After my response to the "secret agent" I received another email from her about a week later. Here's what it said:

There are very few blueprints available to real estate agents who want to expand their business through the building of a team.  The people who have built teams have done so predominantly through trial and error.  My desire is to give you the initial steps of that blueprint to success.

I remember it like it was yesterday: my first December in real estate.  I’d been working very hard and my business was finally starting to take off.  I had four closings scheduled for the month, and believe me, I needed the money.  After a lean six months in a new career, we were going to have a normal Christmas again, and I was thrilled.  Don’t get me wrong — I’m not materialistic and my family has cheerfully endured good times and bad, but let’s face it, more is better than less.

The "Empty Office" Syndrome

As a broker/owner or Branch Manager, how many times have you stopped what you are doing and looked around your office lately? Did you get a feeling something like an all night bowling alley manager feels at 3 a.m? "Where is everybody?" you ask.

With the proliferation of full-blown home offices, that is an all-too-common feeling today and it HAS affected agent productivity. Sure there are some agents who are disciplined enough to work from home, but the majority are not; So as managers, what do we do about it?

     During my 20+ years as a business advisor and executive coach, I have mentored thousands of people to higher levels of success, especially in the real estate industry. Near the end of 2007 I started receiving “anonymous” emails from a REALTOR® in southern California (that’s the only personal information she revealed to me) that were both a plea for help and a revealing look into the real estate coaching business. Since the emails I received were anonymous (I really have no idea who the person is who has been sending me these emails) I decided to publish some of the content as a way to advise other real estate professionals as well as provide a means to help real estate coaches learn some important insights about their methodologies.

When I first decided to become a coach, the only experience I had with the coaching industry was from something I had heard almost by accident.

I was doing some spring-cleaning and I came across a box of audio CDs someone in my household had ordered from a life coach a couple years earlier, but no one had ever listened to. I put them on while I was doing my spring-cleaning and the words that entered my ears through the sound waves coming from my portable CD player (this was before iPods) changed my life forever.

First I’d like to commend you for sticking with me through the previous six installments.  We’ve covered a lot of ground, and hopefully you’ve been able to take something of value away from each article.  Now we finally come to the end.  We’ve discussed lots of topics, from technology to advertising.  From theory to practical application.  Now it’s time to help you assemble your own online marketing plan and what specific steps you need to take to put your newly formed strategy into action.  So let’s get started.

When the business gets challenging and things feel out of control – whether through a lack of business or an overflow – it’s easy to lose sight of what you’re pursuing. After all, what good is a goal (or a promise to yourself) without a reward?  And, what good is the endless pursuit of grand goals without little triumphs and celebrations along the way?  It’s like running in an endless loop like a hamster, instead of enjoying the journey.

It’s amazing to watch the world through the eyes of a child.  The exposure we gain is immeasurable.  The evaluation skills we can take and the questioning of everything by the child gives pause to our often routine, busy lives.

     Sounds interesting doesn’t it? As someone who has recommended goal setting for years, I was also stunned when I first heard about the concept that goal setting may be holding you back! After all, I have read all the materials on goal setting (Napoleon Hill, Jack Canfield, Zig Zigler, Anthony Robbins) and I even wrote books on goal setting myself (Affirmations of Wealth,  Your Spiritual Gold Mind). It took a tremendous gut check, brutal honesty and a massive paradigm shift to admit, goal setting is an old technique that just isn’t as effective as it used to be.