What are your limiting beliefs?
I know, I know, this post was supposed to be about having a kick-ass pre-listing package, as mentioned in last week’s post. However, I was listening to a podcast on Bigger Pockets this week, and the guest, Natali Morris, was talking about limiting beliefs, and how to beat them.
As part of an upcoming course I am creating on being a Rock-Star real estate agent, I will be covering mindset. You have heard me spout about the importance of mindset before, and limiting beliefs has a major impact on mindset. Hearing Natali on that podcast really resonated with me and I began thinking about my own limiting beliefs, both past and present. I also began thinking about those beliefs of my colleagues, partners, and agents around the office, whose conversations I hear from time to time. We all have these beliefs.
So I will ask the question again, what are your limiting beliefs?
Where did you learn them from?
You see, you had to have learned them from someone. Whether it is a well-meaning loved one whom is trying to protect you, or some crotchety agent sitting by the coffee machine telling you how bad the market is. You know, the one. He or she is always bitching about how slow it is waiting for the phone to ring while on floor duty. Here’s a tip…try picking up the phone and making an outbound call, the results may surprise you!
But I digress.
I want to share some of my limiting beliefs, both past and present, along with how I overcame them, and how I am overcoming my current ones. By doing so, I hope it will enable you to think about your own fictional boundaries in your head, and how to shatter them as well. Here are my top past and current limiting beliefs for your reading pleasure:
I am a brand new agent, no seller or buyer will take me serious.
Um, hello??!! Yes, I was brand new. Some of you reading this may also be brand new. But you have your license. Hopefully, you have taken some classes in your office, or at other brokerages to learn specific skills and strategies to help your clients, most of whom have never bought or sold before, and if they have, it was years ago, and things have changed! My point is I had to realize that I still had more expertise than the client did, and I had at my disposal hundreds of agents, a mentor, and a productivity coach whom together had sold thousands of homes! What question could a client possibly have that I either did not know the answer to, or more importantly, could not get back to them with the right answer after leveraging my network?
I had an incredible month…I just got lucky.
Maybe.
Actually, probably.
In fact, definitely.
I absolutely got lucky! Want to know the best part? I was able to start getting consistently lucky. Less deals were falling apart on me. More sellers were agreeing to meet with me. I found less buyers that were just kicking tires or whose credit scores were actually in the triple digits. Why? Because I learned to work smart. I learned to lead generate, which gave me more at bats with people. Real estate is a numbers game. The more numbers you have to work with, the luckier you get. The more consistent you are at generating those numbers, the more consistently lucky you get.
I have zero track record as a coach or consultant in real estate. No one will want to let me help them.
This one was one of my most recent, which is why I am referring to it here. I was able to really ramp up my real estate sales business in a few short years. In that time, I have taught a lot of classes in my office, and have participated in teaching classes in offices outside of my market center. You know what I realized? I actually love teaching and helping other agents become my competition! I love helping an agent get to the next level, or even work themselves out of a current funk.
I started to look back on my other entrepreneurial ventures over the past 20 years, and there was a pattern. In every business I was involved in, I always gravitated towards helping others become a better version of themselves in each particular field. I guess I was born to be a teacher, and just never pursued that path because I never liked the idea of getting a weekly paycheck! For me, building a business was always what got my juices flowing. Now I have conversations with agents all the time that tell me how much the information I shared with them has helped them grow their business. You see, this last limiting belief, it was all just crap I put in my own head. Something I learned from someone along the way that said I wouldn’t be good at coaching and consulting unless I was in the business for 20+ years. Then I realized recently that I have grown my business in 3 years more so than most agents have over 20 years! I realized I do bring something to the table. I realized I can help someone else grow their business as well. Most importantly, I realized that the only limits I have, are the ones I either put on myself, or allow others to put on me.
We are living in a time where information is so readily available, mentors are so prevalent, and willing to teach, the only thing stopping us from becoming rock stars in our chosen field, is us.
So my last question to you is, what are you going to do, not tomorrow, not today, but right now, to crush your limiting beliefs?