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COVID-19 – Agents Missed Opportunities Part 1

Wade Webb on May 6, 2020

The spread of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 has rocked everyone back on their heels. For many small business owners, but especially those of us who work as Real Estate Agents, it’s done more than that; it has knocked them clear to the ground. With most real estate offices across the country closed and agents told to work from home, many Realtors are scrambling to cope with a new work environment as well as figure out just what they should do with themselves. If you’re sitting on the couch right now in your underwear wondering what you should do today, get up, get dressed, and get going. This is NOT the time to hide. There are actually many hidden opportunities for you to build your business stronger even while we’re dealing with this crisis. Here are some things you can do right now to keep your business moving:

1. Make an “As Soon As This Passes” Plan With Every Client

Let’s be totally clear about something: This season of anxiety and social distancing will pass. We’re going to figure this thing out, and life (and your real estate business) are going to start making moves back to normal. Sometimes it’s hard for your clients to see past their current fears, so help them do that with a personalized “as soon as this passes” plan. Take some time to think about each of your clients individually and what unique needs they have. What is going to help them weather this storm? Consider what actions and strategies are going to create solutions for their real estate goals. Use our As Soon As This Passes Plan Template and write these ideas down so they’re easily shareable with your clients. Then, reach out to your clients one at a time and request a video conference with them. Once you finish presenting your plan or if you can’t reach them, send them your plan and make sure to mention that this is a unique, personalized plan that you developed just for them. Every agent is sending out a “what next” email. Yours are going to be personalized so your clients know you are still working hard for them as individuals, not “clients.”

2. Sort Through Your CRM Contacts One by One; Filling in the Gaps

In the same way that your website is the hub of your customer-facing real estate operation, your CRM is the hub of your agent-facing operation. If used properly, your CRM tracks every client interaction, helps you identify lead opportunities, and gives you the tools to manage your lead funnel so that the most important clients get the attention they need at the time they need it. A CRM’s effectiveness is magnified when your clients’ profiles are filled out with as much information as possible. A name, phone number, and email address are great, but imagine the sort of personalized, timely communication you could plan for your clients if you had birthdays, anniversaries, closing dates, and social media profiles there? Go through each of your contacts one by one, find and fill in as much information as you can. If you don’t have a CRM and are leery of making big purchases now, Freshsales will get the job done well, and it’s very, very affordable at only $12 per month. Plus, they have a free 21-day trial you can start without even entering your credit card, so you literally have nothing to lose.

3. Request a Review From Every Past Client

Since your clients are probably sitting home watching Netflix anyway, now is a great time to ask them for reviews. You know most people are going to be sitting at home anyway, why not give them something to do? If you’re a little nervous about asking for a review and aren’t sure exactly what to say, don’t worry, we’ve got just the thing. Check out this handy set of templates to guide your communication; all you’ve got to do is fill in your client’s details.

4. Use Your Existing Property Photos to Create Video Slideshows For Listings

We’ve known for a long time that video content rules the internet, but now that most of us are unable to host open houses or conduct showings, property videos and virtual tours are even more important. If you didn’t manage to get video content for a property made before social distancing started, you can do the next best thing by creating a video from the still photos you already have. If you don’t have the video skills to get this done, try a freelance marketplace like Fiverr. There are literally thousands of service providers there offering real estate video content work, starting at just five bucks.

5. Make Five Calls, Send Five Texts, Send Five Emails, Write Five Thank You Cards Every Day

Want to know a secret? The real estate business is not about selling houses. It’s about building and maintaining relationships. Yes, we facilitate the buying and selling of houses, but without the human interaction, none of that happens. Don’t let this time of social distancing be a time of community isolation. Set aside some time each day to make five phone calls to your sphere. These can be clients, friends, family members, ANYONE. Talk to them about what’s going on in their lives, tell them about your new normal, and of course, chat about the real estate market. If they’ve been considering some sort of real estate transaction, it will surely come up. Likewise, shoot off five emails and text messages to people you know, letting them know that you’re thinking of them and that you hope they’re well. This sort of empathetic outreach spurs conversation and creates a connection that you can build on. Finally, find five people that you can thank, and thank them with a personalized, hand-written card. Even three sentences written on paper can make a world of difference for someone, and in this challenging time, a little encouragement is a great idea.

6. Achieve Email Inbox Zero

There are two types of people in this world; the people who have no unread email messages, and the people whose Mail icon on their phone needs a comma to display the number of unread emails. We’re not here to judge you (who are we kidding, having 6,100 unread emails is INSANE), we just want to help. Getting your email inbox under control is a great project. Start by making sure you’ve got no unread messages. If an important email comes in, you want to know about it, not try and guess about whether or not you have 321 unread messages or 322. Then, start deleting what you don’t need, categorizing what you do need into folders, all with the goal of getting the number of emails in your general inbox down to zero. It sounds like a bit of a daunting task, but is a great way to spend 30 minutes here and there. Fast Company did a great step-by-step on this process a couple of years back, definitely worth a read.

7. Build Out Your Social Media Profiles

Using social media is a great way to stay connected to your family, friends, clients, and prospects. Since so many people are at home right now, think of this as an opportunity to reach more of your sphere on social media to show them you’re working on their behalf and keeping them educated. As a real estate agent, you can maximize the benefit of this traffic increase by making sure that each of your social media profiles is complete with a fantastic headshot, a short bio, and links to your website. If someone takes the time to visit your profile and see what you’re all about, don’t let that person digitally walk away uninformed about who you are and what you do.

8. Design a Real Estate Farming Strategy

Real estate farming is a prospecting strategy that allows real estate professionals to position themselves as neighborhood experts by focusing on consistent marketing and communication for a specific neighborhood or area. The goal is to create a relationship with the homeowners in that area so that when it comes time for someone to buy or sell a home, you are the first person that comes to mind.

Real estate farming is a simple enough concept, but there are a lot of moving parts, which is why we put together a comprehensive guide to get you started. Pro Tip: If you want to take your farming strategy to the next level, consider working with Parkbench to build a neighborhood-specific website that can act as the hub for all your farming efforts. Parkbench websites feature local news and events, highlight local businesses, and are a place where neighborhood members can learn more about real estate on their street and beyond.

9. Better Categorize Your CRM Contacts

We mentioned earlier how important it was to fill out your CRM contact profiles; this task takes that a step further by better bucketing them into specific classifications. The more specific a client category is, the more tailored the message can be to them. For instance, think for a second about all your past buyer clients. You’ve probably got a mix of first-time homebuyers, vacation homebuyers, luxury homebuyers, and maybe even some investment property buyers. Each of these client types is going to have different messaging that will provide value to them, so why would you send them all the same generic email or texts? By creating more specific buckets for your clients, you increase the value provided to each of them, thereby increasing your chance at repeat business or a referral from them.

10. Create the Email Drip Sequences You’ve Been Dreaming Of

OK, now that you’ve got those clients bucketed appropriately, it’s time to put together email drip sequences. You know all those ideas you’ve had for drip campaigns? Now is the time to write them and build them. You’ve got some time on your hands. Why not use it to think about exactly what messages your past and current clients will respond to, as well as the sort of thing you want new clients, Zillow Leads, website leads, and everyone in between to hear from you? Don’t know where to start with a drip sequence? Start with a personalized welcome series for new contacts based on how they enter your CRM. Leads that come in from downloading a home valuation from your website might be interested in:

A thank you email introducing you and the ways you can help sellers in your community

A deeper dive into more of the seller strategies that lead to higher sale prices and faster times on market

An invitation to a virtual listing presentation via video conferencing

So much of your email communication can be automated and still provide the maximum amount of value to your recipients, as long as you can set up the drip sequences thoughtfully and with great content.

It isn’t about knowing more in these times of opportunity but doing and acting on what we already know and should be doing. Don’t let this gift of time slip away. I challenge you to pick one idea and implement and execute on it. Cease the day.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Putting The “Real” In Real Estate

Wade Webb on April 22, 2020

The last six weeks has been a roller coaster of emotions for us all. I personally have laughed, cried, been afraid, sad and have had times of anger and all these emotions are normal and allow us to know we are human. For some of us it has driven us to press on or for others it has stopped us and that is normal too. For those that are stopped and hit a wall let us ask ourselves a few important questions.

What is causing me to hit a wall?
What is really stopping me right now?
What are my behavior patterns?
What am I thinking about most of the time?
What are my activities?

For a lot of us including myself we need to take some time to think about our thoughts right now. “It’s time to take stock of our thoughts about our thoughts.” Think about our actions right now. Think about our behaviors right now. Think about what is really holding me back right now. Ask ourselves a few more important questions.

Why am I not doing what I know I need to do?
What I am listening to in my head?
Why am I not open or aware of what is happening to me?
Why am I choosing to not take action?
What do I need to choice differently?

So we all have a choice today. We can choose to move or we can choose to stop. The choice is ours today. In order to have a breakthrough we need two things. 1. Commitment – the commitment and self-desire to move and shift our behavior, thoughts and activities. 2. Accountability – we are not alone and need to ask someone for help and walk over and tip our chin up when it drops down and support us when we just can’t find what we need to move. I trust that this message this week gives you hope and know that you are not alone and myself and the agentsboost family is holding your chin up for you today and you got this!

Strength and courage,
Wade

Focus On What We Can Control

Wade Webb on January 29, 2020

As the president and CEO of my own “control club” I have honestly struggled for so many years with the fact I am not able to control everything in my life. It is such an uncomfortable space for me to not be in control and why is that? So here’s the truth: Most of us know so many things in our world are outside of our control, right? The way other people act, the way they behave, the way they think.

If we want to be happy, if we want to be successful, if we want to be determined toward our dreams, then we need to make a clear distinction between that which we can control and that which we can’t. So much easier to say than to do, am I right?!

If we’re wise, we put the lion’s share of our attention on that which we can control—which are our thoughts, our feelings, our behaviour, and our responses and reactions to what happens. There’s a great quote that sums this up by Pastor Chuck Swindoll, and it goes like this: “Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.” This week I want to share my top 5 things that we can control!!

1. Breathing – Most people don’t even think about their breathing.

(I myself used to talk for many seconds at a time and forget to breathe!). Breathing is obviously important, but so is the ability to focus on it. Can you feel your chest expand when you inhale, and get softer when you exhale? Where do you feel the rise and fall most? Breathing is the ultimate hack to relax and slow racing thoughts. As soon as you experience something unpleasant, just take a few deep breaths and focus not on how horrible the situation was, but on your breathing. When you focus on your breath, you can count “one” as you inhale, “two” as you exhale. When you get to 10, start over. I bet you’ll start to feel better and more grounded immediately.

2. Your Self-Talk

We all have a voice in our heads. That voice can often be critical and get in the way of our happiness and success. Try to count the times you engage in negative self-talk each day. It may surprise you how often you criticize yourself. If you can learn to recognize this Debbie Downer of an inner voice and replace it with encouraging statements, your attitude will start to change. Try talking to yourself with compassion. For example, instead of telling yourself you’re not good enough, remind yourself you are worthy of love and attention, or it’s okay to make mistakes—we all do!

3. Your Gratitude

If you can practice being grateful on a daily basis, your happiness and productivity will increase. Cultivating gratitude trains us to focus on hope, to remain inspired, and to be optimistic, lending us the courage and resilience to persevere in the face of setbacks (on top of giving us a mood boost that keeps us coasting).

4. Your Mental and Physical Fitness

I don’t know about you, but I come up with my best ideas while I’m on the elliptical. Exercising is a chance to just listen to my music and think about nothing. It’s glorious. You don’t have to go to the gym, but we all ought to take 20 minutes out of our days to get up and move. Motion helps free your mind and body to better tap into your creative potential. Walking has literally been found to increased creativity.

5. Your Sleep – Sleep is critical.

In order to hack sleep, you have to set a routine. I’m asleep by 9 p.m. and I wake up to watch the sun rise. Watching the sun rise is beautiful, and it’s a net positive that I’m grateful for. If your brain can’t calm down while you’re trying to fall asleep, tell yourself, “I’m proud of the work I accomplished today, I’m going to let my brain and body rest now.”

Strength and courage,
Wade

The 12 Days Of Real Estate Christmas 2019

Wade Webb on December 4, 2019

On the first day of real estate my true love gave to me… Spend some focused time on your real estate database prior to 2019. If you don’t have a database then assemble one. Input names from your phone, emails, social media and client files. Take the time to build a monthly database touch system for 2020 making specific activities each month to add value and deepen your relationships with your database. Treat your clients like they are first class passengers on your own airline and not like their sitting in the back of your plane tossing them a bag of peanuts and charging them for luggage. The “give to get” activity is the best way to increase repeat and referral business in 2020.
On the Second Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Create an online lead generation system. These landing pages capture a seller who is curious what their current property value is or a buyer who wants to be notified of hot new listings and beat other buyers to them. Check out Prime Seller Leads, Bold leads, Zillow or Agentlocator real estate leads for this. A nice steady stream of buyer and seller leads from a good landing page keeps you from those peaks and valleys in your business. This is a great way to create more buyer and seller leads all year long while you are busy serving your active buyer and sellers and when you don’t have the time to prospect.
On the Third Day of real estate my true love gave to me… 3 – 6 seperate twenty minute sessions daily prospecting and lead generation. Who doesn’t have 20 minutes? High-volume agents don’t just service existing business and then start lead generating once they have closed the majority of their transactions. Instead, they block time (usually in the morning so it gets done) to do something each business day that gets them closer to earning a new client. In a nutshell, there are two ways to be successful in real estate: By Default: live in the same area for years where everyone knows you and eventually sends you business; or By Design: time-block a relatively small portion of each business day to proactively generate for new leads.
On the Fourth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Listings is the name of the game. The power of the spin is where a listing can generate up to 15 other pieces of business, if done right! If a real estate agent is working more than 65 hours a week and not closing more than 45 transactions annually, the agent either has a time management problem and/or is working with far more buyers than sellers. You can handle four times as many listing sides than buyer sides at the same time. So, top producing real estate agents always focus their lead generation activities on the listing side. Top listing sources are your sphere (complimentary equity analysis unsolicited every year), open house, FSBO, expired or door knock looking for a bona fide buyer.
On the Fifth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Face to Face and belly to belly activities like coffee, lunch, door knock, open house, kiosk, floor duty, networking, volunteering and a “pop by” are all great. We know conversion is higher when you are face to face and the prospect can tell if they like or trust you quickly and want to do business with you. Although many agents are reluctant to reach out to people. This is a full contact sport.
On the Sixth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… An Agent to Agent referral system with other agents working the areas where the people and business is coming from to buy real estate in your market. Contact them once a month and stay top of mind and be that referral agent source of choice in your market area. Share tips and ideas with other agents to keep top of mind and make them feel like they want to refer you their clients moving to your area. This is a lucrative business opportunity if done consistently.
On the Seventh Day of real estate my true love gave to me… The power of words. Scripts and dialogs are important. Successful real estate agents understand whether they use someone else’s scripts, dialogs or their own, they’ll eventually start saying the same things they know will work. Using tested real estate scripts created by others simply eliminates the trial and error process and enables agents to start seeing desired results more quickly. Sound like your planned and engage and attract the clients to want to work with you with your powerful words of persuasion.
On the Eighth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Have powerful sales presentations and visuals. Pre seller and buyer packages. Don’t tell them but show and sell them. Have a visually powerful presentation for listings, buyers and pricing. Don’t just wing it and leave things to chance but engage people to want to do business with you, your company and NOW! Talk alone is cheap. The most powerful visual sales tool is a pad and pen and being able to show prospects and tell them has greater impact than words alone. Remember some of us are visual and some of us are auditory but we don’t know which one they are.
On the Ninth Day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Know your “why”, purpose and vision. My goal that drives me every day is to impact and improve people’s lives personally and professionally every day. Real estate is the vehicle that makes this happen. We all need to be part of something bigger than ourselves. If your why is big enough then the how takes care of itself!! I love having a vision board with images of the things that drive me, move me, I want and need to experience each and every year. Never underestimate the power of a vision, purpose or why! Create that vision board and place it on your screen saver.
On the Tenth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Be a servant and focus on helping others get what they want and you in turn get what you want. Listen for the need and be aware of others fears, challenges and offer to help. So as to not “bother” the general public when prospecting for new business, top real estate agents always tie the reason they’re contacting people in with providing some type of value at the same time. Always come from a mindset of contribution. Helping you is what we do. Listen for the need. Take care of people and the cash takes care of itself.
On the Eleventh Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Be a lean mean appointment setting machine. The money in sales is in the conversion to the appointments. No appointments then no presentations. No presentations means no contracts or agreements. The lead generation is great but not having the skill to convert to the face to face appointment is a real estate killer. Know what you have and what you can offer for them and engage them to want to sit down and meet with you. What is your value proposition for a buyer and seller? Why you? Why now?
On the Twelfth Day of real estate my true love gave to me… Leverage by systemization and delegation. When real estate agents consistently do not have time to prospect for new business because they are too busy servicing their existing business it’s time to hire someone to help out. The first hire should be an administrative assistant, not a buyer’s agent. Administrative assistants help agents make more money by freeing up time for agents to perform more important revenue-generating activities. 3D test everything in 2020. “Do I do it? Do I delegate it? Do I just dump it?”

I trust your holiday season is full of love, happiness and joy.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Realtors© – This Will Make You Rich

Wade Webb on October 16, 2019

I’m nervous posting this.

This message is so important, I worry my fumbling writing efforts won’t do it justice. You see, I want you to be rich. Ouch!….sounds like get-rich-quick hyperbole, right? ….let me explain.

I want you to feel wealthy – free to make decisions you need and want to make. And I want you to be free of the dark blanket of worry that I see burdens so many and drags them into playing it small. Just to be clear: this isn’t about possessions or cash in your wallet—it’s about the experience of abundance.

For most of us (myself included) we grew up with a poverty mindset – there’s only so much to go around, so be careful not to lose. Oh, we might talk a big talk about income, wealth, savings and growth. That’s all great. But a poverty mindset isn’t obvious—like software. It’s there, running your programming, twisting each decision, clouding your thinking and you assume it’s the way it is – as if it’s permanent.

When I was a kid, clothes were handed down, we bought old cars (“You know you lose a quarter of a new car’s value as soon as you drive it off the lot!”) and a restaurant dinner was what we saw other people do. We weren’t poor, but we certainly weren’t learning about abundance, or what it feels like to be rich. In a binary sort of way, I used to think being rich was only about bank accounts and how many days you can call “vacation.” It’s not that simple. “A person’s relationship with money,” says behavioral economist Sarah Newcomb, “is almost never about the numbers. It is about the stories we tell ourselves because of those numbers.” To tackle those stories we need to understand there is enough to go around.

It’s easy to compare ourselves to people who are more successful: taller, richer or have better abs. Get into almost any group and somebody has something or is doing something better than you. The real harm is when we somehow believe we don’t deserve better, as if what we want is in limited supply. This scarcity thinking can even lead to being “…resistant to taking care of ourselves as fully as we can.” says clinical psychologist Suzanne Lachmann. So we don’t attempt to save, get in shape, eat better, or invest in education. After all, if you don’t deserve it, what’s the point?

The truth is you do deserve it and there is enough to go around. There’s enough money, opportunities, business, deals, triple Venti half-sweet non-fat caramel Macchiato’s and clients. And there’s certainly enough for you. If I was to make of list of lessons that changed the course of my life, this would be first on the list: you can change your programming. A bit at a time, you can trim away the edges of years of programming to install the version you want for the next 5, 10 or 50 years. I started with 3 rituals. Call them habits, mantras, observations, or – Oh, I know – upgrades. Practicing these rituals won’t miraculously pay off your credit card debt, give you six-pack or get you a raise. You won’t be taller, smarter, or more attractive either (sorry.) But, you will be doing something 90% of people never think of doing: choosing how to live. Here they are – 3 deceptively simple rituals that could quite simply change your life and make you rich.

RITUAL #1: Notice abundance. Walk in nature, appreciate people who have something you want (don’t dismiss or envy them) and reward yourself (like with a special cup of coffee, a book you’ve been wanting to read, or an overdue yoga class). Your goal is to become comfortable with having wealth in your life. You may be living with a debilitating disorder – it’s call the “psychology of scarcity” (Daniel Kahneman)—the belief there isn’t enough to go around. This can have short-term impacts, like relying on usury lending rates at payday lender outlets (there are now more of these outlets in the United States than McDonald’s and Starbucks outlets, combined). It can also impact your decisions, by playing it safe or not asking for what you want. Again, I’m not fixating on money – this is about abundance in nature, having enough to eat and being able to walk without fear in your neighborhood. This is the growth mindset coined by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck that can lead to better decisions and even a longer life. The only difference between people who have more of what you want and you comes down to what you focus on. Abundance is all around you. The only difference between people who have more of what you want and you comes down to what you focus on. Abundance is all around you.

RITUAL #2: Take 2 minutes at the end of every day for gratitude. As simple, hackneyed, and cliché as it might seem, there is science to back-up the practice of gratitude. In one experiment, writing letters (even if you don’t send them) or phoning to express gratitude to someone influential in your life resulted in a measured happiness increasing by as much as 400%. And when you express gratitude (even just thinking how grateful you are) has lasting effects on your brain and wellbeing that can be measured days and weeks later. In one series of studies, using fMRI scans, researchers found that expressing gratitude (thinking, writing, or calling the person) showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with learning and decision making. “Simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on the brain.” reported researchers Joel Wong and Joshua Brown, “While not conclusive, this finding suggests that practicing gratitude may help train the brain to be more sensitive to the experience of gratitude down the line, and this could contribute to improved mental health over time.”

RITUAL #3: Ask for what you want. The more you ask, the easier it becomes. Go for simple asks, like to go ahead in a line because you’re in a hurry, or have interest fees charges waived from a missed a credit card payment (which I just did this week!) When you ask for what you want, resistance lets go of the steering wheel and opportunity can move into the driver’s seat of life. My experience has been that when I speak up and ask for what I want more often than not I get what I need. As Mick and the boys put it, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you’ll get what you need.”

On more than one occasion, my client hasn’t had the budget to hire me at my fee. I could thank them and walk away. But, if I want the opportunity I need to ask for want I want. When asked if instead of paying my speaking fee they would buy a copy of my book for all their delegates (close to the equivalent of paying my fee) they wrote a cheque. If we are going to do good on this planet we need to know we can make a difference. Call it power, abundance, karma or confidence…I want you to be rich. “If you really believe abundance is available to all,” says Michelle Rose Gilman, founder of Fusion Academy middle schools, “you’ll end up attracting your own abundance.”

Strength and courage,
Wade

Realtor’s Secrets To Being Consistent

Wade Webb on October 2, 2019

One of the most common challenges for real estate agents I coach is their ability to be consistent. Most are masters of being consistently inconsistent and just desire to find that even flow. Consistency is a great characteristic to build and implement in your life. The key to consistency is setting and achieving specific goals. Start by determining how you want to be more consistent in your life, and aim for these small goals. Over time, as you become more consistent, keep yourself motivated and accountable. This may require some change in thinking so you stay optimistic and productive throughout the process. Create specific and realistic goals. It’s hard to be consistent if you don’t have a strong idea of what you need to do. When starting your new path, create easy, simple goals with specific, measurable results.

1. Start by defining what consistency means to you. Do you need to be consistent about your exercise habits? Are you aiming for a higher quality of work? Do you want to be more available and reliable in your relationships? Once you’ve identified your end goal, come up with smaller steps to reach it. For example, if you want to become more physically fit, you might set the goal to exercise for 5 days out of the week or to sign up for a class. Be specific. Instead of saying “I’m going to consistently appreciate my significant other,” you might say “I’m going to thank my significant other when they wash the dishes, make dinner, or help out around the house.”

2. Create a schedule for yourself. It can be easy to pile on tasks and promises, but a calendar, planner, or schedule will keep you on track. A schedule will help you plan your day so you get everything done on time. It will also help you understand what commitments you do and do not have time for. Use a paper planner or a desk calendar. Alternatively, download a scheduling app on your phone, like Google Calendar or Outlook. Block off realistic amounts of time for each task. If you’re uncertain how long a task will take, give yourself extra time to complete it. For larger goals, like writing a book or losing weight, set small, daily tasks you can do to work towards this goal. For example, you might set a daily word count to achieve or plan specific meals to eat each day. Don’t forget to plan in breaks as well! Don’t schedule anything else for that day or time.

3. Place reminders around your home, workspace, and belongings. Sometimes, it is easy to forget our new goals, habits, commitments, or promises, especially when we make them to ourselves. To remind yourself throughout the day, put messages to yourself in visible areas. Write down your goals on post-it notes and place them on your mirror, computer, refrigerator, car dashboard, and planner. Slip a piece of paper with your goals into your wallet, desk drawer, or purse. If you are trying implement a daily practice, put a reminder on your phone. Set an alarm or use a reminder app to alert you when you need to do it.

4. Make promises only if you can keep them. Consistency often involves making commitments and keeping them. It is easy to get overwhelmed, however, if you make too many promises. If you think a request may be difficult to do, say no. For example, if you tell your significant other you’re going to handle half of the chores, make sure you have time after work to actually do them. In some cases, you may be able to negotiate a promise you will be able to keep. For example, if someone asks you to help them move, you can say, “Well, I can’t make it before 3 PM, but I could swing by after. Does that work?” This includes making promises to yourself. If you know it is unrealistic for you to write 10 pages a day for your new novel, promise yourself you’ll just write at least a little bit each day.

5. Reward yourself when you get something done. If you do complete your goals, give yourself a reward. Even small goals deserve small rewards to help keep you motivated throughout the process. For example, if you’ve managed to complete your work by 5 pm every day for a week, take an evening off. Go see a movie or treat yourself to a special dinner. If you’re training for a marathon and you’ve managed to hit your daily exercise goals, sign up for a 5k to give you a sense of your success. If you’ve managed to improve your relationships by being more consistent, your friendships may be the reward. If you’re proud of yourself, take your friends out or host a dinner.

So there you have it. Some powerful ways to ensure a consistent personal and professional life. I challenge you to take these ideas and implement and execute on them and let me know how your next month or two plays out for you. To your success.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Secrets To Pursuing Your Passion

Wade Webb on September 18, 2019

It can be difficult to find your way when you have a million interests tugging at your soul. They all seem like waiting opportunities, but which one is the right path for you? Singling out just one passion can seem like you are giving up other key interests, leaving you feeling unclear about whether you’re picking the best possible option of all the ones available, or going for something that might work but wouldn’t be as fulfilling as it could be. So how do you make a decision whether this is a passion of yours worth pursuing? Here are a few thoughts that I hope will help you truly find your passion. I know that my wife always says I wish I was a real estate deal or a NHL hockey player because you live for them both!

1. Focus on what keeps coming back. – Take notice of the interest that keeps coming back most often. For instance, if you’re really interested in painting and playing the guitar, but you find yourself reaching for the paintbrush more often, that might be a sign it’s your true calling.

2. Jump in. – The only true way to know what passion you should pursue is to try them all. Pick one and go for it. If you end up not enjoying it, move on to the next. Or, if you find one you like, then do the others as a side hustle or hobby. In today’s world, there are plenty of opportunities to dabble in multiple activities.

3. Try month-long experiments. – There is no need to find your “one true calling” if you enjoy learning about multiple topics. But if you really want to explore your passions, schedule a month of deep focus on one topic. Meet with people in the industry or role. Read every relevant newsletter and book. Wake up early and “work” on the topic. After 20 or 30 days of intense study, give yourself permission to double down or drop it.

4. Stay patient. – Passion isn’t something we can just learn one day. When someone is passionate about something, it happens naturally. If you’re not passionate about any of your interests, then you should consider just relaxing and learning more about yourself over time while discovering new interests. Let passion find you.

5. Ask others. – Ask others in your circle to see what they think you are best at and what enthrals you most. What do they consider your biggest strengths? Which interest causes your eyes to light up when you talk to them about it? This feedback is valuable when you are not sure yourself.

6. Do nothing. – If you’re unsure of your true calling, there’s one surefire way to find it: Take some time to do absolutely nothing—no work, no hobbies, just complete aimless freedom. Whatever activities or interests seem the most appealing to you in this period of time are probably things you’re passionate about, and it would be smart for you to pursue that path in your professional and/or personal life.

7. Stay agile. – If you have not yet discovered your particular niche, then focus your career on a wide range of interests. By exploring multiple interests, you will gain more experience and could possibly find your calling during the process. If not, at least you will have a wide range of experiences and be better positioned to remain agile until you find your true passion.

8. Do your research. – If you have many interests but not a clear passion, maybe it’s time to dive a little deeper. Take your time to research and experience the full range of your interests. If at any point you think to yourself, I’d rather not do this, then it’s probably not your calling. But if you’re finding the information fascinating and interesting, then focus on that and see how passionate you really feel.

9. Look elsewhere. – Sometimes your general interests are simply not meant to be your passion. If you’re not devoted enough to invest full time in one of your interests, perhaps it’s time you start researching other topics and niches in order to find something you are truly passionate about. Some people spend their entire lives looking for something that inspires passion—don’t give up.

I hope these ideas will help guide you to your passions this week and you find what it is that gives you joy, energy, thrill and sense of being or purpose which we all desire to have and feel so much. To your success….

Strength and courage,
Wade

Secrets To Keeping Yourself Encouraged

Wade Webb on July 10, 2019

Here is a familiar scenario for all of us: You have an exciting goal in mind for your real estate business, you’ve done your homework, you think you’re amply prepared… and things just don’t work out. You’ve probably had times when you thought you were doing what you were supposed to do, but you were misinformed. You thought you had it all laid out, and it just didn’t work. You burned the midnight oil day after day, and it didn’t help. You couldn’t seem to change the end result. These are times when you have to be your own best cheerleader. There are two ways to keep yourself encouraged.

1. Take responsibility for the missed opportunity or the misrepresentation.

Learn from the fact that though you made the best presentation possible, your client wanted it a different way. Be prepared for the letdowns that happen every so often. Know this lost opportunity just sets you up to take advantage of the next one. Realize you can make the necessary alterations next time. Make the changes that will make the difference. Study your mistakes, and learn from them. Instead of dwelling on your mistakes, simply acknowledge them. Remind yourself you’re smarter than your bank account leads you to believe.

2. Remind yourself you’re bound to get better.

Don’t get down on yourself. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s the next opportunity that matters, not the last one. The last one matters only in that you must learn from it, but the next one gives you the opportunity to show you have learned from your mistakes. You can do it better next time. You just have to practice. Keep trying until you’ve got it down pat. If you’ve figured out what went wrong last time, then you know how to make it right next time. If you’ve figured out what it was in your presentation that didn’t work, don’t say those same words next time. If you’ve figured out the reason you didn’t close the deal this time was because you didn’t have all the facts and figures in place, have all the facts and figures in place next time. Don’t beat yourself up for messing up. Pat yourself on the back for figuring it out.

When you miss an opportunity, are unprepared for an opportunity or suffer a setback while realizing your goals, you need to encourage yourself by immediately getting back into line. You need to encourage yourself. You need to pump yourself up. You need to be your own cheerleader. Why? Because you can’t wait and hope someone else will come along and cheer you up. You have to rely on yourself. You have to have faith in yourself and your ability to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

You’ll have to encourage yourself with future successes. When you miss an opportunity, are unprepared for an opportunity or suffer a setback while realizing your goals, you need to encourage yourself by immediately getting back into line. There’s an old cowboy saying that goes, “Fall off a horse seven times, and you’re a real cowboy.” If you fall off a horse, get right back on. If you fall off track, get right back on. If you fall away from your disciplines, get right back to them. If you fall out of habit, get right back into it. It might be hard. It might be a bit frightening. But get back on the horse. Keep your resolve alive, active and well. Cheer yourself on to victory.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Less Means More in Your Real Estate Biz

Wade Webb on February 13, 2019

Who hasn’t been discouraged by lack of follow-through or falling short of a desired goal or milestone? There are probably some good, objective reasons why this occurred; one that may go undetected, though, is the surplus of options that we encounter. Which might sound strange, for it seems at first glance that options are what allows us to choose well, right? But research has shown that too many choices can lead to discouragement, frustration and ultimately failure. So, fewer choices = better results. What we label a “lack of willpower” could in fact be too many choices.

Take the famous jam experiment—“When Choice Is Demotivating”—which revealed that when too many choices of jams (24-30) were presented, sales plummeted, and when the choices were limited to six, sales increased. This goes against the premise that is readily promoted in our modern information society. We talk about options as though they are the key to success and satisfaction. It’s a false assumption. We need information like we need food, but too much food leads to obesity. It’s time to ban info overload: the relentless feast of internet information.

We want more choices because information is addictive. Dopamine causes you to want, desire, seek out and search. Dopamine makes you curious about ideas and fuels your search for more information. It’s nice to have options. Having a few options is better than having none. But too many choices can cripple our ability to succeed. The researchers call it “choice overload.” Reducing our choices can be beneficial.

Here are four ways subtracting our choices can become a plus:

Fewer choices delivers more satisfaction.

Variety is the spice of life, but only to an extent. Too much variety can sour life. Making choices with our values in mind helps point out where the spice of life ends and the sourness begins. When “limiting our options” is guided by what is important to us, our options bring personal satisfaction. These become value-based options instead of a smorgasbord of choices.

Fewer choices creates energy.

Extensive choices can have demotivating consequences. When the options are fewer, we are more energized to participate. This is true whether we are shopping, joining, investing or goal setting. The never-ending choices do more immobilizing than motivating. In one study, students were offered an extra credit paper for their class. They were instructed to choose from a list of topics. Some had a list of six, and some had a list of 30. The fewer options consistently produced a higher completion rate, as well as a higher quality paper. The energy level both to participate and produce was increased.

Fewer choices decrease second-guessing.

Having unlimited options can lead to questioning our choices. In our “option-rich” environment, we can find ourselves wondering about the choices left on the table. In another experiment, students were given the choice of chocolates. Two groups were again tested—one with six choices and one with 30. Both groups were happy with the multiplicity of choices. But in the end, the group with more choices displayed a higher level of regret for not having made an alternate choice.

Fewer choices deepen learning.

In today’s world, the amount of information is endless. Too many things to learn means we don’t learn anything well. Deciding on what we want to master, and then taking it deep, is more empowering than dabbling in endless subjects and ideas just a click away—ricocheting from one thought to the next. It’s hard to go deep in the fast lane. What is needed for personal mastery is not more information, but interpretation—not more content, but context. Deciding what we will learn and filtering out the rest creates comprehension and clarity. A culture always setting itself up for the “next new thing” can create chronic dissatisfaction.

Choices are not intrinsically bad. It’s the complexity that too many can create that causes us to quit—or not start. Streamlining our choices reduces the complexity that hampers good outcomes. It’s an irony. Subtraction can become a plus. Like any art, it improves with practice.

Strength and courage,
Wade

The Oz Principle & Living Above The Line

Wade Webb on November 8, 2017

I love reading the comments on my blog articles or listening to agents responses in coaching sessions. You know I do. But every once in a while, I’ll see or hear a comment and I can’t help but shake my head. “Thanks Wade, but what if I’m a new agent?” Or “Great info but how do I use this if I live in ________?” Or “That’s not the way that we do it around here.” I wonder if these people are truly seeking solutions, or… Are they looking for excuses? “Well Wade, I’m new, this doesn’t really apply to me.” Yes it does!
“Well Wade, my market’s different. I’m not sure that would work here.” Yes it will! Use your ingenuity!

One of my favorite books, The Oz Principle by Paul J Kelly talks about living above the line and living below the line. The Top 20% of real estate agents wake up every day and choose to live above the line. They take 100% responsibility for themselves, they value and love themselves, they choose and own their choices and seize the opportunities they are given. The other 80% of agents live below the line and deny anything they do wrong, they blame others, create and make problems even bigger than they are and respond dramatically to everything they come face to face with. I always ask myself and my kids when we are tested, are we living above the line? Or living below the line today?

You’re in the Big Leagues Now.

News flash #1: There are no “minor leagues” in real estate. You’re in the big leagues now. If you’re new, that just means you have to work much harder and maintain your focus that much stronger. You have a lot of legwork ahead of you — systems to put in place, your business plan to create, marketing plans to develop, sales skills to refine, training to attend, books to read, etc.

News flash #2: Your market isn’t that different from everyone else’s market. Even if your market has some unique characteristics, you can always adapt what you’ve learned or what others are doing to fit your market and/or clientele. But whatever you do, you cannot allow yourself to make excuses for underperforming. Don’t Regret Your Inactivity If you allow yourself to make excuses, you’re only setting yourself up for mediocrity. Instead, commit yourself to training, learning, doing. Five years from now, you’re going to look back on the next two years of your life and say one of two things: “Wow, I really kicked ass and gave my business the jump start it needed.” Or “Ughhh! I wish I’d done more to put myself in position to succeed in this business.” Doing Something Is Always Better Than Nothing. Agents who succeed are the types who put their thinking caps on and are willing to adapt. They hear about a successful strategy and adjust it to fit their market, their business model, their level of experience in the industry. Nobody ever said you have to copy a strategy in its entirety. Pick and choose what works best for you. The point is to DO SOMETHING. The next time you catch yourself coming up with a reason why an idea won’t work, flip the script and instead focus on how you can adapt it to make it work best for you.

Don’t make excuses. Find solutions. Live above the line!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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