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Just Show Up

I had a designated broker once tell me the biggest challenge for most real estate agents is just showing up. What does it mean to show up?  It means doing those thing that have to be done to generate business like prospecting and lead generation.  It is even harder to ‘show up’ when today’s Covid-19 office may be the kitchen table and the toddler is demanding your attention. Showing up for work in the ‘normal world’ can be the biggest and hardest step for most people to take. It is easy to hide behind busy work but busy work doesn’t necessarily generate any income. 

If you are facing this particular challenge, you should realize that you are not alone –even though it’s more than likely you think you are. The first thing you ought to do is to reach out to others and surround yourself with people who do what you want to do. For example, consider creating or joining a group that can meet on Zoom (or a similar platform) and share positive ideas.  You don’t need to surround yourself with real estate agents for this to be successful – people from all walks of life struggle to show up and do the tedious work required for success. You only need to surround yourself with people who can relate to your struggles and have the same types of goals as you do.  You might invite your insurance agent, your loan officer or even your PTA president to join your socially focused support network. The truth is that no one can succeed alone – you simply cannot do it –everyone needs someone and most of us need many more support touchpoints than just one person –the more the merrier

A word of caution for you; make sure you have rules and some structure to ensure a positive outcome. For example, there should never be any bad mouthing people in your groups. Avoid contentious issues like political talk unless it directly impacts your business and is a necessary topic.  Bring something positive to every meeting in the way of a new source for marketing, a new tool that might work for multiple professions or perhaps always plan to share a positive, uplifting message. 

Be honest with yourself and others. Most social platforms are full of staged content that hide the realities of life because people are afraid to share the ugly parts of us – even though we all know those undesirable parts exist for everyone. Have a designated time for participants to share those things that are stalling them and have the group brainstorm ideas on how to get out of the rut and get moving. 

Meetings could be as short as 30 minutes but shouldn’t be longer than 1 hour. 

Depression and anxiety have been a real struggle for many real estate agents this past year.  And if it is an issue for you it’s an issue for others in our communities whether it be clients or vendors you work with, your family and friends or even the guy next door.  My encouragement to everyone is to reach out and connect –show up and decide you will take one positive step forward today.  It will do you good and you’ll help others who may not have the strength to help themselves without your input.