I was born to be a Realtor. I didn’t realize it until I was in my mid 30’s. Really, how many people grow up wanting to be a Realtor?? The first few years were torture. I didn’t make a lot of money and hadn’t expected to. At one point, however, I wondered if the effort and the hours was worth the emotional stress I was feeling. Did you know that the “Lifespan” of the average
Realtor is 10 months. Taking all of the 1,000,000 plus Realtors out there, did you know that the average income is $35,000 BEORE expenses and taxes. That is $35,000 a year NOT a month. I cried A LOT those first few years. I will never know why I stuck through it, but I am so glad I did.
Somewhere the light bulb went off. I went to a 3 day seminar and the presenter spoke to my soul. You do not sell houses, he pointed out, you sell your ability to help people move forward in their lives and find better lifestyle choices. Being a lifelong “people pleaser” I found my WHY. I don’t sell houses. I help clients move forward with confidence. I give them the information and the emotional support they need during times of stress to make decisions. Many moves are not happy moves.
I found I became very significant in the lives of my clients. I was able to find the solutions to most, never all, of their problems. I helped some move forward after divorces, death of a spouse or loss of job a job. I helped some renegotiate their mortgages so that they could stay in their homes. I helped them to define ultimate goals and gave them the mini steps they needed to rebuild credit or find more suitable housing. I found temporary housing for people after the macroburst. I helped children dispose of processions of a parent who had recently died or needed to go into a nursing home. I have battled tax amounts and found resources from everything to bats in the attic to flooded basements. I am in the people helping business. I’m not using these illustrations to pat myself on the back but to illustrate the internal satisfaction I get every day from what I do. I also found, through the trails of my client, that every dark cloud has a silver lining and that there is always hope for a better tomorrow. Sometimes you need to be the supporting bridge between where they are and where they need to be. You need to be the lever that gets them unstuck.
I also found myself surrounded by other agents with similar mindsets and referral and business resources that encouraged me to stretch beyond my comfort zone and to expand my perception of what I could accomplish. This group taught me valuable lessons about persistence, business models, empathy, technology, marketing, communication and balance (I’m still working on that one).
I love what I do. I did not look for my WHY, MY PURPOSE, it found me. I guess that is the ultimate moral of the story.