Redfin makes it worse for Agents Day 53 Your Million Dollar Year. So the listing agent from Redfin gets a 1% commission on the sale, but not even that much when you drill into this system. The Buyer's agent was getting 3%, but not anymore. Redfin is quietly working to reduce that as well. It is clear this technology company thinks nothing of the profession that serves the communities.  Redfin says they care about the consumer, but this, to me, is hard to believe when you take away the power of the agent to consult and care in a real way and, by your actions, diminish the roll of a professional.In my office there are several 20 somethings just out of college and eager to have no contact with humans in a real way other than through electronic means. Text, don't call is the mantra. One of ... 05/12/2019

Failure has a look and feel Day 52 Your Million Dollar Year. It is said that success leaves clues meaning that to be successful there are patterns to your actions, mindset and behavior.  Failure is the same.  Stooped shoulders, no energy, no real interest just an underlying sense of things are not right and I just don't know what to do so I will do nothing. That nothingness is inertia pushing your underground. You need to move to create energy. If you mindset is bad, go take a walk. If it is bad from the walk, find something else to do physically until your mindset is understanding it is a day you can do something. Go do that thing.Fighting failure for some people is all to real a fight that makes them incapable at that time to fight for your successes. The baby step is to make that cal... 05/11/2019

Broker Talk Podcast 2 Day 51 Your Million Dollar Year. There is both an arrogance and a responsibility producing content. The piece needs to be relevant and personal to the listener. Getting agents to talk about their day is interesting and funny to me and I know many people would feel the same when they heard the stories. That is not to say Agents have more interesting stories than Nurses, or Firemen. I dare say the Night Watchman looking at his screen all night has stories.The desire is to capture one true nature of the real estate business.Technology will create a way to buy and sell a house without ever leaving your house, except for closing day. Closing day is when everyone meets, "wet signs" documents, pass checks and pleasantries as you snarl out the door. That is considered a w... 05/10/2019

Broker-Talk Podcast Day 50 Your Million Dollar Year. To further promote our Agent One program of training agents individually to master their specific skills for sales in real estate, we go on air with our first Broker-Talk. The podcast is dedicated to honest and open conversation about the life of a real estate agent.It was originally designed to follow the hugely popular NPR show Car Talk.  Sadly one of the brothers died and so the show is in just reruns now. Many people believe that agents are more than happy to sell their soul, to live in the grey areas and to not be truthful for their own gain. I am hoping if one of us dies  to be a beloved a show as Car Talk on NPR, it will be Jim Lowenstern, Founder, CEO of Castles Unlimited® my partner, but don't tell him that. On the show today... 05/09/2019

Agent Number One Day 49 Your Million Dollar Year. Agent One is a program, system if you will for becoming the best agent you can be. It is the process of training a Realtor to understand and use their own skills to their advantage. It is a narrowing of focus to your particular set of skills honed by perceptive coaching. Agent One deserves no less than to be shown a path to a better use of their own skills, different than the next. Real estate, the sale or purchase of a house is a process. There are steps that are taken to secure a purchase or sale transaction in a correct manner. That can be taught. What Agent One is a focus of understanding your unique skills and tailoring options for you to pursue.A real estate career puts you at the heart of an American way. Owning a home in this cou... 05/08/2019

Rule 1 Keep Learning Day 48 Your Million Dollar Year. The constant learning in real estate is a daily occurrence and yet some professionals aren't paying attention. That is on them, the good and great agents know that no matter how long they are in this business, each day delivers another opportunity to learn.  While many people think of the buying and selling of a house is something that is easy and straight forward are missing, or do not want to comprehend the complexities. This group of people will always under or over value their properties. They will often use sales methods and techniques that are outdated.The desire to learn and to be open to learning is a joy. Understanding some new aspect of the process that is presented to you gives you that much more power when it comes up aga... 05/07/2019

Rumors and Lies Day 47 Your Million Dollar Year. Real estate at it's heart is not just about the property and land, it is also the people connected to it and involved in the process. Because people are involved you have randomness added into the mixture. Because randomness is involved and money is too, there will be opposing forces pushing against the  the agreement as they pull for their own side. Then the emotional side kicks in and you have a party filled with people who don't know each other trying to get what they want. With all this in play it is essential that the professional parties involved do not participate in rumors and lies.Verify and confirm information rather than guessing and hoping you don't get exposed. Saying negative things about each other is truly non productive a... 05/06/2019

You are the prize Day 46 Your Million Dollar Year. Mindset is everything when you are in a sales job and make no mistake, real estate is a sales job.  Not only are you selling and buying houses for your clients, you are selling yourself, your insight, your best practices, your price/value every single day. If you think for a moment before you make that first call to the expired or canceled listing person you already know far more than that person about why the property did not sell. You are the one with the information, insight, techniques and process for selling and buying property. You are the prize.So many agents start the day hoping and wishing for an outcome from a place where they are not thinking of themselves as the solution but as an annoying person calling a mad and not inform... 05/05/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 45 Half Way to Somewhere. The goal is to start out my new year at a new agency doing all the things that should be done to make me successful. In these first 45 days I have done considerable and this success has only made me realize there is so much more to do, that can be done.  I have aligned myself with top agents who have shown me their daily routines; they have shared their mindset and this has helped a great deal. Surround yourself with the best agents you can and listen, learn and apply.At one of my former agencies I had many friends who I went out of my way to assist. I always answered their calls and emails. I shared tips and techniques, I taught classes and wrote marketing materials to help them.  I left that office because they hired third toxic m... 05/04/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 44 Learning to Fail is also learning to succeed. It is true successful people fail more than unsuccessful people. What successful people know is that failure is where you learn to succeed, by falling down and getting back up again you can be more steady on your professional feet.  Everyone fails, not everyone is willing to learn from the failures.These sad people are often relegated to making the same mistakes over and over again and not learning. Self realization comes in all kinds of measures. There is the obvious dollars made, there is also number of listings, numbers of closings, Buy side-Sell side numbers, happiness-anxiety is a measure, work-life are all part of the way to measure your progress.Whatever measure you use it will move on a daily basis, s... 05/03/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 43 No Scripts Allowed. All sales people are trained with scripts. You are told that if you say this, your prospect will fall at your feet and want to work with you. I exaggerate, but the script driven coaches couldn't be more wrong.  NO ONE wants to be sold these days.  NO ONE wants to listen to some canned script that you deliver just like the 200 other agents who learned the exact script from the same trainer. Scripts should be thrown away and you should first understand the person you are calling.If it is an expired or cancelled Seller what do you think they are feeling before you go off trying to tell them that you have a buyer for them, or some other lie? The E/C has already been lied to by their agent who did not get the job done, do you think using th... 05/02/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 42 Circle the Wagons. When meeting with clients do you let them know of the pitfalls that can and usually do happen with each transaction?  Do you give your clients a sense of what will come before it gets there? I explain it this way, "Along the way to closing this transaction (buy or sell) we are going to experience 3 uh oh moments and perhaps 1 jump off the cliff moment."  This brings them to attention. "I don't know exactly what will happen because it is always a twist and turn related to the parties involved and since no parties and no houses are the same, what we experience will be slightly different. What I do know is that I have had great experience with solving these issues.  I know when they are coming and I know how to handle them. So when I call ... 05/01/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 41 Redfin changes things in industry.The days of the Agent having all the answers has changed. While they still do and will always have deeper understanding and experience because they do it every day, they no longer are the only ones with the information. Information is everywhere on the internet and a lot of it is accurate. The key is for someone just searching is, how good are you at digging deep enough to know what you need to know to take the steps necessary for a great outcome. There are so many conflicting opinions and steps.What Redfin has done is demoted the Agent to mere 'Uber" like partner. Someone with a license who can get you from here to there with no real information or insight into what you are doing.  Buying and Selling real estate is a leg... 04/30/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 40 Do the Math for the last 39 days I have been sharing ideas, thoughts, moments and daily activity of an agent. Some is about me, some is about things that have happened to others around me. When I finally woke up and realized the franchised brands I had worked with through the years were truly not interested in me other than my ability to cap with them and provide funding for their franchise I went looking for a better solution.  I know without a doubt that agencies can be built on the production of their agents and these agencies owe a great deal to the agents.I joined Castles Unlimited on March 15th  because my partner had promised we will meet and beat any franchise offer to their agents.  eXp, Keller Williams, REMAX, Sotheby's, Coldwell Banker all take... 04/29/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 39 are we there yet? Successful professionals are not children. They can deal with disappointment, disruption and distraction without loosing track of what is important. This counting of days through the first 90 makes me feel childish. We are not there yet and we need to focus on what is important today so that what is important tomorrow comes to us through our daily activities.  Often I will lie my head on the pillow at the end of the day and go through the list of things I wanted to accomplish. I sleep soundly when most is done. When you focus on daily activities that build success for your real estate business you will be calling and talking to people. You will be communicating to your sphere and the public through email, newsletter, Instagram, Facebook ... 04/28/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 38 Fake it to Make it BS or Not? What do you think when someone tells you to fake it to make it? Do you think you fake being rich, powerful, in charge and having all you want? Do you think it is about convincing people who don't know you that you have more, are more? Fake it to make it is not a direction to be false at all. Fake it to make it is a suggested that you should be determined to live the life of the person you want to be.  If you want to be a successful Realtor® you should do all the things you know successful professionals do.  If they wake up early and exercise and read, then you (in your fake it approach) should do the same thing.If successful professionals make 20 calls a day, then in your "fake it" mode you should actually do the same thing. ... 04/27/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 37 Coaches good and bad. We all know how easy it is to see what other people are doing wrong, it is so hard to turn that eye on yourself with any clarity. A good coach has a system they follow that they have taken many a professional through with some degree of success. A great coach understands how that system fits for the person they are coaching and adjust the system to the person. Personally I have had many and a varied quality of coaches through my life. As a Division 1 scholarship (swimming) athlete I had perhaps 2o plus coaches to get to my final races. Some were good, some weren't and a couple of them truly motivated and inspired me.In real estate I have had several franchises unleash their coaching systems on me. Most of these franchise produced sys... 04/26/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 36 Baby Steps is what gets you the big leaps. Most agents get bogged down trying to control their whole days when controlling the next 5 seconds is really the key. For instance those 5 seconds right before you should be making your prospecting calls. What is going through your mind? What is the dialog circling your brain? In that short period of time most agents are derailed by their own actions. That action is not to take the baby step of picking up the phone and dialing. They will find some task to complete that is important but not vital.  The baby step of holding yourself to the actions you know will help you succeed can be the critical component of your success.Baby steps are those short little wobbly steps you take towards your goal. The ones that get... 04/25/2019

Your Million Dollar Year Day 35 what counts in real estate? Closings, of course, that is the way you make a living is closing deals as a Buyer or a Seller's agent. What else? Listings in your pipeline count because they are next month's closings and they are important.  For Buyer's agents, signed offers count because you are moving closer to the closing. Sometimes, as an agent, you don't control the process and so therefore things are moving without you. That is ok. All of these things count but they are not the principle things you should be counting in your day.Count the number of new people you have serious discussions about real estate every day.  Start with your calls and count how many calls it takes to speak directly to someone about real estate. Count the number of appointments ... 04/24/2019

Your Million Dollar Year day 34 Chopping the Wood. Most agents wake up in cold rooms with nothing going on. An average agent does much less than 10 deals a year, they are not chopping wood. Many agents would rather spend time in a class, or webinar getting pumped about what they can do rather then doing that thing they just learned.They are not chopping wood.  The average agents day is so circuitious that at the beginning of the day they have no clue where or how their day is going to end. They don't know where the wood is to chop.It has been said often, real estate is simple, the practice of real estate is complex and demands constant and concerted effort. You have to chop the wood. Chopping wood is the act of seeing what must be done and getting to the work of doing it. The actual wor... 04/23/2019