Property News & Market Trends

Millionaire Agent - Part 1

Happy Lunar New Year! Do you believe in sayings of the 12 chinese horoscope?  Let me be very upfront with you. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jerry Yang(Yahoo), Larry Page(Google) and you name them, from the western world will never know what holds for them under the 12 chinese horoscope. To them, the horoscope meant nothing. So will a millionaire agent - to be!

Superstitious or not, a millionaire agent works systematically & creatively to achieve his/her goal. Never by luck. But then again, if your're superstitious and your zodiac sign speaks ill of your fate this year, does it affect your mind? If it does, I'm awfully sorry, it will come true. Like I said before, the mind is "THE" only asset you have. If you don't condition your mind to succeed, it will become a liability. So, whatever your zodiac sign is, only believe the good and discard the bad. Simply re-condition your mind.

Remember - Alter your Mind, in order to alter your Life! That's it. (read the introductory again)

Now, the chicken & egg question - Should I go full-time or freelance?
In fact, your question should be - can you afford to go full-time?

To go full-time confidently, you require at least $3000 for A+P expenses, real estate database software and course fees. You can't avoid that. Now, that doesn't include your daily personal expenses, monthly commitments and bills to pay. Effectively, you have to be prepared for no income for 3 months, inclusive of a $3000 expenditure. Can you survive?

If you can, you must conclude a sale within your first month! If you have no sales by the second month, you would have to find a job! That's the risk you have to take. 70% 'died' within the first 3 months. Those who survived, went on to build up their bases.

If you cannot close any deals in 6 months, the real estate is not your cup of tea. Please look for a job and move on. However, if you reading this, I 'm sure your chances of success will increase by 30 to 40 percent, only if you put into practice. Now, if you get the jitters, then start as a part-timer. You'll have a peace of mind. You have no worries about your monthly commitment, expenses & lifestyle.

However, you still need at least $3000 capital to start comfortably. For goodness sake, don't stinge on essential data software that are a couple of hundreds. Get your own software. There is no point sharing. It's ineffective. You need it to do effective market research. We'll cover that subject later. But being a part-timer, don't expect to close better than a full-timer. You have literally 20 percent of committed time compared to a full-timer. And be prepared to burn all your weekends!

If you're a family person, a big sacrifice is unavoidable. Your family must support you, for the next 3 months. On second note, you must team up with another full-timer. Tell him/her you're willing to take a much lesser percentage, if necessary. You really need a partner. Remember, you need all the help & time you can get from your partner. Choose them well. Your objective is to get a steady platform before you turn pro. Not take as much as you can. When you turn professional, you will be ready for the big one.

Honestly, ask yourself what would you like? To earn a steady 4-digit income or get a 5-digit fortune in 8 weeks? Having the comfort of a job doesn't guarantee job security. You get your security by proving yourself. You got to work really hard & smart to move to the top. When you reach the top after several or more than 10 years, you may get a 5-digit salary. That's a tough call. Not everyone can make it.

In fact, if you can achieve that, my guess is you can achieve the 5-digit income within 6 months to a year with the same effort! Next, consider this; will anyone move your cheese? After you reach the top, you become too expensive to keep. Retrenchment becomes a death nail. Then again, all these may not happen. You see, real estate may be one of the easiest, fastest and cheapest way to achieve a 5-digit income per month. But 85 percent of new entrants may not see that within a year. It's the same as doing business. Though the risk is much smaller, and chances of earning a decent living are higher.

So, you're determine to reach for the 5-digit monthly goal, aren't you? Are you ready to burn your bridge? That means you have no turning back! You either fight and push forward till you meet your goal or nothing! No kidding.

Let me share with you a real story. In China, many centuries ago, there was a general who fought a losing battle. With only a thousand soldiers left, they retreated from the battle. The enemies seem too strong. Tired and demoralised, the retreating soldiers seem hopeless, wit the enemies hot on pursuit. Then the general shouted,"There is a bridge some 10 miles from here. Once we cross that bridge, we will burn it. We'll cut the enemies behind and all of us will be safe!"

With that hope, all the soldiers were high-spirited and push forward without rest. On and on they went leaving the enemies further behind. When they reach the bridge, there were shouts of jubilation. Imagine, these are defeated, tired, demoralised men. And they seem to celebrate their second chance of life! What joy they felt. They quickly passed the bridge.

Once they were all acrossed, the general gave the command, "Torch the bridge!" It seems like a heavenly sent message. As they were about to torch the bridge, someone shouted "Stop!" The general turned around, "Who said that!" Then he saw what seem to be the most hellish thing ever. Thousands of soldiers appeared and have them slowly surrounded. They had been ambushed! He felt like a death nail had just been driven into his head. He heard cries of anguish and shouts of hopelessness..."I don't want to die here!" "Why? Why this happen to us?" "Why did you brought us here to die?" "How can this happen to me?" "What did we do wrong?" With such immense pressure and stress, what the general say is a matter of life & death.

Finally, he gave the command, "Torch the bridge!" It was with such determination, the bridge was finally torched. Anguish were heard from all ranks & files. Many were crying and thinking of their families. It's as if their world just crumbled & fell to the deepest pit.

The general drew his sword and thundered, "My brave men, we have fought enemies that outnumbered us many times. This time we have no enemies behind us to worry. All we need to do is to bash through this last obstacle. Beyond this obstacle lies our freedom, our lives & our families! Though they outnumbered us 4 to 1 but I want you to kill 5 enemies before they bring you down! You will not die till you kill 5! Are you with me?"

That fateful day, the general & his men fought the bloodiest battle & won! Only a few dozen survived. But they had overcome a seemingly insurmountable obstacle - themselves. My friend, if you're into real estate, you must know your objectives, your goals. Never be distracted. Never blame the market. Never believe the fate of your zodiac sign. Never be discourage when deals were foiled. You have only 1 direction to go. Move forward & fight, till you overcome yourself. The deadliest enemy is yourself. Your mindset.

Alter your mind in order to alter your life!

This is the secret of a millionaire agent's mindset. If you want to change your life, you've got to first change your mind; how you think, what you think, how you determine. If you can control your thoughts, refine your thinking and have action steps to put your plans to work, financial freedom can become a reality. Your success really depends on your thoughts. No kidding. Don't take it lightly.

Look & study all the successful people around you. Do you think they're weak, giving up easily? Do you think they are very hardworking? Do you see them spending and wasting time on useless chatter and unproductive activities? How they condition themselves to succeed begins up there - in their mind.

If you want to be a millionaire agent, you have to first alter your mind. Then you will definitely alter your life. Do it. Am I really cut out to be a successful Real Estate Agent? The first question you should ask is - who do you want to be? Would you like being Your own boss? Is there any other business I can start with my current knowledge, contacts, network, capital & passion? If your answer is "Yes" & "Yes". Set up your other business. If your answer is "Yes" & "No", then real estate may be one of the best option to achieve financial freedom in less than 3years once you become a millionaire agent.

Is it real that Agents make $200,000 easily in a year? Can I? That's a mirage question. Firstly, it's true there are at least 3% of the entire agent population surpassed that amount. Some good years can see an upswing of up to 8%. A bad year will see it drop to a reasonable 2%. Interesting fact to note. In a good year, a lot of hardworking & lucky agents can hit jackpot. However, in a down period, only the very systematic, persistent and connected agent can maintain their share of the market.

Agents, like future brokers are immune to the economic outcome. Why? They manage transactions, not price fluctuations. Only the unprepared agents will face stagnation - the death nail. That's when sellers' asking prices are too high to match buyers' offers. But the top 2 percent would know how to bring about a match. There are still thousands of transactions done in any bad year, just like oil, soybeans, stocks & indexes.

So, a champ never get worried over the economy. He can leverage on it! In the real estate agent's market share, based on 20,000 registered agents, one can always break down the following estimates:
- 0.5% of the apex; $200k and above
- 3% of achievers; $100k-$200k
- 10% of middle-class; $50k-$100k
- 86.5% of survival troops; $50k & below

This estimates doesn't include booming years when transactions or speculations spike up; as in the first 6 months of 2007. Your first 3 months is most crucial. Even if you're no longer a new agent, you need to consistently rejuvenate yourself as if you're new again. The reason is obvious. When you're new, your enthusiasm level is at its peak. Nothing seems to negate you. Everything seems possible. That feeling is very important. And its lacking in every veteran's work attitude. After some time, enthusiasm decreases, knowledge increases, you become more pragmatic and lazy. That's the life cycle of an agent. So, it's crucial to find back the passion. When your passion returns, you'll reach the next peak. If not, you stagnate.

As you grow, your skill-sets improve. If it don't, you're not putting enough efforts to learn and refine yourself. Training is the most important factor for an agent, regardless of your experience & expertise. Many agents thought they had learn it all and thus think that attending training, seminars or workshops are a waste of time. They are deadly wrong. Hope you don't think likewise. The day you stop learning, you stop growing. Make learning your prority.

When you start something new, what you lack of knowledge & experience, you made it up with enthusiasm. As you grow in knowledge and experience, you'll notice that your enthusiasm will begin to diminish. This is a natural process. That's where motivation comes in. Without motivation, it's routine. With motivation, you work with passion. Passion is a great substitute for enthusiasm. It's an ingredient you need in order to succeed. That's why self motivation is crucial to keep you going.

Next, the most destructible word an agent or any entrepreneur fear - DISCIPLINE.

The lack of discipline is one of the most detrimental effect on an agent's success. When someone interviewed Warren Buffet, the most successful stock investor in this generation, he has one word of advice for his followers; "Discipline". The minute an agent closes a deal, he will start calculating his future commission. He will start planning how he want to spend it. It didn't occur that he will need to continue in his efforts to hit his target. Instead, he will start to 'relax' and comfort himself that he deserves a 'break'. How can such mentality exist in an agent's head, I wonder.

A champ will persevere to achieve more than his target and relentlessly seek his final goal. Not temporal gains. This require the next ill-fated character an agent must possess - perseverance. In many ways, perseverance works. I can relate stories after stories on how perseverance pays off for many agents. I had an encounter with a very mild-mannered agent(you can say he is millionaire agent, er..5yrs later) almost 10 years back. When I was doing a presentation, I noticed this agent sitting by the corner. He seemed to have a ton of questions, but he never asked a question. In fact, you can say he seemed timid. I approached him after the presentation and we chatted. After a string of questions, he bought the software. He has no prior sales background, not the outspoken type but he is extremely persistent in his goal to be a top agent in a specific area.

5 years later, he became a top agent nationally. It's amazing how perseverance pays if you have it. You can fail many times, find out the roots, but don't give up. The final word of advice comes in a question - what do you really want to achieve? Write them down. Change them as many times as you wish. Once you have decided that's what you want to achieve, frame it up as a reminder. If you had been an agent for years, may I suggest you re-look at your goal. Reflect on them and re-visit your thoughts. Why & how did you derive on it? When you're completely satisfied with your goals, make sure you get to see, feel and be reminded at least 3x a day!

When it becomes a burning desire, your subconscious will start to work. When it works, you're on your way to become a millionaire agent!

Next, we'll touch on your most agonising step of an agent - how to start?
Till then, may this Lunar New Year brings you joy, happiness and new meaning to your life.
Bingo! U got a Match!

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