What’s It Gonna Be?
Article by: Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, 12/4/2007
This evening I was working on my computer and giving a lot of thought to what is happening throughout our country in regards to the real estate market and my role as Team Leader of the Keller Williams Realty Professionals, Slidell, Louisiana Market Center. I feel absolutely certain that our current real estate “crisis” is a result of a self-fulfilling prophecy created by the news media. Think about it. The news media prints or speaks only about what the media thinks is news rather than what is news and Bad News Sells! When the market was good they predicted a housing bubble. That went on for at least five years until it actually happened and we all are now paying the price. Talk about anything long enough and somehow it comes true. Isn’t that what The Secret is all about – think about what you want and it appears? Itapplies to thinking about what you don’t want as well. The entire nation has been thinking about a housing bubble burst and that is what we all got – the burst!
I am going to suggest that one person at a time come to the mindset that the housing market, a crucial part of our nation’s economy, is making its turn and everything will be fine. We all know that in time this is going to happen, the question then becomes when? We can control when the “when” will happen by becoming more knowledgeable about what we can each do right now to generate more listings and sales. As Gary Keller and Dave Jenks said as recently as a month ago, we need to become the economists of choice in our neighborhoods. We need to talk to people, especially the news media, about real estate, how the time has not been this good in years to buy real estate and it is. But you have to both understand it and believe it. The problem as I see it is that we don’t believe it.
So as here is what I know:
- Interest rates remain at record lows – that is a good thing.
- Unemployment is also at record lows – that is a good thing.
- The economy, in spite of what the news media says, is doing very well – that is a good thing.
- Each one of us has the power to make a difference in the world but only if we act; only if we do something. In this regard, I would highly recommend that everyone read or listen to Andy Andrews’ “The Traveler’s Gift” and see how one person’s decision alone atop a hilltop during the Civil War literally changed the world forever. Each one of us has that power within our own minds but it requires some sort of action. I have the CD’s if you want to listen to them, please do so, sooner rather than later.
Here is what I don’t know:
- Who amongst us has the willpower to make a difference by taking not only action but the right actions? I don’t know when the housing market will return to normal, whatever normal is. As Gary Keller has repeatedly said, “The market is what the market is!” Work with what you have.
- How I can help someone who does not seek the help needed to make a difference?
As you all know I am about to retire from being your Team Leader. This was not an easy decision and I can assure you that our (“our” meaning our team) reaction to the current housing market trends had a lot to do with it. Team Leader is a title but without action it is only a title and a title can not change anything. Change must come from within each of us and it starts with being focused on what you want. What I want is a very prosperous MarketCenter and happy and prosperous team members (of course this means you). While I was thinking about this, I was also listening to music as I oftentimes do. It absolutely amazes me how many times as I ponder a subject with the music on, for some reason a song comes on that just seems to fit exactly into my thinking at the time.
Tonight Neil Diamond, one of my favorites, came on and sang a song entitled What’s It Gonna Be? You tell me if the lyrics don’t describe a Keller Williams Team Leader:
First you're runnin' one way
Then you run another
Thinkin' you'd discover
What you really need
Runnin' in circles
Gonna get you nowhere
Why you want to go there?
Where's it gonna lead?
What's it gonna be when the night is cold?
What's it gonna be when the morning scares you?
Put your reservations all on hold
Climb aboard and ride with me
Lonely gets you nowhere
Only gets you zero
I may not be a hero
But I'm the man you need
One way or another
You need a new direction
Make a new connection
Hey, what's it gonna be?
What's it gonna be?
Do you take a chance?
Are you gonna let the night defeat you?
If you're tellin' me that you just can't dance?
I say try it on and see
Move a little closer
Try a little harder
Dancing with a partner
Helps you find the beat
Time to put it out there
Before it's movin' past you
So once again, I'll ask you
What's it gonna be?
What's it gonna be when the night is cold?
What's it gonna be when the morning scares you?
Put your reservations all on hold
Climb aboard and ride with me
One way or another
You need a new direction
Make a new connection
So what's it gonna be?
Here is one more thing that I know for certain – I know what each of you should be doing each and every work day that I am also certain most of you (certainly not you) are not doing. Here is my list:
- Set BIG Goals that lead to achieving whatever your BIG WHY is. The problem? I am not absolutely certain that each of you have identified what your BIG WHY is. What do you want to achieve in your life. It is not about making money. It is what the money will do for you. It might be to be financially independent. It might be to put your kids through college. A bigger house. A huge boat. A trip around the world. To help the poor. Play more golf (had to put that one in!) All of these things are fine but have you really chosen what your BIG WHY is? If you know what your BIG WHY is, then finding a path to achieve it is easy. You break it down into small portions or as the saying goes, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
- Computerize your database and divide it into MET and UNMET (here he goes again). Maybe I have said this over and over but it is because that is what you MUST do if you want to achieve the success you want to achieve. Then you MUST contact your MET people 33 times a year and your UNMET 12 times a year forever! For the past five years buyers and sellers have come to us and we did very little to make the sales we made – they were almost made by accident than by actions we took. Trust me Sparky, those days are gone but they will be back. The question then becomes this, when “those days” return, will you still be in real estate? You will if you focus on the basics as described in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent!
- Create an accountability group. I know of no such groups within our MarketCenter. Think about this. I am going to write a book, actually three books. I just had my new business cards printed and the title beneath my name is Real Estate Consultant – Writer! Now I have no excuse not to get off my ass and write my book(s). I am telling the world (especially you) that I am going to do this. I also told the world that I was going to weigh 185 pounds. When I first said that I weighed 230. Tonight, I weigh 187.2 pounds (a lot less ass to get up off of). I am also one step closer to finally putting my first book together. Some might ask, “What if no one buys it?” So what, that was not my goal, my goal was to write a book that was meaningful to me. I have three people in my life that I repeatedly talk to about my book. They are not officially accountability partners but the result is the same. If you want to achieve anything, write it down, tell someone about it, ask them to help you stay on track to achieve what you want to achieve and then discuss what happened when you got off course.
- Believe;really believe that an action you may take could literally change the world. I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking I did some miraculous thing but I need to share a story with you. I was the manager of the RE/MAX office in Mandeville when it had 6 agents. I had empty office after empty office. I would get to work early and actually SEEin my minds’ eye different agents sitting in the various empty offices. Over the next two years, a lot of those agents were actually sitting there as the office grew but that is not the story. I recruited one agent, Linda LaRocca for over 5 years; she eventually joined. And there were other similar results. Then I suddenly realized that I knew of an agent who I considered a friend but who I was not recruiting. Her name was Debbie Alexander. I sent her a note an apologized for not asking her if she would like to join our team and within days she called, we had lunch, she too joined. What is the point of this story? Eventually we went in different directions over the next several years. I opened a RE/MAX office in Gulfport, MS that I eventually sold (actually I gave it away for a fountain pen – another story) my portion of ownership. Debbie Alexander and some of the other agents that I had brought to RE/MAX became unhappy with the way things were going and they looked for an alternative and along came Keller Williams. Thinking back I have asked myself over and over what might have happened had I not encouraged Debbie Alexander, Linda LaRocca, Linda Dolese, Cindy Fandal, Diane Laplace, Joann Dunn, and Beverly Shea to join RE/MAX because these wonderful women eventually formed a group and bought the Keller Williams Gulf States Region. Where would you and I be today had Debbie, Linda,Cindy, Linda, Diane, Joann, Beverly, Johnette, Patsy, and Vikki not bought the Gulf States Region. If all of them had not joined RE/MAX would the circumstances that caused them to form a group ever have happened. I am forever grateful to these women because they have changed my life forever along with our company Keller Williams.
- I also know you may be only one word away from breaking free of your mooring lines that hold you back and keeping you from reaching new ports of call you never thought possible. Who are you talking with? What are you saying? Who are you influencing both positively and negatively? What examples are you setting; positively and negatively? What are you doing to improve yourself? What are you doing regarding establishing your own training schedule? No one (except me of course) really cares about your future besides you (at least I hope you do). But what are you going to do about it? So what’s it gonna be?
There are only two kinds of people in this world – are you listening? There are only two kinds of people in this world, those who keep an open mind, continue to learn new things, get excited about meeting people, who set goals to achieve their Big Whys and who take action NOW and then there is everyone else and the everyone else group is:
ABOLUTELY HUGE!
Which one are you?
Which do you want to be?