Don’t Go It Alone: Why There’s Too Much ‘Self’ in Self-Employed
By Derek Jones, Director of Community for Buffini & Company
I’m going say something extremely profound.
The real estate business is hard.
Brilliant, right? But it’s true. You’re in business for yourself and that is HARD. As a real estate agent, you have no guaranteed income. You run around doing everything you can do to drum up business. You don’t know where to turn for support. And to make matters worse, you start scrolling through social media, and it feels like everyone has it all figured out…except you.
Being in business for yourself is hard.
But you know what makes it even harder? Trying to be in this business BY yourself.
As businesspeople, especially entrepreneurs, it’s critical that we connect with our peers for ideas, support and accountability. Here are three ways getting connected helps you in your business.
You Don’t Have to Reinvent the Wheel
You know one of the best ways to be successful? Find out what other successful agents do and do THAT. One of the key reasons to connect with your peers is so you don’t have to spend so much time figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
A Quick Story
One of our Members took a listing that was much larger and much more expensive than the typical home in her area. She wasn’t quite sure about the best way to market it to get it sold. So what did she do? She went in our Members Facebook group and asked for help and three amazing things happened:
- She got encouragement from her peers.
- She got a bunch of ideas that she could try.
- She realized some of the ideas were things she was already doing.
She got support. She got ideas. She got confidence that she was on the right track. That’s a positive trifecta! Armed with all that support, she was able to press on and get the home sold.
A Place to Share Successes and Challenges
When we’re busy, we tend to put our heads down and keep going. That’s a surefire recipe for burnout. We need to take time to celebrate our wins, especially with others. Not only will your peers gain valuable knowledge from what’s working well for you, the pats on the back you’ll receive create a positive feedback loop that will encourage you to keep going.
It’s equally important to share our challenges. I mentioned earlier that we often feel like everyone has it all figured out but us. When we share where we’re stuck, we’ll realize that others have been there before or are in the same place right now. That lets us know that we are not alone, which can in turn be the key to getting out of a slump.
Exponential Growth
We’re always told that we can do anything we want to do and be anything we want to be. But that’s not exactly true. Not if we try to do it alone.
There are real limits to our capacity. Think about it. Have you ever reached a point in your real estate business when you had more leads than you could handle? What did you do? You probably hired an assistant or started a team. Did you have a client moving out of your market area? You wanted to make sure they’re well taken care of, so you referred them to another agent you trust. You could not serve them by yourself. You needed help.
If we try to go it alone, we limit our level of service, our income and ultimately our growth.
You might be in business FOR yourself, but that doesn’t mean you should be in business BY yourself. Get connected with your peers so you can get much needed support, encouragement, growth and referrals!
Derek Jones is Director of Community for Buffini & Company. Find out more about how getting connected can help grow your business with a free Business Consultation. Book yours today at buffini.com/bc.
