From Student to Teacher W H AT M A K E S A T R A I N E R T I C K W I T H E X I T R E A LT Y M I N D - S E T T R A I N E R , R I C K O’ N E I L
“You can learn all the techniques in the world, but if you don’t believe in yourself, you’re not going to use them... Education informs people; training changes people.” RICK O’NEIL MIND-SET TRAINER
26 Volume 9 Issue 2
EXIT associates are surrounded by many successful and gifted trainers within the corporation’s ranks. One can’t help but wonder what extraordinary culmination in experience, genetics and attitude must collide in order to create people of such caliber. Many who subscribe to the principle of forever learning, find the best teachers to be the most relatable people, and MIND-SET Trainer, Rick O-Neil would be the first to describe himself as extra ordinary. “I think my greatest asset is that I’m average, and that makes me akin to everyone I'm speaking with. I can empathize with them,” he admitted during a recent interview about what makes a trainer tick. “I know what they're going through. I failed the first three years in real estate...and it all had to do with my mind. I found out later that everything is mental. What will make you successful is the belief that you can do it.” That moment of calling is another common denominator amongst teachers, a catalyst that can almost always be traced back to an encounter at a young age. Having been in real estate since his early 20’s, Rick too can pinpoint when he leaned over to his real estate broker at a speaking engagement and said, “I’m going to do that someday.” But as one famous Ernest Hemingway quotations goes, “In order to write (or in this case teach) about life first you must live it.” And similarly, Rick had to first learn how to walk the walk before he could talk the talk. So gain experience he did. After giving himself an ultimatum Rick would go from working 10-12 hour days, seven days a week, and not making any money, to building a successful career by working intensely for four hours a day talking to buyers, to sellers, or doing something to get in front of one of those people every day. He went from assuming he was attracting all bad buyers to realizing that assumption was more perception than reality. With real estate success finally in his grasp, he then moved on to management consulting. Twenty years, countless office evaluations and presentations later, Rick had become V.P. of a northeastern region of 800 offices within his jurisdiction. He had staff in four different locations for different states, training centers, franchise sales, and business development all under his belt. He then moved onto a flat fee company and helped them turn things around by growing their office base from 80 to 850 locations during a five-year contract. Decades of constant travel took its toll though, and when his contract was up Rick was ready to spend more time with family. In the meantime, he accepted the occasional
