First time sharing my thoughts, cheers

So, I've been on the site for awhile now, and never had a reason to write anything.
I'm a musician, not an author. I've always had the utmost respect for those who could paint with words as opposed to strings/air.

Today, someone wrote me a PM asking me advice about getting into real estate, based on a comment I made to The Abyss. I just wanted to post it here in case anyone with a hat and a whip was able to glean any information from my poorly chiseled crap.
I don't fancy myself an author, I'd never tried (besides a required short story to my middle-school Lit teacher). However, I enjoyed writing this response. It made me really examine myself as a person, and it made me wonder if everyone who sits down to write experiences the same feeling of self-discovery.
Anyway, it was fun, and who knows? I may start exploring myself as a writer. I certainly am not doing anything else creatively with myself at this point.
If you feel like pursuing Real Estate, the following points are probably the biggest points I could glean from my career. Keep in mind, I'm no expert:

Q:Hi! I saw your comment on Abyss's post. I'm a senior in high school and have been thinking of becoming a real estate agent for the past couple of years, is there anything that you can tell me about it that are a must to be happy and be successful?

A: Ha, well I have my license but I'm not actively in the field as a REA.
I mainly do clerical work for our Agents in the main office as a Transaction Coordinator now, and only went to get my license in order to educate myself further.
I will mention a few things I've seen in our industry (and my life) since I left the cutthroat bullshit of restaurants behind:

- Be respectful, and grammatically correct in everything you send in writing/email. You never know who that may be forwarded to, and it can make/break your reputation.
- Read your writing out loud before you send it. You spot so many errors that make you sound like an idiot by doing that. The last time I checked; No one wanted an idiot representing them legally.
- Be open to the ideas of your peers, don't dismiss anything out of ignorance. Try and learn the perspective of your peers/clients, even if you don't personally hold them to heart. A good salesperson has empathy.
- Be organized. If it takes you too long to put together a *report* for your boss/client, they will question how prepared you would be in case of an audit.
-Be yourself: As tempting as it can be to parrot the methods of your peers, watch yourself. Don't blindly adopt a successful persona if it's not true to your personality. In my experience, people spot fakes very quickly.
- DON'T GIVE UP: I have failed so many times over my career at many things. The big thing is to keep those failures with you as guides, but never as anchors. This may be the hardest part of success. I am overly critical of myself, and held myself back for quite a few years because of it. Hold your failures in your heart, but don't chain them to your legs.

Lastly, in regards the real estate sales: Make connections whenever you can, be polite, and make yourself memorable. Don't do the cookie-cutter bullshit and leave it to the internet search algorithms to find your clients.
Look at what your peers are doing and do more. Personally, my best performing Agents are the ones that meet their clients face-to-face. At the very least, even if that person doesn't buy/sell, you establish a relationship with a person and expand your web of clients. They won't do that for a faceless asshole on the internet.
*Also, use HomeSnap.com and your public tax records * Really useful tools for market analysis.
Cheers, and good goddamn luck!

Comments

[Ryza]

Cool! Thanks for the advice, and I can agree with you on how writing allows for self0discovery