
It's time for that appointment you made with yourself – that time when you are going to look at how you did during the first half of the year, and figure out what you can do to make the second half better.
First, hold your calls and step away from the e-mail. This is protected time for you and your business. Next, pull out that file you created – the one with your financial information and a copy of your plan for the year – and start reviewing it. Compare how you did to your plan:
Are you on track in the important areas?
- Gross production
- Net proceeds
- Listings taken and buyers sold
- Where your business is coming from
- Advertising expenditures
- What is working? What can you do to take more advantage of a trend?
- What is not working as planned? Why is it not working? And most important, what can you do to get it back in line with your plan?
- From where you are at the end of June, what will it take to be back on track by the end of September so that you can hit your goal for the year at the end of December? (Note: "A miracle" is not an answer! There is a real answer that will work for you. Find it.)
- Where has your business come from this year? Is your marketing plan aligned so that you are spending money where your business is coming from?
Here's a great goal – meet your financial objectives for the year by the end of October. Then, you can relax if you want to, or go for a record year, or just get really picky about working with the perfect clients instead of the high maintenance kind!
Next: strategizing for the future. Regardless of how you've done so far, perhaps the most important action you can take from this business planning session is to look for trends.
- Are the niches you are focusing on the ones with activity? Look at the MLS data to see what trends emerge. If you do geographical farming, review last year’s numbers vs. this year's.
- What new areas are emerging? A young new home subdivision (3-5 years old) is a great place to establish a foothold as a guru before anyone else does.
- It is now possible to have real estate in an IRA, and this could be a great opportunity to generate sales that weren’t going to happen otherwise by contacting your clients to share this opportunity with them.
- With the low interest rates and refinancing frenzy, if prices do soften in some areas, we may see more repossessions. Building some alliances with lenders and banks now could yield new business in the coming months and years.
Wayne Gretsky said, "You'll always miss 100 percent of the shots you do not take." And "The fundamentals of the game are never going to change, but the things you're going to do, that changes."
Every marketplace offers individual and unique opportunities. The agents that are aware and awake to shifting before others see the trends will have an edge! Will you be there?
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Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching
Helping You Through Self-Made Limitations!
Will you Take My Challenge and increase your income? Here's what one student said:
"In 2006 I left REMAX and went to Prudential in West Chester OH. I was in a slump and Bob Daniel handed me $100 and told me to sign up for some Real Estate Game that Patti Kouri was conducting. It was the best money spent. Last year (2008) I did 100 transactions. It all began with you, Ms. Patti. My thanks." - Pamela Bensen


I can hear you because I say it too; "Where did the year go? How did it get to be almost the end of June??"
A break and current assessment can refocus you on the most important actions to take to end 2009 as a winner.
To get ready for this session with yourself, review the numbers from the first half of the year. If you’ll take the time to do an in depth view of this, you’ll discover information to make and keep you profitable.
The first bucket (no, not a real bucket!) is for your living expenses. You need 3 to 6 months of living expenses somewhere for emergencies. It can be cash in the bank or a line of credit, though if you are tapping that reserve you probably don't want to take on new debt if possible. Whatever form it is in, you need to have quick access in the event of an emergency.
Once Bucket #1 is full, only then can you start filling Bucket #2. This is your retirement bucket. This is where you are getting a good annual return on mutual funds, stocks, bonds, or real estate. You diversify your holdings so that you don't risk great losses in one market segment. When your are ready to fill the second bucket, you should be budgeting a percentage of your income to go directly into this.
Now you can think about a third bucket. This is your high-risk bucket. If you have Bucket #1 full and you are on track with bucket number 2, then anything left over goes into the high-risk bucket. In that case, if you had $10,000 left over
at the end of the year, maybe you take that trip to Vegas, or go buy those clothes, or my style is to put that money into a high-risk market. You might get into a business opportunity, a risky stock, or something else that has potential for a big return, but also carries a risk of loss. The only bucket you can touch for that kind of gamble is #3. You might invest in a high-risk venture that pays off and find you have filled Bucket #2 early. But you might also lose that investment. Either way, you still have Bucket #1 full and Bucket #2 on track.
You've heard about "scarcity thinking," haven't you? And by now you know that what you believe and hold in your mind does influence what happens in your life. If you don't think you have enough (money, time, energy, etc.), then you probably are right. That can make you pull back from opportunities and afraid to take a chance even when there's a good possibility the outcome would be in your favor.
When the raindrops keep falling on your head, you need to get out of that debt that has you thinking in scarcity mode and holding you back. Before you go to an attorney there is a lot you can do for yourself that can help you avoid the destruction of your credit and the legal, financial, and emotional burden of bankruptcy.
Stop it. Stop doing what is getting you in debt. Stop the spending, don’t buy the car, don’t buy the clothes, don’t go on the vacation, stop what you are doing. You have to stop the bleeding completely and immediately.
Control it. In some cases you need to call some creditors. If you talk to them, they will often wait and/or work with you on a payment schedule. Just pick up the phone and initiate the call, hard as that can be. Most creditors would prefer to know there's a problem and work with you – they don't want to turn it over to a collection agency either. Let people know the story. Say something like, "Listen, this is what I have each month to pay my debt, and I'm allocating $200 a month to you. It will be paid off by this date…" and make a commitment to a date you will pay them in full. And keep it.
Rainy days are a fact of life. With planning, perseverance, and follow-through, you can survive the storm.
As a real estate agent, it is important to realize that you are not just a sales person - you are first and foremost an entrepreneur. That means you are a business owner with all sorts or responsibilities, and those duties can sometimes seem to overwhelm you. Most of all, you are a leader who has the vision that propels you, your team, and your business forward.
Set aside two hours, one day a week, to work ON your business.
Choose your services above others,
When a person knows that you care


One answer might be that selling is all about saying the right things that will convince people to buy, whether it's a house, a car, or a carton of milk. Others might say that selling is about being in the right place at the right time to connect with people who are ready to buy. And some will add that selling means following tried and true methods of reaching people, knowing that a certain percentage of those contacts will turn into sales.
Anything wrong with all that? Not really, except that there's one very important point missing. In sales, and in life, what you think becomes your reality. Now expand that thought, and you'll see that at the same time, your seller's thoughts create their reality. I'm not saying that thoughts are reality, only that these accumulations of beliefs and attitudes about what reality is are what we need to recognize when working with people to complete any transaction.
Clearly, if there is to be a meeting of all these minds, somehow they need to come together. If no one budges, there's no deal at all. But you have an advantage – you know that each party has a different "reality," and so you can recognize the basis of their differences.
If your thoughts and their thoughts are not in sync, you won't be seeing things the same way, and that's the root of problems. But knowing their points of view, you are in a position to influence them. You will have to expand your "reality" to recognize and include all the others. Then you have the complete picture and can bring those different realities into alignment. That's where the real selling starts.


If you want to increase your production, first you need to know how you are doing. Track the number of hours you prospect daily for 90 days, and whom you call or get face to face with. While you are prospecting, check your energy and intensity
Your answers to these questions will tell you where you are spending your time and effort well, and what you could change to do even better.
These days you can find a formula or "best way" for just about anything – the best words to use in a listing, the best kind of sign to put in the ground, the best way to save money at the grocery store, or the best barbecue sauce. You could get the idea that you don't have to think much at all, just follow a formula.
Which, of course, is not true at all. A formula is like a recipe – ingredients that you combine in different ways and different proportions to make exactly the right combination for you. Not only do you think, you get to create and see the results of your work.
Next is strategy. It must be your strategy, not someone else's. As Vince Lombardi said, “In all my years of coaching, I have never been successful in using someone else’s plays.” Make the strategy uniquely yours and build it on networking, marketing, and prospecting.
And your plan – that all-important piece that identifies the specifics about how you will put your strategy into action. You've heard it many times before: Plan your work and work your plan. It's that simple, and that powerful.
And the final ingredient – consistency. Without consistency and perseverance, you can plan for success forever and never have it. It's not difficult, just match your skills to your personality, apply them to your plan, and do it all the time. Simple as it sounds, consistency is one of the hardest parts for many people. If it's a challenge for you, get a coach to support you in focusing on your formula and creating consistency.
Check the calendar; we're already three months in to the year. How are you doing with your plans and goals for 2009? If you made resolutions at the end of 2008, have you been able to keep them? If you’re like most people, those easier goals are probably either accomplished or in reach. The ones that were more like wishes, well, they probably haven't happened yet. In other words, you are quite normal!
can't do a thing, you're right." Think you can, and you will.
And a final question: Are you learning and having fun?