Hydrating Your Business

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Hydrating Your Business

By Kim Ades

What happens when we don’t drink enough water? Dehydration. And what happens over time if our body is in a constant state of dehydration? We don’t perform, we are tired, we are off, we get cranky, our memory starts to go, we get high blood pressure, we suffer from headaches and we shut down.

The quality of the liquids we fuel up with have a direct impact on our health and well being. Water is critical to the process and constant hydration is a must.

Unfortunately, in real estate, we are subject to professional dehydration and it manifests by the constant see-saw of our income, our slavery to the phone, our lack of knowledge about where the next deal will come from, how the next month will look and if next year we will perform as well as last year.

Just like water is critical to physical well being, accountability is critical to success in real estate. Unfortunately, as agents we are independent contractors and as brokers, we are entrepreneurs?in both cases we are on our own?and inherently there is no accountability.

Why is this so important? Aside from setting goals, accountability is the single most important factor in reaching those goals. Accountability is what keeps us focused, alert, productive, and on top of our game. Just like water helps us obtain equilibrium and performance in our bodies, accountability helps us to obtain equilibrium and performance in our careers.

So the question remains, how can we have accountability in real estate if we are essentially working for ourselves? We need to set up an external system of accountability where we report to someone on our productivity and goal attainment and where there are consequences for not keeping our commitments. The most effective way to do this is by hiring a coach whose sole purpose is to keep you accountable to your commitments. Ideally the coach would also have some knowledge and experience in your field and have an intimate understanding of your professional challenges and opportunities. And a good coach would examine your personal life and help you to unblock the things getting in your way of success.

They say you need no less than eight to 10 glasses of water a day to properly fuel your body. A coach would serve as your source for professional hydration. Consider a coach?at least twice a month.

Kim Ades is the director of marketing at Richard Robins International (RRI). RRI provides business and personal coaching and educational development for agents, managers and brokers in the real estate industry. For more information please contact kim@richardrobbins.com, (905) 477-7171 x3033

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Friday, March 19, 2010