This past Wednesday my weekly company meeting was one of victory and defeat? (Well, maybe defeat is a strong word.)
Before I get into the meeting let me give a quick synopsis on ME!
A 9-5 job has never appealed to me; even before real estate became my passion I could not fathom the idea of a "boss". Through my parents, friends and family members experience they seemed to be a nuisance. My father also always reminded my sisters and I that the ONLY way could prosper is to own your own business or be the CEO of another.
I’ve only had two "real" jobs before. Alltel, where I sold cell phones and became the number 1 sales rep for our area, and Olan Mills, where I sold photos and became a top seller. I chose these 2 jobs because they were sales and sales are usually relaxed, and carefree. I learned early on that if I out sold everyone else I would become an asset to the company and a little harder to fire if I didn’t listen to any other rules.
I HATED doing anything other than selling! Having to compile numbers, record stats, clean up etc seem like a minion’s task. I purposely did not do anything but sell. Which worked, I got to just sell the product and the other, less important work got handed to another person.
Now I know that I should do the minion’s task, because they are a vital part of selling.
Real estate is a very carefree job as far as bosses are concern. YOU agree to which brokerage you want to go with, YOU interview the broker and YOU agree to work with them. From my experience in regular brokerages they are very laid back and want you to sell, but if you don't it reflects poorly on you, and not too much on them. They can REQUEST you do something, but can’t reprimand you if you don't.
My dream, I thought.
With my new company I pursued them, and agreed abide by their rules. It’s a structured community who treats their employees like contract workers BUT strongly encourages certain things are done.
Ex. As a "regular" agent I make my own hours, whenever I get up I get up. At this company I have my own neighborhood and it has hours that say we are open. I am not forced to be here, but it is in my best interest that I am here for future clientele.
I think I got off topic enough; let’s get to Wednesday's meeting!
All before I never had a "quota" I would set a personal goal for myself and that was it. I was never told by a broker of what I should do. This year that is different.
I was given the task of selling 36 homes by my new broker. That may seem easy but let me put this into perspective for you.
My friend who was the number 1 closer for the same builder as me only closed 26 homes in 2010, in a brand new neighborhood!
During the Wednesday meeting I heard this number and completely shut down. I had personally made it my goal to sell out the rest of my neighborhood, maybe 20 or so more homes. Now I had to do 15 more?? In my head I loudly spoke "THAT SOUNDS GOOD!"
So after complaining to my parents, sister, friends, I decided to STOP! Complaining about this quota just got me more upset because I sounded like I was a self doubter! It had only been the first week of January and I was already telling myself that I couldn’t do something.
So instead of focusing on this number I'm going to focus on selling! If I don’t meet the number then oh well! Historically I have done well when I’ve had no pressure so I’m going to pretend like I don’t have any now and see what happens....It’s only the second week of January and 36 more houses to go!
*Oh yea, Wednesday was a day of victory because I won a month long competition at work for the most booked appointment and received a $250 gift card!!
-Premature Millionaire
