Monday, November 16, 2009

Take advantage of Performance Multipliers.


A coach that I listened to said that if you want to be truly great you must either change the people around you OR change the people around you. I read Talent is Overrated this weekend and the author says that the truly great achievers took advantage of performance multipliers. Most great achievers started as reluctant performers that were coerced to take lessons and practice and initially experienced skills growth and were promoted to better teachers, coaches or classes. This continued until the future superstar realized that if they were going to be able to keep performing at the level of their class they would have to practice more and become better at their sport or instrument. A good piano player in a small town moves to a college with several good piano players and must step up his skills just to keep up. Eventually the piano player becomes truly great. The number one performance multiplier is the people with whom you surround yourself. Anthony Robbins tells us that our lives are a direct reflection of the expectations of our peer group. Who you spend time with is who you become.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I love Real Estate


I love Real Estate. I love my business.
I love it because I can help people.
I love helping people see that they can have a house that they love.
I love helping people establish roots for their family.
I love knowing that I am helping better their future and changing their family tree.
I love to see the smiles on children’s faces when they run through the house and pick out their rooms.
I love driving a family to the nearest schools to show them where their children will attend.
I love to see the smile on the mother’s face when she is imagining serving meals in the dining room.
I love watching the father survey the yard and garage as he imagines all his projects and improvements.
I love to put the deal together and confidently tell the family that they will move into their home soon.
I love seeing homes.
I love helping move up buyers find their dream home.
I love seeing their eyes light up when they know that they are in their dream home.
I love the challenge of negotiating for a great deal.
I love working with agents.
I love working with professional great agents.
I love working with young new agents and contributing to them from my experience.
I love working with tough miserable agents because it helps me appreciate all the good agents.
I love knowing that the contract represents a win-win transaction.
I love seeing new problems and remembering that there are real people with real goals and dreams involved.
I love solving those problems from that perspective.
I love helping people learn to invest in real estate.
I love reviewing cash flow on a multi unit property.
I love seeing the potential in a property and explaining it to my buyers.
I love learning how to do new transactions.
I love learning and teaching.
I love finding great deals with cash flow or potential equity and helping good friends profit from it.
I love learning about all the ways deals can be done.
I love putting together a plan for profit that includes many steps and seeing that plan through.
I love helping people sell their home.
I love setting up showings for motivated sellers.
I love telling people the truth about their homes value.
I love helping people accept reality and moving forward with their lives.
I love telling people the truth about their homes condition and helping them understand that I want to help them.
I love meeting people at a closing table after a job well done.
I love reviewing a contract with a family and helping them come to an agreement that benefits them.
I love talking to potential buyers and helping them through the steps of prequalifying and identifying what is important to them.
I love learning how to help people identify what is truly important to them.
I love delivering a high level of service.
I love knowing that I am a great agent.
I love knowing that my clients are working with a true professional.
I love keeping my promise to keep people informed and helping them understand.
I love helping people and answering questions even if it does not always lead to a transaction.
I love helping a homeowner figure out how to keep his home.
I love solving problems.
I love being a professional and being a resource for my community. I love working with great escrow officers and helping buyers and sellers understand and sign their documents.
I love working with great loan officers and knowing that docs got to the title company early.
I love inspection issues and helping people understand them and resolve them.
I love seeing the commission amount on the HUD’s.
I love easily reviewing HUD’s with my sellers.
I love depositing my check.
I love knowing that I will be at another closing soon.
I love knowing that I will get another check soon.
I love knowing that I can easily live my dreams when I focus on what I love about my business.
I love knowing that I can be happy by truly loving my business.
I love knowing that all of my problems are tiny in comparison to my love for myself, my business and my clients.

I love my business.

Rolando Gill
June 16, 2009

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Greatest Value of Discipline


Here is the greatest value of discipline: self-worth, also known as self-esteem. Many people who are teaching self-esteem these days don't connect it to discipline. But once we sense the least lack of discipline within ourselves, it starts to erode our psyche. One of the greatest temptations is to just ease up a little bit. Instead of doing your best, you allow yourself to do just a little less than your best. Sure enough, you've started in the slightest way to decrease your sense of self-worth. I made a commitment to myself that I would get up everyday at 5:00 am. I did this for a couple of weeks and I felt great, I was able to workout and read and journal. Then I allowed myself to hit the snooze button just once and then I would get up. This went on for about a month. All the time I was justifying that no one else was getting up that early so if I was 9 minutes late it would not matter. Then for the past 2 weeks I have been hitting the snooze bar twice and sometimes three times in the morning. Sure I still was up early and doing my workout but I have felt a degradation in my sense of self worth. I spend more time justifying and convincing myself that I am still working hard.

There is a problem with even a little bit of neglect. Neglect starts an infection. If you don't take care of it, it becomes a disease. And one neglect leads to another. Worst of all, when neglect starts, it diminishes our self-worth.

How can you regain your self-respect? Start with the smallest discipline that corresponds to your own philosophy. I created a morning ritual that has changed my life. I highly recommend it. Make the commitment. "I will discipline myself to achieve my goals so that in the years ahead I can celebrate my successes." Thank you Jim Rohn.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Us versus Them is a great strategy.


Us vs. Them is a great strategy.
I entered an informal contest in our office to see who could get 25 listings first. I am having a great time. As I was researching this subject I read several papers and blogs that fall on both sides of the competition argument. Many say that competition is bad and demoralizes the losers. This is a very Marxist approach to the idea. Others say that competition is good. I believe that capitalism and competition are good things and Adam Smith, the economist, knew what he was talking about. The problem I have with the ‘competition is good’ crowd is that they are all talking about a specific company or software product or specific industry. I was much more interested in learning about why I felt so good about the idea of competing against fellow Realtors and friends in a listing competition. I am really enjoying the competition and I have jumped out to an early lead. However, I am afraid if someone in my office does not step up it will be real easy to lose enthusiasm for this endeavor.

What that says to me is that competing is fun as long as the competitors are evenly matched. As I was thinking about this idea, that the competitors should be evenly matched, I then realized that we all feel better in an ‘us versus them’ environment. Creating an ‘us vs. them’ environment makes it easy to unite a group against another. A united group of competitors in a highly competitive environment is what all leaders are working towards. All participants benefit from being evenly matched and highly competitive.

After reading Tribal Leadership I learned that initially we are all in the ‘I am good and you are not’ mentality but that does not keep us motivated and growing. If we can find a way to move into the ‘we are good and you are not’ mentality we grow together as a united group and we compete at higher levels than we could have individually. Increased satisfaction, rewards and growth are the outcomes for evenly matched competitors. Find a way to create an ‘us vs. them’ environment, choose the competition wisely and watch your sales take off.