21 TRUTHS FOR NEW AGENTS – DAY 6
I took Easter Sunday off. My wife and I ‘attended’ Easter Services at 12Stone Church in Lawrenceville, GA online and enjoyed it but not as much as we would have in person. I’m anxious to see my friends and family, face to face again and to hug their necks. I’m sure you are all feeling the isolation too.
I have an advantage over some since I am pretty far down the Introvert scale but I still miss people and meaningful conversations. Being an introvert doesn’t mean I don’t want to talk to people. It means I don’t want to talk to people about the weather.
Introverts make great sales people because we listen better, focus on others better and enjoy meaningful conversations. One tip, if you think you might be a bit introverted, I suggest reading Susan Cain’s book Quiet. It certainly opened my eyes to how I process socially and interact with people. Check it out. I also found her TED talk if you want to check it out.
We’re almost done with the 21 truths I wanted to share. Here is the next installment.
Truth No. 17 – Leverage things you hate to do. I mean things like yard work and housework. It’s the first thing we hired out when I went into business for myself. It’s true those things cost money and honestly, if truly enjoy cutting your grass, then don’t give that up but for me, it was salvation from the constant pressure to keep the yard up.
It costs me $140 a month for someone to cut, edge and blow clean the yard, it saves me about 3 hours a week and that works out to less than $11 per hour. Freedom to sit on my back porch and enjoy a freshly cut lawn, to think and focus on my work is worth the cost. If you can’t make more than $11 an hour in your business then I’d say you are doing it wrong.
Truth No. 18 – Hire an assistant or transaction coordinator as soon as possible. This is the second place for leverage. As a real estate agent, doing paperwork is likely not your strength. I remember hiring an assistant and it turned out she could not attend a mastermind of assistants in my office so I asked if I could come and sit quietly and listen. They let me join them.
I heard them focus on what they do best but the common ‘complaint’ about their agents was the lack of a checklist. They all wanted a checklist for the things the agent wanted them to do. I asked if I could share a perspective and they said I could.
I said ‘if we could do a checklist, we wouldn’t need you’. Smiles and nods of agreement was the response and we talked about how to they can help create the checklists they wanted. It’s a team effort and you certainly need an ops manual to hire an assistant but there are resources to get that done.
Truth No. 19 – Create an LLC and consider paying taxes as an S-Corp. Here is an area that you need to consult with your attorney and CPA but my company is organized this way. The LLC is the easiest way to maintain a corporate veil and filing as an S-Corp can save you taxes, make deductions easier to document and the tax liability falls to the owners personal taxes so it’s the least expensive way for me. Again, consult your attorney and CPA for details but this is what I did when I first started.
As we approach the end of this series I want to offer something else. I’ve talked about several truths I believe are true and it may have opened up some questions I didn’t cover. I’m happy to email or chat with you so feel free to comment on anything you see here. Call me out if you don’t agree and we’ll have a discussion. I’d love to help you if I can.
That’s enough for today. Check back for the next post tomorrow. We’ll keep going but I want to offer one more thing to you in this ‘interesting’ time.
If you’re struggling and just need to talk to someone, I’m here and I’ll talk with you.
I mean it.
If you want to schedule a 30-minute call you can click on this link. It will take you to a calendar where you can request a 30-minute time block. I’ll accept and we’ll get on zoom to talk face to face.
It’s free and it might just help if you’re stuck. No strings, no pitch, just someone to listen and maybe get you unstuck.
I’m here if you want to reach out.
I hope you will.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
678-616-1578 Direct Line