Monday, January 23, 2006

New Year, New Approach

February 19 is my one-year anniversary of becoming a licensed real estate agent. For me, it's cause for celebration. Many people say that your first year is the hardest, and that's certainly true with me, especially since I had to go to two different agencies and learn two different systems. Although I am definitely not settled with Citi-Habitats yet (after so long!!), I am learning.

It's strange that I felt so supported when I was in such a small agency. Even though I didn't have the huge infrastructure behind me that CH gives, I somehow felt more at ease with the system that my broker had developed. I thought that CH would be more or less the same but discovered that my broker had taken the best parts and distilled them into a powerful system. It was the people that failed him, not the system. Although I was producing, it just wasn't enough for him. Perhaps if I had found him the year before... but that's all water under the bridge now. Time to move on.

But I am developing my own systems now. That's one of the great lessons of Robert Kiyosaki, whose books I rely on: Self-employed people own a job, but business owners own a system that can be replicated many times over on a larger and larger scale. Not nearly as easy as it sounds.

Systems in development for me include my own website, an email newsletter list (format in development) and a local direct mail marketing campaign based on the teachings of Thomas J. Stanley (his books are a dry read, but you can find a great interview called Networking With Millionaires at Audible.com. Since the basic "plaster everything all over craigslist" is no longer working (and since a $10 per listing fee for rentals is coming down the pike), I'm going to try something else!

So it's off to the referral races for me. Thus the email list, which I am currently procrastinating on. So back to the grindstone for me!

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