What I Know... by Floyd Wickman

I've learned many things on this journey and one thing I know with certainty is that it takes no more pain to succeed than it does to fail --  and that it really does come down to the choices we make - daily.

You can choose to wait for the phone to ring, or to pick it up and dial out.  You can choose to build a referral book of business, painstakingly ensuring that customers and prospects are put into databases so that you can consistently connect with them, or you can just keep putting that task off and chasing the new.  You can choose to network with people that can lift you up, teach you, make you a better salesperson - or you can stick by the water cooler and see what today's gossip holds.

I'm not saying that part of what we do isn't tedious work.  Sometimes it's not fun.  Sometimes it takes all we can do to keep pushing through the stacks on the desk or the tasks at hand.  But I do know this:  that when you've found a nice family the home of their dreams at a price they can afford -- man there's not another feeling quite like that is there?  Or you've stepped in for a family who are in the throws and grief of foreclosure and you've helped them find a way out through a short sale  and helped put them back on a path to the next part of their lives - boy,  you know you've done something really good there, haven't you?  Or when a family has to move, and they've been let down in the past and their listing expired and they aren't sure what to do next and you get it priced right, marketed properly and put a contract in their hands.  Wow. That's rewarding isn't it?

Ultimately, it comes down to making the right choices.  And honestly - you can CHOOSE to be in this business for the money or in this business for the people.  The difference?  When you're in it for the money- you'll always be chasing it.  When you're in it for the people - it will always be there.

So as we're kicking off this new month, and new quarter and heading into a busy time - just keep that in the back of your mind when you wake each day and look at that to-do list and decide whether or not to start checking things off or head back to bed.  Succeed or fail?  It's up to you!

Love,