Double Your Real Estate Business: Step 5 – Holding Yourself Accountable
Until now, our “Double Your Real Estate Business” posts have been all about the tools and the setups and strategies. You know, all that fun stuff that makes you feel like you’re making progress and feeling good.
This is going to sting a few people reading this, and if it does just know that you’re not alone. Many people have a hard time hearing what I’m about to say.
If you’re not succeeding….
Then the first place you need to look is at yourself and what you’re doing.
“But Sherri, I tried everything you’ve said. I’ve tried X and Y and Z and nothing seems to work.”
Trying and failing just means you’re not doing. Don’t try. Do. Or don’t.
If something doesn’t work, shift gears and use a different method.
Not everything we say and suggest will work in every market or for every realtor. You have to find what works and make it work better.
Accountability for yourself is CRITICAL to success.
Success starts and ends in one place – yourself.
We are going to cover methods and ways you can use to hold yourself accountable. Make no mistake, when it comes to your business and your success then you are the only one that will make you successful. If you’re waiting for someone else to drag you kicking and screaming to success then you’re going to wait for a very, very, long time.
Start and End Your Day Right
How do you start your day? Your alarm goes off and you do…what?
You pick up your phone. You check your email. You maybe get on the internet for a minute and see what you missed. Then you get up and brush your teeth or shower or…whatever. Or maybe you hit snooze.
There’s mistake number 1.
When your alarm goes off you get out of bed. ZERO excuses. You get out of bed, shake off your sleep and start moving. Put your phone in your pocket and don’t look at it until you…
Plan your day.
Set out your goals for the day. What is it you need to get done? Be realistic. Don’t set goals you can’t accomplish. If it requires 2 or 3 other people to get something done, then your goal shouldn’t be “finish this task”. Your goal should be “reach out to person 2 and person 3 and get what I need to finish this task.”
Understanding big goals and small goals is important here. Big goals are the final series of a group of small goals. Think of it in terms of a brick wall.
Your goal is to build a great brick wall. So you do that, right? You build the best brick wall in the world. It’s just that simple, right?
No.
You start small. You lay a brick the best you can. Then you take the next brick and lay THAT the best you can. You focus on each brick, laying them one by one as best you can. You take care and focus with each one, giving each brick your attention until you have your wall.
Your absolute first task of every day should be to plan out your success for that day. Think of what bricks need to be laid to build that wall.
Write them down. Then calendar them.
Then and only then are you allowed to get on your phone.
“What about if I have an urgent email from my boss needing something?”
That’s your boss’ success and they can add that to their own list. You have YOUR list of success items for the day. Other things will come up in your day. Items for work, for family, for friends. YOUR job is knock out YOUR list.
Then, before you go to bed you bring your list out. “Did I do the things on my list?”
If you did then great! If you didn’t then…okay. There is no, “Well I tried to but…”
If you didn’t do it then you didn’t do it. That simple.
Don’t get down on yourself. Don’t get upset with yourself. Don’t chastise or scold yourself. Simply say, “I didn’t do that,” and move on.
Now you have Item 1 for tomorrow’s list.
Measure and Track Your Long-Term Goals
Not every goal is doable, “today”. If you want to improve sales by 33% this quarter, you won’t be able to pull that off in a single day’s worth of work. However, long-term goals are important. You need them. And they need to be measurable.
When looking at the goal mentioned above – focus on the important part. Do you know what it is?
It was the number.
Setting a goal of “I want to get better” won’t help. EVERYONE wants to get better.
Set an ACTUAL goal with an ACTUAL value.
“I want to make more money this year,” becomes “I want to make 2 million this year.”
Which of those sounds like a REAL and FOCUSED goal?
“I want to improve sales,” vs “I want to double my sales.”
Which of those sounds like a REAL and FOCUSED goal?
Set real goals. Set focused goals. Set measurable goals.
But you need to stay on top of them. You need to record the numbers you need, update the numbers you need, and track the numbers you need.
You cannot make progress if you don’t have a destination. Set your goal and move towards it.
Want more business?
Track your calls each day.
Track your appointments each day.
Track your new listings each day.
Track your sales each day.
Track your losses each day.
How many calls lead to appointments or listings each day? Do the math. Soon you will have a weekly average. Then a monthly average.
You will see exactly how you’re performing and exactly where you need to make changes.
Going to your broker and saying, “I want to get better,” is asking for a laundry list of stuff that you don’t’ need added to your plate.
Going to your broker and saying, “I’m making X calls each week and only 2% of them lead to appointments, listings. How do I fix this,” gives you a targeted and laser focused problem to work out.
Remind yourself that if your numbers aren’t improving then the issue, sadly, lies with the person behind the numbers. You.
But they are ALL fixable.
This is the secret to success. Setting goals. Reaching goals. That’s the honest to god key to all business. I’ve seen businesses succeed and fail based on how well someone can understand and set goals for themselves and how well they reach them.
Set Goal. Reach Goal. Set New Goal.
Not sure what goals to set? There’s a form on this page that will let you set up a free strategy call. This hooks your DIRECTLY to my personal calendar. Let’s talk.
Let’s talk what is going on, and what you need to do to fix it. The solutions may be so simple that they shock you. But the solutions are there. And the goals are all reachable.
Before I leave you I want to talk about something important. Something we all deal with and struggle with from time to time. Half built bridges.
A Note on Half Built Bridges
Imagine that you are an island. To find success you need to expand beyond the small island on which you live. How do you go beyond that small island?
You build a bridge.
There are cities and success in every direction – you just need paths to them. The more bridges you build then the more success you find.
Do you:
- Build as many bridges as possible as fast as you can
- Build one bridge – then another – then another
If you chose option 1 then you’re going to likely have issues.
If you choose option 2 then you’re going to move toward success.
Things happen. Things come up. Things steal your time. You’re human. As a human, we set goals and we have wants. But these goals get bigger and bigger every day.
As a real estate coach, I know what it means to create big goals. Outside of my family goals I can have:
- I am going to build a successful one-on-one coaching program.
- I am going to build a successful online, automated coaching program.
- I am going to publish books.
- I am going to have my own brokerage where I train and empower my own realtors.
- I am going to….fill in the blank.
I have to focus on each goal one at a time. I have to build each bridge that I come to so that I can reach that goal.
Why? Because I’m one person. I have limited time. If I try to take on too much then all I have is half built bridges, but no bridge that leads to success.
My team? They focus on one bridge at a time.
When you start to build your bridge to success…focus on THAT BRIDGE until it’s done. Once you have that bridge you can improve it and alter it and do what you need to, but it needs to be finished before you can use it.
