aren’t limited to Real Estate practice, apply those to any job you do and see how much better your work is.