I'm currently reading a book written by an entreprenurial coach (that is, a coach who helps entrepreneurs) and just read a passage that struck me. He says that he can tell within ten minutes of talking to an entrepreneur-wannabe if they have what it takes to succeed. When he explained what he meant by that (keep reading), I was reminded of a similarly-themed blog I wrote back in early 2008, called "Reading Between the Lines of My 'Fan Mail.'" (Copied & pasted below).
What the author described as the common denominator among the not-gonna-make-it entrepreneurs was a tendency to immediately start throwing out objections to entrepreneurhood, with no attempt to or apparent interest in finding ways to overcome the objections. He cited examples such as "But I don't have a website!" and "I'm scared to speak in public!" "I don't know how to market myself!" etc.
A real estate agent not-gonna-make-it entrepreneur might say things like: "But I don't know anyone!" "I don't have a website!" "I don't know how to market myself!" "I don't have a nice-enough car!" "No one is buying or selling real estate in my market!"
Are these things true? They very well may be! And, frankly, they might be true enough to dissuade you from becoming an entrepreneur (real estate or otherwise) right now. That's actually part of the natural mindset of a true entrepreneur - to evaluate the opportunities and challenges to determine if moving forward is a viable path to success at this time... or not.
But when the "evaluation" ends at "But.... " it may be a clear indication that the person "but'ing" is not suited to be an entrepreneur. AND THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! If self-employment isn't for you, that's nothing to apologize for - there's certainly nothing wrong with NOT being suited for self-employment. My very own husband doesn't have an entrepreneurial bone in his body and I think he's a perfectly productive and worthy member of society ;-]
So, if you frequently struggle with your decision to be a real estate agent, try watching your self-talk for awhile to see how you deal with the obstacles that arise in your day-to-day. When challenges arise, do you immediately look for solutions (usually best sought in the mirror), or do you sigh and attribute the challenge to something unsolvable... and leave it at that?
Just something to think about!
And here's that blog from 2008...
I must be honest - getting fan mail from loyal readers is my very favorite thing about being a writer. I wake up 
every morning to several emails from people who have read my blog or my books and just want to say thanks. To all of you who write ... I hope you know how much your notes touch my heart.
Often in these notes, the writer tells me his or her story and often asks for advice. I'm happy to give it, when I can, and those who have written me can attest that I do almost always respond. It's fun for me and heck, I have books to sell, so the more happy customers I have, the more books I'll probably sell.
I hesitate to continue because what I'm about to say may make some of my readers a little uncomfortable.
Reading between the lines of the notes I receive, I'm pretty sure I can tell who is going to make it and who isn't. Now, I obviously don't have any cold hard data to support this claim, but I'm confident I'm right. There is a HUGE difference in attitude between agents who have the mojo to survive and those who don't. Between the agents who truly understand (or at least truly WANT to understand) the process of exchanging real estate and those who just want to know how best to get clients FAST. Between agents who have the confidence in themselves they'll need to project a can-do attitude... and those who are just desperate for a sale.
I wish I could provide some examples so you could see the difference, but obviously that would be indiscreet. My point is that if it's this obvious to me that someone is struggling -- simply thru their written word, I imagine it must be even more obvious to those in their day-to-day world - those who (whom?) the agent is depending upon for his or her professional survival.
Mojo is really important. Confidence is really important. Knowledge is really important. And you wanna know how you get some Mojo? It's not that hard... Knowledge... leads to Confidence...which leads to Mojo.
Keep those cards and letters coming (yeah, right, I probably just scared most of you away!)
