This is my second post in a series about reinventing yourself in the field of real estate. In the first post, I reviewed why it is important to reinvent yourself and exactly what reinvention means.
Thanks to the Internet the real estate market and the industry have changed quite a bit in the last few years. Online opportunities are a dime a dozen, and it is challenging to keep abreast of all of the changes faced in the industry—particularly those surrounding the distressed property market.
If you want to take you career in a new direction in 2011, go back to my first post and start by following the instructions there.
Once you have done that, consider where you are right now. What do you have today that you want to keep in your life and develop further? Write down all the positives in your career that are working for you. Where have you seen results? What has not worked for you? Write down a list of all of your closings and all of your clients from 2010. How many were listings? In how many did you represent the buyer? How many were referrals from your sphere of influence of from other agents and affiliates? Analyze the source of your business and you may see some surprising trends. Consider allowing those trends to flourish in 2011.
Next, create a list of priorities. It can be easy to get overwhelmed at the thought of changing absolutely everything at once. Pick two main priorities in your career that you absolutely want to work on now. Prioritize the rest of your list based on how important each item is to you.
Now, create a plan to reinvent yourself. Start with the two top priorities on your list. You know how you want your career to look. How do you want to get there? If your top priority is to obtain more short sale listings by referral from your sphere of influence, then create a tactical plan for how you will get there. Are there people you can contact that will help you achieve that goal? How will you contact them? Can you further your education so you can get a foot in the door? Create a list of strategies that you can use to get to this new destination. Then, break the list of strategies into goals and timelines.
Reinventing yourself for 2011 is hard work, and will probably take a lot more than a magic wand and an abracadabra to achieve.
Photo: flickr Creative Commons by kennymatic
