Being intentional in real estate

General Advice

APR 16, 2022

Sometimes, when I get overwhelmed, I close my eyes and lay on the floor. I don’t have any deep spiritual reason for this, I just like to lay on the floor — it feels good.

Although the last few weeks have been a grind, I’m training myself to focus on the positives. I’ve gotten a better idea of what my sales metrics are in order to close 1 transaction and earn a commission. Turns out, if I cold call 100 leads, I’ll connect with 3 people. Out of 3 of those connects, 1 will lead to an in-person meeting. And out of 5 in-person meetings, I’ll have 1 signed exclusive listing. My senior broker tells me that out of 5 exclusive listings, you should expect to close 3.

500 calls = 15 connects = 5 meetings = 1 listing — 99% of success is a numbers game.

This is the hardest I’ve worked my whole life, it’s also the most fun I’ve had.

I’m enjoying the fact that the 100 hours/week I’m clocking is building something — I’m not laboring for someone else’s vision. Day by day, I realize how much my experience working in different startups helps me stay focused & organized; weird how the dots always connect in retrospect.

For example, you’d be shocked at how my success rate jumps with proper follow up cadences of the 15 people I connect with — cadences that I learnt in software sales. Or how I’m realizing now that the best way to market to your average consumer is to just be everywhere; you want people to think of you when they think of your industry. All those law firm ads on the buses, billboards, and radio stations make sense now.

A key takeaway after getting into real estate full time, is how much more intentional my efforts are. There’s a stark difference between working hard with & without focus. Without focus, the work I put in made little progress in personal fulfillment — most of the time it just felt like I was spinning my wheels. I lacked long term vision. Maybe you feel the same: working hard, getting burnt out, taking a hiatus, rinse & repeat.

Most of my focus came from finding my calling in real estate investing; this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. With that in mind, the decisions I make are considered from an ultra-long horizon; not just if I can cash out in the short term.

For example, compare the networking strategies I’ve used in the past vs. now.

Formerly, the focus was to grow my network so that I could keep my options open, whatever that meant. It was transactional. Now, I enter interactions wondering whether the person is someone I want to be growing with. The shift has helped me become a better operator because I’m more focused on doing the right things instead of finding quick ways to make money. People on the other side feel it too, and the instances I connect with another that’s on the same wavelength — it’s like magic.

Translating this facet of networking into the goal of closing my first deal has been incredibly rewarding. I present myself authentically to others, as an investor-come-agent, and people looking to get into investing gravitate towards me along with other investors who now realize I can help them find deals.

Don’t get me wrong, the work is absolutely grueling and non-stop, but luckily it feels like play. I’ve yet to have any success with listing another property, but I’ve had more in-person meetings this week than I did last — the goal is to be 1% better with each iteration because the effort compounds, so I’m hoping I’ll make a breakthrough soon.

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