Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Clichés, Full House, and me

This is going to be a post about business. And, you know, I've read enough motivational sales stuff to know how difficult it is to write on this topic without falling into tired old clichés.

But no clichés for me--nope, I'm going to think outside the box. Hopefully I'll succeed, but if not--well, I always reach for the moon, because even if I miss, I'll land among stars. Failure is not in my vocabulary. Double the "c", double the "s", and you'll always have "success."

Okay, that last one wasn't a cliche, it was a line from the old sitcom Full House. And now that I've lost all your respect by actually quoting a line from that cheesiest of TV shows, let's talk about business.

I've had my real estate license for almost seven years. For the first few years, I was a full-time agent. I worked hard, and I loved it. Since Chickie was born, I've kept my license active and have occasionally represented clients. I truly love self employment and the freedom that comes with it.

A couple of years ago, a new idea entered my mind, and I presented it to my broker. I suggested that I'd like to help him recruit agents into the company. Then I'd like to mentor them. He wanted to grow the company; I wanted a way to help new agents without the time-consuming responsibilities of owning my own brokerage. I'd say it was a win-win idea, if that wasn't a cliché. We worked out a plan and a compensation structure.

Yesterday morning I had my first mentoring appointment with someone who is intelligent, driven, and excited to be entering the real estate industry. And he's not the only one who's excited--I'm psyched to be starting my first real estate mentoring relationship.

But wait--two paragraphs back, I started with "a couple of years ago," and I'm just now finding success. Why did it take so long?

Well, getting that first new agent was hard. We didn't have immediate success; then I took off a year or so to have Zoodle and focus on him. During that time I wrote an agent handbook, hoping some day I'd use it. Finally we started the recruiting effort again, and we communicated with a lot of people before one of them ended up being a good fit. Hopefully it won't be too long before we find a few more agents for me to mentor when they join our company.

Clichés aside, what have I learned from this? Sometimes when you try something new it doesn't just "click" immediately. It takes time, and failure, and frustration. But if it's a good, doable idea, it's worth it to press on. (Doable isn't always the same as easy.)

I sure am glad that, in the words of a brilliant television theme song, "...a little voice inside you whispers, 'Kid, don't sell your dreams so soon!" I guess I really didn't ever need any sales training--Full House taught me all I needed to know about business, and about life. ("You got it, dude!"*)

*Bonus points if you know what character loved to say "You got it, dude!" Cheating allowed.

16 comments:

Penelope said...

Welcome to SITS! I too am keeping up my license while taking a break from work. I like your new ideas (of mentoring, and going a different way with your training).

~Penelope

Kara said...

That was Michelle, right? I can picture a teeny-tiny Mary-Kate-or-Ashley saying "You got it, dude!" :-)

Shannon said...

I am thinking about a change in careers and going to real estate. I live in Indiana. Do you know what I would need to do to get started? You can email me at shannon.mcclure@fwcs.k12.in.us if you don't mind :o) Thanks!

Eternal Lizdom said...

Cut. It. Out!

caryn said...

"Have mercy" was a classic quote from Jesse but the silly one I always remember is from Joey "That's not a big problem. A big problem is like. well.if your butt fell off." Oh gosh why do I remember these!

OK to your post, I don't want to say anything cliche so I'll just say good luck with everything!

Call Me Cate said...

I think this is great. I love it when a plan comes together! (Was that Full House or A-Team?)

Mostly, I love the idea of being able to work part time after having children, setting your own terms that work for you and your family. I'm hoping to create a similar situation of some sort for myself maybe.

Kathleen said...

What a great idea. And kudos to you for sticking to it.

Jen said...

"You're in BIG trouble, mister!"
Love Michelle!

Guttermouth said...

LOL Full House quotes aside... a good post, and I think you did a fabulous job of thinking outside the box!

Anonymous said...

Oh, that was fun walk down memory lane with the Full House quotes!

This post was great motivation for me as I need to get myself in gear in regards to my own business aspirations.

Also, a very true line "doable is not always the same as easy.'

Welcome to SITS!!

Janell said...

LOL with the Full House quotes. I used to tape them all and watch them over and over (embarrassing to admit now)! My sister and I were always quoting lines from it, so I'm surprised at how few I can think of from the top of my head. I do remember Joey and his woodchuck puppet always asking, "Is that made of ... wood?"

I'm glad you're having some success in your new mentoring job. That's wonderful!

Stickhorsecowgirls said...

Well, I don't know nuthin' 'bout Full House! But I loved the post--a reminder that "if at first you don't succeed..." (Not that I resort to cliches or anything...). C.

Janna said...

If mentoring in real estate doesn't work out. I heard of something called blogger mentoring as well.

My current pursuit for success is my blog, and although I have many milestones to reach I'm thankful for the many lessons I've already learned and people I've gotten to meet.

Fannyfanackapan said...

This was a great post and really made me think. In my current circumstances, I have a chance to take a completely new direction if the right opportunity arises. Or that's what I thought. I have now reworded that in my head to "If I create the right opportunity".

So thanks for the inspiration. Now and again you need someone else to slap you in the brain to get the juices flowing again!

Barga said...

I wrote a post in response to this, check it out here:
http://whalertly.com/wordpress/2009/07/22/like-is-like-a-box-of-chocolates-you-never-know-what-cliche-you-are-going-to-get/

Barga said...

this should be easier to use