Your real estate business is built 90 days at a time. Have you ever felt like you were legitimately working and wondered why you aren't getting anywhere? Frustrated with your ability to get things rolling?
First, it's not your fault. It's likely no one has ever explained how the cycles in the real estate business work and what it is going to require of you to get traction and some business rolling. I like to use the example of a plane upon take off. If the plane doesn’t have a long enough runway and is unable to get enough speed, it won’t be able to have enough momentum to get lift and take off. The plane requires a certain amount of energy being generated from its engines (thrust) to keep it ascending, eventually, reaching its cruising altitude. This is where the plane requires less energy or thrust to maintain flight; you could say the plane has momentum now. The most energy the plane exerted was getting the plane from a standstill to its cruising altitude. (This is no different for us in real estate.) We have the same process to go through the plane does. Often, the key difference is when a plane takes off, the pilots have taken into consideration many variables before they attempt this process. Things like the length of the runway, load (or weight of the plane), fuel on board, weather, the altitude of the airport and a list of many other items. When we “take off” (as Realtors, the majority of the time) we don’t have as well organized plan and as a result, find ourselves not getting off the ground, often, we feeling like we’re on a hamster wheel going in circles and grow increasingly more frustrated. What we find is after a few honest attempts without any measurable success, our enthusiasm diminishes, and we lose the passion we once had to grow our business. If this sounds familiar, it’s not entirely your fault. It’s likely no one has explained how you “take off” in the real estate business...this can be accomplished using 90-day cycles.
What is a 90-day cycle? Consistently taking action on your desired activity for at least 90 days straight. Keep in mind we're focusing on real estate related activities here. However, this could be applied to anything in your life. Ground Rules: 90 consecutive days of staying engaged in the activity(s) you've made a commitment to. Monday thru Friday or days you designate to be working days. Here’s the reason so few can complete a cycle...if you miss one day, you start over at day 1. The purpose of this is to create a habit around the behavior and build momentum in your business leading to increased production and income.
What have you observed over the years?: What we see showing up in our businesses today is usually a result of what action we've taken, or not taken in the last 90 days. Who we are right now is who we've been up to this point...not necessarily who we are at the moment. It’s simply showing up in our present. So, if you're happy with what's showing up, continue with what you've been doing. Should you want to change anything, it's important to remember that what you do (or don't do) today is going to show up in the next 90 days. Understanding the process is key to maintaining a good mindset and awareness of what's taking place in your business.
Also - many agents begin pulling back towards the end of the 3rd qtr. This leads to a slow 4th qtr, and when the new year rolls around, agents begin getting back to work. However, since the business is built in these 90-day cycles, many of them lose taking advantage of the 1st quarter...results typically show up as spring begins. This means if this is you...you are losing as much as six months of production. You can check this by looking at your goals … are you consistently coming up short or possibly getting halfway to your goals? If so, this is predictable based on your work cycles, consistency or inconsistency.
7 Steps to completing a 90 Day Cycle
1. Be ridiculously clear about the why behind the cycle. This will be your leverage when doubt creeps in. A strong understanding of your purpose behind the effort will serve as your foundation to build upon. Your ability to complete the cycle is either made here or will reveal where the hole will show up when you hit some resistance. I like to say we must have an unwavering commitment to what’s driving us. Let’s be honest; it’s not always fun...sometimes we’re having to exhibit self-discipline, do things that take us out of our comfort zone. Sometimes, let’s face it...we just aren’t in the mood to do whatever it is we know is required of us to move our business forward. This is why defining this is so important.
2. Put your goal for the 90-day cycle in writing. It’s not enough to just have it “in mind.” Be very specific, allow yourself to be detailed in your description. This is not the time to go through the motions or cut corners. Go deep, be thorough. Studies show people with written goals are more likely to accomplish their goals... In fact, research shows us your odds of achieving your goals as much as double when you just write them down. If you want to go all in, in addition to writing down the benefits you will have to enjoy once you complete this 90-day cycle, go ahead and find some pictures that bring it to life even more vividly. It may take you an extra 30- 45 minutes to do this and will be well worth it. Place these pictures directly in front of you as a daily reminder of what you are getting closer and closer to realizing this lifestyle. Hey, don't play small here, this is your life!!
3. Find your support team and accountability partners. Those that are for you. Family - Let them know what you are setting out to do and ask for their support. Explain to them how they also benefit from what you are doing, get their buy in. If they don’t jump on-board right away, don’t be discouraged. This is just their way of guarding their emotions against any potential disappointment should you not follow through. In time, with your consistency, the results will show up, and you will have your family right there cheering you on to the 90th day, and beyond! Close friends - Co-workers that will be positive and get behind you and want to see you succeed. Broker, Manager, productivity coach, staff, etc.
4. Create affirmations around what you're looking to accomplish.
Affirmations are written in positive and present tense. An affirmation can work as it has the ability to program your mind into believing the stated message. This is because the mind doesn't know the difference between what is real or fantasy. As an example, if your goal for the 90-day cycle is to lead generate 1 or 2 hours each day for 90 straight days you could have an affirmation like this: I enjoy generating leads on a daily basis. I love to make phone calls and connect with people about RE on a daily basis. I feel empowered when I follow my daily time block to lead generate. Keep this in mind, if intentionally saying affirmations seems “cheesy” to you - do know you are saying them anyway. As we go through our day saying negative things (consciously/unconsciously) you are doing affirmations anyway. The difference is they are doing your mindset harm and many times not even when you are aware of it. It can’t hurt anything, just go ahead and do the affirmations and in time, you will notice when you don’t do it you will notice something seems off, and you will miss do this.
5. Identify the activity(s) Use the focusing question to help guide you. 1. What is the one thing I can do to grow my business (in a ninety-day cycle) such by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary? 2. Time block for the activity. 30 min? 1 hour? 1.5 hours? 2 hours or more? Start somewhere...Chinese proverb...the journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. Just take action! The important thing is to get started and stay the course. Put it on your calendar, if you don’t have one, now is a great time to start using one. Keep it simple, don’t get bogged down with all the details, just note it in your calendar and then do it. Winning in real estate is a marathon, not a sprint. Less is more over time. There is a saying, time on task beats talent every time.
6. Track your progress, keep it real. As we discussed in previous episodes, accountability is about being transparent about activities to a third party. Have a log of the work you've completed. Remember, it's not about measuring the immediate return on your efforts. DON’T BE TOO QUICK TO KEEP SCORE. It's a matter of staying engaged in the activities, doing them at a high level and increasing your proficiency daily. Again, keep this simple...just have some kind of plan in place to track your progress.
7. Have a way to reward yourself along the way. How can you do this? Make a game of it, have some fun. Keeping in mind if you were to do this M-F for 90 days, that would be just over four months with the weekend's taken into account. Yes, that’s a good chunk of time and why you will see results. You can equate this length of time to the length of a runway a plane needs to get enough speed (or momentum) to get lift and take off. The 90-day cycle is our runway for us to “take off” and soar to new heights. Do one full cycle, stick to it and you will be on the way to your next level in your business