There was a time when
getting a real estate license was a formal affair where you would go
to licensing school, participate in a classroom setting, took a series
of exams, studied for the difficult state exam.
Looking
back at this from where we are today, facing the toughest financial
crisis since the great depression brought on by selfish, dishonest,
irresponsible real estate agent and loan sharks who sold poisonous
loans to homeowners making sure they did not understand the products
they were buying so they could all receive their huge commissions.
This lead to the mounting and unprecedented record numbers of
foreclosures in California and all around the country.
Not a pretty statistic for California and Florida
states.
For the
, pondering the
question "...is it time to get a 9 to 5 job?" because the business
isn't working the way it is supposed to, we put things in a different
perspective.
Some even consider doing something more creative like getting a coach,
mentor, or guru to beat them over the head with, "do this," "do that,"
"do it this way," "don't do it that way," "buy this special high
intensity training," etc.
I thought Mike
F., Floyd W., Roger B., Joe S., or even Tom H. had strategies to make
this business simple, fun and easy (or even "exciting"). Well, if
that is the case, what happened? Where have all the gurus and their
instantaneous success strategies gone? Obviously, it isn't working
if...
- Agents are
leaving the business
- Licensees are
resorting to work two jobs just to make ends meet
- Dreamers keep
thinking this is just a phase and the sun will come out tomorrow
(without doing much to change anything)
- Folks are
looking for an economic cushion while they figure out a better way
to do this business, and
- Some are
venturing into enterprises such as, multi-level marketing
Where have all the
gurus gone? What happened to the promises of "million dollar"
production?
Someone out there is making money on the downside -- it is a given. I
just finished re-reading a book by Robert G. Hagstrom, Jr. ("The
Warren Buffett Way") on, whom else, Warren Buffet, you know, the
billionaire investment "Sage of Omaha".
Well, he says
that the shrewd investor invests in the down cycle, and avoids
economic indicators, forecasters, so-called experts, analysts, and the
likes. Hmm, doesn't that sound like he's saying, he avoids the gurus?
So what makes
him so successful (and rich, the richest man on the planet by some
accounts)? How does he do it? For starters, he isn't selling real
estate! Moreover, he's buying. But what exactly does he buy?
In addition to
real estate, which he buys indirectly (when he buys majority stakes --
stocks -- of companies, e.g., Washington Post, Coca Cola, Time-Warner,
Sees Candies, etc.), he's buying IT -- the company, the people, the
brand, the real estate, etc.
Warren Buffett
buys what he, himself, through careful and methodical analysis,
determines is the appreciable and potential value of under valued,
under performing companies (in spite of the analysts advice to the
contrary), and he succeeds because of this.
Now if we are
to take this as a basis for someone whose advice we might want to
follow, what lessons can we extract from this advice? Might we
consider Warren Buffett a good guru to follow in our real estate
endeavors? Let's see.
 | Is he rich? Yes.
|
| Does he know how
to make money? Yes. |
| Is he happy? (By
his own account), Yes. |
| Does he know
what he's doing? Yes. |
And believe it or
not, in spite of his enormous success he admits to making mistakes
along the way. Imagine that!
Well-meaning as
many of the real estate gurus may appear to be, too many of them are
only in it for the money! There's nothing wrong with that. Who of us
wouldn't want to have a successful business that thrives on someone
buying what we're selling (even if what we're selling is "common
sense")? Imagine if you could package (and sell) this:
| Teaching sales
scripts |
| Reminding people
to practice drill and rehearse sales strategies
|
| Extolling the
benefits of knocking on doors daily
|
| Detailing how to
create a simplistic business plan
|
| Showing how
others create marketing pieces to copy from
|
| Reminding people
to specialize in a given market
|
| Promoting the
work by referral principle |
| Selling sales
tapes/CDs., etc. |
Sound familiar?
How many of us haven't bought that bit of that common sense? I know I
have participated in dozens of such nonsensical presentations by
well-intentioned presenters who might have sold something at some time
but now devote their livelihood to selling Realtors “common sense”.
So what, if
anything can we take from this? Simply put, yes, it is important to
learn from someone who knows more than we do. However, it isn't
necessary to pay $2,000 or more (per event), as a couple of these
gurus charge only to get common sense or some pseudo "coaching"
designed to get you thinking or working effectively.
If you're
smart, and obviously you have to be in order to have gotten your
license, or explore the possibilities, then you're also smart enough
to know how to find useful information through the many forums
available (including Broker Agent Social). Heck, if you're
even applying a little common sense, you'll save some money and pick
up training materials or books or tapes or whatever from your public
library or from the REALTORS resources -- FREE!
I for one am
not downplaying the importance of education or training. However, I
don't believe that many trainer's good intentions are worth as much as
some of them want to charge, and believe me, some of them know how
much the top agents make (millions?) and therefore figure, I want a
little of that too!
Wherever the gurus are, God Bless them. For the rest of us, let's get
practical -- we're all business people, let's make our business work
with an effective plan, with a consistent work ethic, with a positive
approach, with a good crew, and with the end in mind.
Along the way,
if we do want to visit a guru, let's go to the library and check out
their book first before making an investment.
