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Amy Donaldson teaches principles taught from her book "Get off the Cash Flow Roller Coaster". Real estate agents are on this roller coaster because they fail to recognize these two major blindspots.
Show Notes
We've promised the audience to help them identify two blind spots. All of us have blind spots, right? And they're always more apparent in others. Meaning, it's always easier to spot someone else's blind spots than it is our own. Obviously. That's why they're called blind spots.
Yeah. It's hard to see the picture when you're sitting in the frame.
I like that. With the amount of transactions that you've done and the amount of agents that you've coached and taught and helped, there's a couple that probably stand out to you. Would you do me the favor and let's start with the first one. What's the first major blind spot that you think real estate agents struggle with?
The first major blind spot when people get into real estate is they don't realize that they are actually tasked with running a business; That their own personal real estate activity is a business. And the minute that light bulb goes on for them, so many things change in terms of the way that they go about their day. They just see themselves as, "I'm a real estate agent." I don't know if they think that, well, they know it's not a job, but they don't quite realize that it actually is a business and can be run as a business.
I love that you said that because it's true. I think they come in the business saying, "I want to learn how to sell real estate." And so they see themselves as, "I'm a real estate salesperson," just like maybe they used to sell appliances or cars or RVs "...but now I sell real estate." And even though there's this 1099 reality, I agree with you wholeheartedly that there's a little bit of a deficiency in realizing that "No, I'm actually a CEO. I'm actually a business owner," right?
Yes, and the minute they start to realize that, one of the biggest things that changes is they start to think about being in business. A perfect example, I see so many agents, especially newer agents, but I see agents that have been doing this for a while. They'll meet someone, they'll get into a real estate conversation and that person expresses that they're not going to sell their house for probably two years. When their youngest kid graduates high school, they're going to downsize. And that kid is a sophomore and the real estate agent gets frustrated. They're like, "Oh, I keep talking about these great people, but this one's not for six months. That one's not for two years," or whatever their timeline is. The way that people initially respond is there they're not happy because they need a transaction.
"I'm so frustrated. Nobody came to my open house today, right? Like nobody came..."
"...but they're not going to buy it until next year.
"And they're just window shopping."
The shift that happens when you think of yourself as a business owner is "Well I plan to be in business two years from now. I plan to be in business six months from now." So I'm not thinking about while, yes, I do need something to happen this weekend. I also know that I'm going to want to be in conversation and have a closing six months, two years from now, ten years from now. Because as a business you're looking the greater scheme of things. So anyone listening today who's in real estate and has been in real estate for more than six months, think about this.
If six months ago you would have this mindset, what would this weekend look like for you?"
You just got paid two years from now if you have the foresight to see it that way? Right.
The way that I look at it when I'm talking with somebody who has an interest in buying or selling real estate is, I'm not so concerned with when that's going to happen. Is it going to be this weekend? Is it going to be this year? Is it going to be six months from now? I'm more interested in the fact that when they buy that house, I'm the one handing them their keys. Or when they sell a house, I'm the one putting my sign in their yard. As opposed to when exactly that happens. So that's the biggest mindset and there's a lot of other things when you start thinking of yourself as a business owner. It's helpful in terms of how you look at taxes and how I track things but the biggest impact on your bottom line is really keeping track of these people and being excited to talk to anybody about real estate that's going to be buying or selling at any point, whether it's tomorrow or next year or two years from now.
It's almost as if one can say with the right perspective you're not buying for two years from now. That means I get two years to build a relationship with you and get in your referrals along the way. I have more time to have you as a forever client.
Exactly. When someone expresses to me that they're going to buy or sell at any point and my goal is that when they're ready, I'm their obvious choice.
Fantastic. I love it. Let's move on to the second blind spot. What is another major blind spot that you see agents have that we can help with today?
Well, it dovetails nicely with what we were just discussing. So, the second biggest blind spot is the job of a real estate agent. The main job really is prospecting. It's not selling houses. For very obvious reasons, most real estate agents think their job is to sell houses and really that's the byproduct of their job. And that's at the end of their job where the income is, but their main job that creates that income, that gives them that opportunity is prospecting. So, having a daily habit of prospecting. And I think in the book I say two hours a day and that's a little bit but I don't feel like it needs to be a specific number. It might be different for everyone depending on what their goals are.
I feel like somebody starting off, should spend the majority of their day prospecting until you have somebody to show houses to. That's the main thing. I put two hours because people always ask, well, "How much time should I spend?" So, I kind of had to come up with something and I feel like that's a good amount for people just to be coasting on. But the real takeaway that I want people to understand is that your job literally is prospecting. And any day that you did not prospect was a day off. What happens, real estate agents are highly focused on getting a new client, they do whatever activities they do, whether it's open houses or phone calls or door knocking that works, and then suddenly they've got three transactions in escrow and now their hair is on fire.
They stop prospecting because they're dealing with everything. You know, keeping those deals together and getting them across the finish line. Well that happens and now, they just got paid on these three transactions, but their pipeline is empty.
Hence the roller coaster!
Hence the roller coaster. And that's how it happens. And the way to avoid it is to have a daily ritual. The pushback I get from agents is they'll say, "I don't have time to prospect, I've got these deals in escrow." And literally, it happens around three to four deals in escrow. Whereas once you have systems in place, I can have 10 deals in escrow and that's not a problem, right? I just have a normal day.
You just have different systems.
Well, what happens is people think they don't have time to prospect. But when you shift your mind and say, "No, that's your job," everything else fits in around it. So, if you don't have time to do everything on your list, and prospecting is non-negotiable, you realize that maybe you can pay another agent to go sit at that home inspection or put the fliers in your box. Because remember you've got some money coming in. So you, you do have the ability to pay somebody a nominal amount to go do some of these tasks for you. Or you can pay them a small percentage of your commission so you don't have to write them a check today. You can pay them when it closes to fill up your flyers, run your little booty box out to the new listing, and every other little thing. So, when you look at what's filling up your day, what's taking away from your prospecting time--those are the tasks to delegate. The prospecting has to be you and it has to be done. So, everything else may also have to be done, it does not have to be done by you.
I love it. What a great distinction. You know, it's interesting, as you're sharing this, I've seen agents, you've, you've seen agents that got into the business, studied real estate really hard, felt like they could be really good, at least at the part that HGTV shows. The part where you show the house and say "Isn't it beautiful?" "Do you love it? Do you want it? Let's make an offer!" That's the part that TV shows. The part they don't see is the grinding behind the scenes to get that opportunity. And I love how you said that Amy, that is your job. And I would add if you don't get good enough at job number one--prospecting, you never get to do job number two--real estate. And that's why they get out of the business. No one ever told them the hard truth of what you just said. Is it job number one is to go find the business, go build relationships and have conversations about real estate that opens up the door for you to then be able to do job number two.
And what happens, they start selling houses and they stop prospecting and then all of a sudden, once those deals close, they need to start over. So they're constantly starting over, constantly grinding away. And if they don't do it well, their business never grows and they feel like they either have no money or no time. It's like those two things they can't quite get it to. And the way to get the machine turning is to never stop prospecting. Initially it should be all day should be spent, but two hours a day is enough. And for some people have bigger goals, maybe it's four hours a day, maybe it's three. The amount of time isn't as important as the consistency and that you're doing it every single day. I tell people if you did not prospect today, you took the day off. And they'll say to me, "Yeah, but I, I had two closings. I wrote three addendums, I wrote an offer. I took a new listing."
"What do you mean I didn't work today."
Yeah, that's a day off. And a lot of those things could be delegated out and so you took the day off to do them. And then what they need to realize is that when you string too many days off together in a row, that's a vacation.
Some agents have been on vacation for years is what you're telling me.
In my opinion, your vacation should be spent drinking something sweet out of a coconut somewhere, not at the home inspection and running around.
Oh, this has been amazing, Amy. I want to put up, for many of you who are like, "This is gold!" which I feel that way. You can get Amy's book, she's got a free plus shipping offer that I'm going to put up on the screen. Just pay her for the cost of printing the book and getting it to you: getoffthecashflowrollercoaster.com. Go find this book.
If anything that we've said here today has resonated with you and you are like "Oh my goodness, are they talking about me? Are they talking about my life?" This is your chance to go learn more. And then follow her on Facebook, get to know her. She has coaching offerings and a number of other things. So anyway, thank you for your time. I knew this would be a good one. I'm excited to share this out. So again, for those that are watching, please show Amy and me your love by pushing the share button. Get the word out. So thank you again, Amy. It's been a total pleasure, as always, and we will connect soon. Thanks everybody.
Okay, thank you. It's always a pleasure.
Yeah. It's hard to see the picture when you're sitting in the frame.
I like that. With the amount of transactions that you've done and the amount of agents that you've coached and taught and helped, there's a couple that probably stand out to you. Would you do me the favor and let's start with the first one. What's the first major blind spot that you think real estate agents struggle with?
The first major blind spot when people get into real estate is they don't realize that they are actually tasked with running a business; That their own personal real estate activity is a business. And the minute that light bulb goes on for them, so many things change in terms of the way that they go about their day. They just see themselves as, "I'm a real estate agent." I don't know if they think that, well, they know it's not a job, but they don't quite realize that it actually is a business and can be run as a business.
I love that you said that because it's true. I think they come in the business saying, "I want to learn how to sell real estate." And so they see themselves as, "I'm a real estate salesperson," just like maybe they used to sell appliances or cars or RVs "...but now I sell real estate." And even though there's this 1099 reality, I agree with you wholeheartedly that there's a little bit of a deficiency in realizing that "No, I'm actually a CEO. I'm actually a business owner," right?
Yes, and the minute they start to realize that, one of the biggest things that changes is they start to think about being in business. A perfect example, I see so many agents, especially newer agents, but I see agents that have been doing this for a while. They'll meet someone, they'll get into a real estate conversation and that person expresses that they're not going to sell their house for probably two years. When their youngest kid graduates high school, they're going to downsize. And that kid is a sophomore and the real estate agent gets frustrated. They're like, "Oh, I keep talking about these great people, but this one's not for six months. That one's not for two years," or whatever their timeline is. The way that people initially respond is there they're not happy because they need a transaction.
"I'm so frustrated. Nobody came to my open house today, right? Like nobody came..."
"...but they're not going to buy it until next year.
"And they're just window shopping."
The shift that happens when you think of yourself as a business owner is "Well I plan to be in business two years from now. I plan to be in business six months from now." So I'm not thinking about while, yes, I do need something to happen this weekend. I also know that I'm going to want to be in conversation and have a closing six months, two years from now, ten years from now. Because as a business you're looking the greater scheme of things. So anyone listening today who's in real estate and has been in real estate for more than six months, think about this.
If six months ago you would have this mindset, what would this weekend look like for you?"
You just got paid two years from now if you have the foresight to see it that way? Right.
The way that I look at it when I'm talking with somebody who has an interest in buying or selling real estate is, I'm not so concerned with when that's going to happen. Is it going to be this weekend? Is it going to be this year? Is it going to be six months from now? I'm more interested in the fact that when they buy that house, I'm the one handing them their keys. Or when they sell a house, I'm the one putting my sign in their yard. As opposed to when exactly that happens. So that's the biggest mindset and there's a lot of other things when you start thinking of yourself as a business owner. It's helpful in terms of how you look at taxes and how I track things but the biggest impact on your bottom line is really keeping track of these people and being excited to talk to anybody about real estate that's going to be buying or selling at any point, whether it's tomorrow or next year or two years from now.
It's almost as if one can say with the right perspective you're not buying for two years from now. That means I get two years to build a relationship with you and get in your referrals along the way. I have more time to have you as a forever client.
Exactly. When someone expresses to me that they're going to buy or sell at any point and my goal is that when they're ready, I'm their obvious choice.
Fantastic. I love it. Let's move on to the second blind spot. What is another major blind spot that you see agents have that we can help with today?
Well, it dovetails nicely with what we were just discussing. So, the second biggest blind spot is the job of a real estate agent. The main job really is prospecting. It's not selling houses. For very obvious reasons, most real estate agents think their job is to sell houses and really that's the byproduct of their job. And that's at the end of their job where the income is, but their main job that creates that income, that gives them that opportunity is prospecting. So, having a daily habit of prospecting. And I think in the book I say two hours a day and that's a little bit but I don't feel like it needs to be a specific number. It might be different for everyone depending on what their goals are.
I feel like somebody starting off, should spend the majority of their day prospecting until you have somebody to show houses to. That's the main thing. I put two hours because people always ask, well, "How much time should I spend?" So, I kind of had to come up with something and I feel like that's a good amount for people just to be coasting on. But the real takeaway that I want people to understand is that your job literally is prospecting. And any day that you did not prospect was a day off. What happens, real estate agents are highly focused on getting a new client, they do whatever activities they do, whether it's open houses or phone calls or door knocking that works, and then suddenly they've got three transactions in escrow and now their hair is on fire.
They stop prospecting because they're dealing with everything. You know, keeping those deals together and getting them across the finish line. Well that happens and now, they just got paid on these three transactions, but their pipeline is empty.
Hence the roller coaster!
Hence the roller coaster. And that's how it happens. And the way to avoid it is to have a daily ritual. The pushback I get from agents is they'll say, "I don't have time to prospect, I've got these deals in escrow." And literally, it happens around three to four deals in escrow. Whereas once you have systems in place, I can have 10 deals in escrow and that's not a problem, right? I just have a normal day.
You just have different systems.
Well, what happens is people think they don't have time to prospect. But when you shift your mind and say, "No, that's your job," everything else fits in around it. So, if you don't have time to do everything on your list, and prospecting is non-negotiable, you realize that maybe you can pay another agent to go sit at that home inspection or put the fliers in your box. Because remember you've got some money coming in. So you, you do have the ability to pay somebody a nominal amount to go do some of these tasks for you. Or you can pay them a small percentage of your commission so you don't have to write them a check today. You can pay them when it closes to fill up your flyers, run your little booty box out to the new listing, and every other little thing. So, when you look at what's filling up your day, what's taking away from your prospecting time--those are the tasks to delegate. The prospecting has to be you and it has to be done. So, everything else may also have to be done, it does not have to be done by you.
I love it. What a great distinction. You know, it's interesting, as you're sharing this, I've seen agents, you've, you've seen agents that got into the business, studied real estate really hard, felt like they could be really good, at least at the part that HGTV shows. The part where you show the house and say "Isn't it beautiful?" "Do you love it? Do you want it? Let's make an offer!" That's the part that TV shows. The part they don't see is the grinding behind the scenes to get that opportunity. And I love how you said that Amy, that is your job. And I would add if you don't get good enough at job number one--prospecting, you never get to do job number two--real estate. And that's why they get out of the business. No one ever told them the hard truth of what you just said. Is it job number one is to go find the business, go build relationships and have conversations about real estate that opens up the door for you to then be able to do job number two.
And what happens, they start selling houses and they stop prospecting and then all of a sudden, once those deals close, they need to start over. So they're constantly starting over, constantly grinding away. And if they don't do it well, their business never grows and they feel like they either have no money or no time. It's like those two things they can't quite get it to. And the way to get the machine turning is to never stop prospecting. Initially it should be all day should be spent, but two hours a day is enough. And for some people have bigger goals, maybe it's four hours a day, maybe it's three. The amount of time isn't as important as the consistency and that you're doing it every single day. I tell people if you did not prospect today, you took the day off. And they'll say to me, "Yeah, but I, I had two closings. I wrote three addendums, I wrote an offer. I took a new listing."
"What do you mean I didn't work today."
Yeah, that's a day off. And a lot of those things could be delegated out and so you took the day off to do them. And then what they need to realize is that when you string too many days off together in a row, that's a vacation.
Some agents have been on vacation for years is what you're telling me.
In my opinion, your vacation should be spent drinking something sweet out of a coconut somewhere, not at the home inspection and running around.
Oh, this has been amazing, Amy. I want to put up, for many of you who are like, "This is gold!" which I feel that way. You can get Amy's book, she's got a free plus shipping offer that I'm going to put up on the screen. Just pay her for the cost of printing the book and getting it to you: getoffthecashflowrollercoaster.com. Go find this book.
If anything that we've said here today has resonated with you and you are like "Oh my goodness, are they talking about me? Are they talking about my life?" This is your chance to go learn more. And then follow her on Facebook, get to know her. She has coaching offerings and a number of other things. So anyway, thank you for your time. I knew this would be a good one. I'm excited to share this out. So again, for those that are watching, please show Amy and me your love by pushing the share button. Get the word out. So thank you again, Amy. It's been a total pleasure, as always, and we will connect soon. Thanks everybody.
Okay, thank you. It's always a pleasure.
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