Think a Million—Stage 1

THINK A THINK A MILLION MILLION

LISTINGS

Receive

Net

Earn

Think

LEADS

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“Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and say, ‘Why not?’ ” LEVERAGE George Bernard Shaw

BUILDINGA TWENTY-LANE HIGHWAYFOR YOUR FUTURE

How you think matters. How you think in the beginning really matters. Having learned this early in my career when I faced an uncertain future brought on by the late 1980s shift in the real estate market, I vowed to make thinking my first action step. And I was immensely rewarded. One small example of how thinking first changed my actions was in how I started answering my telephone. I had the ambition of building a large real estate business but had only two local real estate offices and no immediate prospects for more. Nonetheless, I began answering my phone with the line “national office.” I know this may have sounded brazen, but it was amazing how this simple act created incredible positive momentum, enthusiasm, and credibility for my long-term goals. There is no question that it contributed to our success. Atabout the same time, by thinking first, we also saw the future need for and created right up front some basic operating infrastructures that

could handle not hundreds, but tens of thousands of agents. In fact, many of those systems are still in place today! Because we could envision a big future for our company and took the appropriate measures on the front end,

“I learned to use creative visualization. I saw my success. I pictured my life getting much better. The more I made those pictures happen, the more I created a new life for myself.” Elaine Northrop Millionaire Real Estate Agent Ellicott City, MD our vision was like a twentylane highway enabling the business to leap forward at a rapid pace with no need for massive restructuring or major

Sales volume—$71 million reinventing. Thinking first can have these kinds of effects in your life and your business. It is that powerful.

WORKTO LEARN BEFORE YOU WORKTO EARN

Let’s go back for just a second to our mountain-climbing analogy. If becoming a Millionaire Real Estate Agent is like climbing Mount Everest, then let’s consider the first stage, Think a Million, as Base Camp. I can’t emphasize enough that the quality of the preparations you make here will largely determine how high you will be able to climb.

How well you prepare can also save you from some unwanted and unintended consequences that could lead to real setbacks. Many top sales producers report that they did not really begin to think strategically until they were already well on their way. The mistakes they made had consequences and, in some cases, really held them back for a time. An agent I consulted with several years ago can attest to the dangers of starting your climb without first pausing to think big. Early in her career, she had created a compensation plan for her assistant in which the bonuses

increased dramatically as production grew. Eventually, the agent found herself in a cul-de-sac where her sales volume kept increasing, as well as her cost of sales, but her net profits had unreasonably plateaued. In the end, she admitted that she had never imagined she would reach a place where her approach to a scaled compensation concept would become a liability. As a result, she was faced with an unpleasant “take-back” situation, in which she had to reduce compensation and risk losing a valued staff member. There is no doubt: To put ourselves in the best possible growth position, we must Think a Million from the start! In this chapter we’ll examine: ■ The Nine Ways the Millionaire Real Estate Agent Thinks ■ The Three L’s of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent ■ The Eight Goal Categories of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent

Think a Million is an attempt to help you capture not only the mind-set and attitude of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent, but also the focus. Through experience top agents have learned to differentiate between what is truly important, what can be delegated, and what can simply be ignored. One of the biggest challenges we have (and I continually face this, too) is overcoming the incredible urge to leapfrog the Work to Learn phase and go straight to the Work to Earn phase. But resist we must.

Have you ever thought about how many years medical students must work as interns and residents before being allowed to practice their trade independently? Besides laboring through four years of undergraduate studies and another four of medical school, doctors must typically practice as an intern for a year and then serve a minimum of two years as a resident. It is staggering to think about, but the Work to Learn process for an average surgeon can last as long as twelve years. Medical students invest a lot of money and time before they Work to Earn.

The real estate agent on the other hand . . . Well, we tend to pay for our training on a credit card and expect to start earning income immediately. It

is amazing how many real estate agents I’ve met over the years who have “backed into” the profession. Many take up real estate as a second career or as a weekend moneymaker. And though there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, most face a real need to make money early on. Because they began their career with mortgages, college tuition for the kids, or a certain lifestyle to maintain, they are forced to dive in and learn as they earn. As a result, they don’t get the chance to pause up front and work on how they think and act. How many agents do you know who truly study the business of real estate before they enter it? The truth is it would be far better for them if they said, “I need to wait just a little bit and Work to Learn. Before I get going too fast, I need to take a step back and gain some understanding.” Napoleon Hill put it very well in the title of his famous book Think and Grow Rich.

Truly aggressive people might at first think this is a waste of good selling or listing time, but the fact of the matter is, “Ready, aim, fire!” always wins out in the long run over “Ready, fire, aim!” And if you’re building a career, you’re in it for the long run.

Think a Million is designed to be a crash course on Working to Learn. Wehope that you’re already thinking big like a high achiever and that you just need us to confirm you are on the right track and, maybe, to fill in a few blanks. Most, however, have never taken the time to examine what makes them successful or not. Content with their current possibilities or unaware of their potential, these agents pull their practice through the ups and downs of the market using a combination of personal charisma, work ethic, and determination. These are all absolutely admirable traits! Our hope is that, in the next few pages, you discover that if, in addition to those characteristics, you can maintain a certain frame of mind and concentrate on a handful of key issues, the path to a much higher place will open up before you. I’ve come to understand that if you don’t think first, thinking later may not help you.