“World's Most Complete Neighborpedia”
Sponsor a Community — What is Localism? | Register or Sign In
Explore:   What's happening in your neck of the woods?
Home Jeff Setzer

Jeff Setzer

Blog_tag

To stay or go?

09-30-08
Jeff Setzer

I know this question has passed through the minds of many agents within many brokerages. What makes one that loves what they do, decide to hang it up and move on to newer adventures?

Is it the struggling economy, the third bad year of the housing market, more bad news from the feds, no support, no training, loss of fellow agents, finances, this list now days seems to be endless?

All good questions and I am sure there are more out there amongst us. I myself, like most had a banner year in 2005 and now have seen a decline in both personal motivation and profits over the past three years. The question to stay or go constantly runs through my mind as I plug away trying to keep my pipeline filled with qualified prospects. An old friend of mine and broker, warned me when I was new to the business not to get caught up in what he called "Stink think". We have all been there, it is when you lose the ability to self-motivate and keep the momentum moving forward. It is hard not to think this way when you have the media, friends, relatives and even other agents talkikng in a negative fashion. This eventually leads to self doubt and the ultimate question "To stay or go?"

I propose there is no right or wrong answer to this question. For each agent it is different. If you have ever seen the movie with Billy Crystal "City Slickers". Curly and Billy are riding their horses somewhere outwest and Curly turns to Billy and says "you know what the secret to life is? It's one thing. One thing. You stick to that and the rest doesn't mean squat". It's different for everyone and you have to find that one thing that makes you happy. It may be hard to do when you see friends leaving the field and profits not as good as they once were, but do some soul searching and find out what makes you happy. What is your chocolate? It may be Real Estate, it may not. Maybe the right thing to do is move on to a less stressful career. Or just maybe you are good at what you do and couldn't imagine life elsewhere or doing anything else. It can't be about the money. Although when you spend more than you make something has to give eventually.

I have always believed that if you do things for the right reasons, you will be prosperous and the money will come. Invest in yourself, believe in yourself and at least once a year do a self analysis and decide if you are going to be the best agent you can be or is it time to hang up your spurs and ride off into the sunset.

Happy trails and hope to hear back from those of you who are experiencing the same,

Jeff

9 Comments