Which meant a focus on YOU, my cherished real estate family; on making a difference; and on having fun!

As we head toward the New Year, most of you know I purchased Star Power on September 1^st. While that certainly means change, it also means a great opportunity to keep doing the things I love most. You matter for both.

Welcome Home. I said this two years ago, and it’s just as true today… maybe even more so.

Heading up Star Power for the future is the definition of full circle. I poured nearly 12 years of my heart and soul into the organization that I grew up in. And after grieving its passing, and moving on, it’s back and I’ve been blessed to be given the opportunity to take the reins!

2020 brought me clarity. These three statements remain the same:

• I was put here to MAKE A DIFFERENCE through coaching and consulting in business.
• Real estate professionals and their teams are my FIRST LOVE and my PRIMARY FOCUS.
• Fulfillment includes my core values of RELATIONSHIPS and FUN.

Taking Star Power forward gives me the ideal environment to continue to accomplish these things.

AND, it also affords us the opportunity to do SO much MORE.

The core offerings bring the best of the original Star Power forward. The monthly Star Power Club interviews; the Annual Conference; specialized University programs; and Star Power Coaching. Visit https://starpower.com to learn more and sign up.

NEW offerings are a critical part of the future of Star Power. Some of the first additions you’ll see actually stem from hatchlings incubated at Real Estate Masters Guild – One-Day Masterminds, six-month cohorts of small-group virtual Masterminds, and one-day workshops.

And MORE good news:

Star Power offers a much broader platform to spread the word about Kilimanjaro Kidz Education Foundation, my passion project to sponsor private education for the children of the porters working on Mt. Kilimanjaro. (Yup, I climbed it, and came back with a vision!) Visit https://kilimanjarokidz.com for more info.

So, Are You With Me?

This month marks 30 years of me being in the real estate industry. Thank you for your support, encouragement, and commitment over the years. Come join us at Star Power and let us help you make the years ahead your best years yet!

And be sure to bring along all those in your network who should be keeping up on what’s working in this ever-changing, crazy industry.

We truly do win when we help others!

And the immediate response we give to that question? “You’re not going to like the answer.”

Plenty of research will tell you that the most profitable source of business is the repeat and referral business coming from those people that already know you, like you, and trust you. And yet, nearly every real estate professional seems to struggle with reaching out personally to their past clients and customers. How about you?

There are a handful of reasons why agents don’t follow through on communicating with folks they helped buy or sell a home:

1. It’s been too long since they talked to the person.
   This may surprise you, but your past clients haven’t been pining away, wondering why you haven’t called. More likely, they’ll be pleasantly surprised you’re calling and even happy to hear from you!
   
2. They don’t know what they’re going to say.
   Let’s not over-complicate this. Say hi. Ask how they’re doing. Listen. Ask what you can be helping them with. That’s it. Focus on being of service and nurturing the relationship.
   
3. They think they’re bothering the person.
   You’re only a bother when you call and ask for something without offering anything of value to them. That makes you a telemarketer.
   
4. The database is too big to make a personal contact with everyone.
   First, determine who your highest priority people are to reach out to. Whether that’s 50, 100, or 250, get them classified. Then, if you have a team, consider letting others on the team do the following up with others beyond your core.
   
5. They’re not doing a good job of maintaining a database.
   Reasons aren’t important; the reality is that many agents haven’t done a great job of keeping thorough, updated contact information for all their past clients and sphere of influence. This makes for a great reason to reach out, to update that contact information!
   

With the excuses out of the way, it becomes a simple matter of systems.

• Get everyone assigned a recurring task for at minimum twice a year, and ideally quarterly, to be contacted by you directly. This can be a phone call, a text, a Facebook DM… whatever way they most like to be communicated with. If you don’t know what their favorite is, start with a phone call, and ask them!
• Block time in your calendar to do this daily.
• Be accountable to someone for getting it done

If you are coming from a place of genuine interest in being of service to people, your ongoing and consistent check-ins will result in repeat and referral business. And you won’t ever have to resort to, “Who do you know that might be buying or selling in the next 6 months?” ever again.

BONUS – Other Reasons to Call

• We’re providing updated asset valuations for our clients for retirement and planning purposes. Would you like us to do one for you?
• We have a specific buyer looking for (particular criteria); who do you know that’s considering selling whose home might fit that criteria?
• Our next client appreciation event is coming up on [date] and we’d love to have you join us.
• We have two extra tickets to the (ball game/concert/charity event/community activity) this week, would you like to use them?

Exciting News!

Amy’s up to some exciting things! Be sure to come visit Star Power and sign up for the latest news there, too!

Let me tell you why it’s SO much more than that.

Yes, you want to know the end game for your business. Where you want to end up will guide many of the decisions you make today. Some call this a visioning process. With a clear end in mind, you can design a plan to get there. It may be a 15-year plan or a five-year plan. And a great coach will help you work backwards to develop the one-year plan and even the monthly, weekly, and daily activities to get you there.

What you might not have considered is that a succession plan ties directly to some agents’ GROWTH plan. If you’re wanting to stay in real estate and grow exponentially faster, you might look at acquiring the business of someone who does have their eyes on retirement.

Whether you’re thinking about selling or considering a buyout, the elements of succession planning are relevant.

The top three questions we coaches get asked are:

• What is considered the asset?
• How do I figure out what it’s worth?
• How do we make the transition with the client base and the market?

What IS the Asset?

A real estate business, in terms of its salability, boils down primarily to the core database of past clients and referring sphere of influence. It may also include a geographic farm, depending on the length and quality of the farming effort. What is NOT part of the asset, generally speaking, are leads you’ve been paying directly to obtain – like paid Zillow and REALTOR.com leads, or pay-per-click sources. Your building, equipment, and furnishings are also not part of the asset. And your staff are not part of the asset, in terms of an asset that can be valued and sold.

How do you VALUE it?

There are layers to valuing the asset. Starting with a five- to seven-year annualized average, many additional factors must be taken into consideration that might decrease that annualized value. As referenced in the definition of the asset, reviewing the source of business might uncover portions of the business that need to be removed from the overall value. If 75% of your business comes from repeat and referral business, then you may be looking to reduce that annualized value to 75% of its original number.

The type and length of payout also impacts value. Most buyers put a percentage down and pay out in two to three years. Some may not have the upfront money and so agree to pay out over a longer period of time for a higher total price than the value. And in rare cases, the buyer pays up front and the seller might be willing to take a fraction of the annualized value.

In addition, how WELL that database has been kept in communication with plays a huge role in whether or not the value can be expected to continue.

What is the TRANSITION plan?

There are multiple considerations to how a business transitions. It’s important to consider how the market perceives the transition, as it can impact the viability of the asset (the database) continuing to produce for the new owner. The initial announcement, the direct contact with the past clients being acquired, the ongoing marketing, the appearance of the selling agent in future marketing and at client appreciation events, all need to be taken into consideration.

There are plenty of other fine details that must be considered. Proper legal documents; non-compete clause; what happens if either party doesn’t hold up their end of the agreement; what role the seller will take on, if any, on the acquiring team. And many sellers have no idea what they’re going to do with themselves if they’re not in the day-to-day chaos of the business anymore.

Seek the help of a professional who has been through the process and can help you examine your specific situation: agents in growth mode, that means you too. If done right, you could be helping more than one agent who’s ready to be done realize some value from their years of hard work.

Exciting News!

Amy’s up to some exciting things! Be sure to come visit Star Power and sign up for the latest news there, too!

Abundant surveys and case studies support this, with successes reporting 70%, 75%, or higher of annual production coming from repeat and referral business from their past clients and sphere of influence.

And yet, you’re still not doing what you need to do to ensure that business comes to you. Over twenty years of coaching REALTORS® at every level of production and team size supports me telling you not only why you’re not calling, but also how to change it.

You may be spending thousands, even tens of thousands, of dollars to “stay in front of” your past clients and sphere of influence. You might be sending a monthly e-newsletter, holiday greetings, postcard mailings… and yet, you’re not doing the most important, most effective, and least costly thing to get that repeat and referral business: DIRECT, 1-to-1 CONTACT, Consistently.

Why You Don’t Call

There are 3 main reasons why even the best agents don’t manage to make these contacts consistently:

1. You don’t know who to call. You know the group – “past clients and sphere of influence” is pretty self-explanatory. However, you may be facing anywhere from 250 to 2,500 people in that core group. Where do you start? It’s overwhelming, so you don’t.
2. You don’t know what to say. You need to have a reason, a purpose, something of value to offer them, and you haven’t figured out what that is.
3. You have a fear of rejection. For some reason, you’re convinced that either it’s been so long since you interacted with them one-on-one that they’ll be unhappy that you haven’t called, or that you’re as annoying to them as a telemarketer. You don’t want to be hung up on, right?

How to Change It

These people already KNOW you, LIKE you, and TRUST you. They need to be called, texted, instant messaged, whatever their preferred method of communication is. And not just ONE time. Consistently.

1. Who to call. Which method appeals to you most?
   1. By likelihood of listing soon. Buyers you represented who are at least 3 years in the property are a great place to start
   2. By closed date, most recent and working backwards. Those who closed most recently might seem easier to talk to because it hasn’t been so long.
      
   3. Alphabetical. Just start at A, and take a batch each day.
2. What to say. Keep it simple! Most effective now:
   1. “I’m reaching out to check on you. How are you getting along? What’s new since the last time we connected?”
   2. “We have a severe inventory shortage, and one of our prospective buyers is looking specifically for [particular neighborhood, requirements for a certain type of property, etc.]. Who do you know that might be even remotely considering selling?”
3. Fear of rejection. Can I let you in on a secret? Your past clients are not sitting at home, pining away because they haven’t heard from their real estate agent. More often they’re pleasantly surprised to hear from you!

Now, remember I said Consistently? Develop the discipline of everyone you interact with having a NEXT. A NEXT is simply a planned next activity, scheduled in your CRM, so you can set it and forget it until it shows up on your list of daily tasks

Set a goal to get through all of your past clients and sphere of influence over a three-month period, then plan for each person to have a NEXT of a semi-annual direct connect at minimum, or quarterly if you really want to get the best results.

Exciting News!

Amy’s up to some exciting things! Be sure to come visit Star Power and sign up for the latest news there, too!

What’s crazy is that, if they’d only made a different choice, they might have lived to see another day. Hmm… that actually seems like a message that applies to our businesses and lives.

(These are indeed the things I think about when I’m driving down the highway. Crazy, right?)

Life lessons coming – keep reading.

I’m just returning from a road trip, and as we’re driving up the interstate to return home, I start noticing how many bugs have met an untimely death on the windshield in front of me. Why is that?

Clearly, they were habitually moving through their day. They weren’t looking to be taken out, and they also weren’t dialed in to shifts that were occurring in the environment around them. Sadly, if they had flown just a tiny bit higher, they would have cleared the windshield and would have still been on their way.

Which leads me to think: how often are we mindlessly navigating through our days, not really paying attention to what’s happening around us? Not just the literal environment; what’s happening in our lives, and in our businesses, that we’re simply not taking notice of or giving consideration to. We get bogged down in our daily task work and we neglect the bigger picture.

It’s not the major correction that’s going to save us. It’s the minor tweaks, the incremental gains, that are going to make the difference between life or death in our business futures, and our quality of life. By making small changes, we elevate our performance. And the higher caliber of performance leads to better outcomes.

Pause right now and write down the first three things that occur to you that you’ve put off addressing in your business or your life. What is one small change you could make in each of those three areas? Write it down. Now, choose one of those three to act on this week.

If you haven’t read the book, One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way, by Robert Maurer, I recommend you pick it up. You’ll gain practical insight and direction about the power of small, incremental changes that lead to big results.

And if you want some help identifying your three, email me at amy@realestatemastersguild.com or call me at 303.682.1072 and we’ll schedule time to chat.

And yet, do you ever find you have to get the message multiple times, from many different directions, before you have that aha moment and you finally “get it”?

We’re so busy. So much is happening. We can’t catch a breath. We keep going because we feel we must. I’m encouraging you to take a timeout. Hit pause. Just stop. You need it. And the people around you are silently (or not so much) begging you to stop being crazy and start being present. Keep reading if I’ve grabbed your attention.

How Far Will You Go to Get It?

I like to play full out. Coaching, collaborating, connecting, content building, Kilimanjaro Kidz, climbing, kickboxing… I am passionate about these things and more, so I pour myself into them with gusto. And, because I have so many things that fire me up, like you perhaps, I get tired. I get cranky. I need a reality check. I need a timeout.

In April, I boarded a plane (3 actually) and traveled 9,000 miles to return to the magical country of Tanzania. Some of you know I first went there in 2019 to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, visit a children’s home, and then go on safari. And if you know that, you also know that I came back an altered person, with a deep understanding of why God put me on this Earth.

This second visit was to be all about the kids. The non-profit I started as a result of that first, life-altering trip, Kilimanjaro Kidz Education Foundation, was up to 40 sponsored students (now 44 and growing)! I was going to meet nearly all of those amazing children and their families, to see how they are all doing, to listen to what their needs are, and to continue plans for the future. I was also going to see and spend time with my “brothers” – 12 of the crew that took us up Kilimanjaro. My heart knew I was heading home to my extended family.

I prepared for the trip, wrapped up everything I could, and headed out. I committed to staying off email for two solid weeks. Once there, I discovered I wasn’t able to listen to my voicemail, so I unplugged from that for two weeks. Texts were kept to a minimum. And in two weeks, I only set an alarm to wake up for church on two Sundays.

Something truly magical happened. I experienced fully unplugging and being completely in the moment. I was PRESENT. Unhurried, undistracted, unbothered. I experienced. I noticed. I enjoyed. I relaxed. I appreciated. I restored.

And to think, I only had to travel 9,000 miles to Get It!

This got me wondering, what can I do to experience more of this at home? I made some commitments to myself that I’ll share with all of you:

• Simplify. I pack so much into my daily schedule that sometimes I forget to eat. Some days, I am lucky to pee. (I know, TMI.) I am revising my Big Rocks that go in my schedule and questioning whether each thing I contemplate adding after that enriches or depletes me.
• Delegate. I have an amazing VA who has been patiently waiting for me to put more on her plate. She’s a rock star, and I have known for awhile there are many things I could be handing off. I am revising a list for her and will let go more.
• De-clutter. There are too many “things” in my environment and it’s distracting and energy draining. I am in process of evaluating each space I spend time in and asking, “What in here is no longer meaningful or useful and needs to go live with someone else?”

By the way, I had planned to be back in Tanzania in May 2023 to take a group on a Make a Difference Safari (pm me for details). I realized I want to be there sooner. So that Big Rock is going into December’s calendar. Everything is possible when you get clear on what fills you up.

Need someone to direct your timeout? Email me at amy@realestatemastersguild.com or call me at 303.682.1072 if you’d like some help.

I was born and raised in the Midwest, where a colorful lip and a touch of eyeshadow are still fairly standard. However, after 26 years in Colorado, I can definitely call myself a mountain girl. Who needs to get dolled up to leave the house?

Since it had been five years since I last had business photos taken, it was time for an update. I knew I needed hair and makeup done, as well as the photos themselves and coordinating schedules with multiple people was proving to be a challenge. I put it off for months, and then finally, the need was great enough that I reached out to a friend locally.

She referred me to the ideal solution – a set of sisters, one a hair and makeup professional, the other a photographer. I met them face to face at a party at my friend’s house, explained I was looking to shoot for three separate brands, and asked them to please follow up with me the following week.

A month went by. No contact. Urgent was itching toward desperate. I reached back out to my friend. She apologized, promised to follow up with them, and gave me a lead on someone who was new to her that came highly recommended.

What happened next is an experience and a lesson that we should all use as a wake-up call on our own level of communication, follow-up, and service. Read on.

An Experience Wins Over This Client

Enter Christina. She is a genius. She immediately responded to my initial call. She asked questions, got to know me and what I was trying to accomplish, and then shared how she works. She asked if her process was a fit for me before she ever discussed her fees. I was won over multiple times before she closed for the sale.

She followed up with an email to confirm, that included a beautifully presented service summary of everything we’d discussed. She sent appointment confirmations. She gave reminder checklists and welcomed questions.

On the day of the shoot, she confirmed every choice we’d discussed as they came back up. She had ensured that the food and beverages she’d stocked based on what I had said I liked were still good. She talked me through each step of the process as we were doing it and used prior knowledge to put me at ease and make me feel seen, heard, and understood.

By the time we were sitting down to review the 159 photos she’d taken in 5 different outfits, I was happy and ready to buy. I spent triple what I’d originally planned. Why? It now seemed like a bargain, a good investment, for what I’d received.

Take a look at your process. There are several touch points in the business of transacting real estate. Consider these and see what opportunities you uncover.

• First Introduction: How timely is your initial contact? Don’t leave prospects waiting and wondering.
• Follow-up: How well and how often do you stay in touch prior to their commitment to sell or buy with you?
• During the Transaction: What are you doing to keep them informed, and feeling comfortable about the process?

Each part of the process deserves your best, to give them their best.

Sometimes an outside analyst can help you uncover things you don’t see or notice. Email me at or call me at 303.682.1072 if you’d like some added perspective.

When he came in the house and was making a bloody footprint every time he stepped down, I knew he would need stitches.

The vet, unfortunately, was already overbooked and ten minutes from closing time. They encouraged me to clean it up, wrap it up, and see if I could get the bleeding to stop on its own. If not, I’d be heading to the ER veterinarian 30 minutes up the road.

After a brief moment where I considered a meltdown, I pulled myself together and remembered I’m the daughter of an EMT. This is my jam. We triaged the dog, I wrapped him up tight, and it stopped bleeding. (Side note – hydrogen peroxide is GREAT for removing multiple bloody doggy footprints out of your light-colored carpet.)

Call it mother’s intuition, on Saturday I still had a feeling this wound wasn’t going to finish healing without some stitches. I could look between his toes and see we had a gash twice the length it was originally, and any pressure on the foot would push it wide open. So I got him into the vet Saturday afternoon, and they filled it with stitches, wrapped it up tight, and sent him home with a cone around his head and a special bag to put over the foot anytime he goes outside so it doesn’t get wet from the snow and ice. And on a leash to his beloved backyard playground so he doesn’t tear the stitches out. Now, to wait just 10 to 14 days for it to fully heal, bringing him in every 3 to 5 days for a professional bandage change.

I promise, I’m getting to a business tie-in. Keep reading if you’re curious.

Fall Down Seven Times … Stand Up Eight

Sunday morning hits. I’m preparing for church. My husband and sons lose sight of the dog for 5 minutes while I’m showering, and Houdini (his newly-given name, you’ll see why) has managed to manipulate the cone, get to the tip of the bandages, and pull the entire “cast” off his foot.

This means we get to go to the ER, as my vet is closed on Sunday. $100-plus and two hours later, he’s re-bandaged, with a longer cone. We’re good.

Monday, I take my husband to the airport early, and he’s gone on business for the week. And so it begins.

Over the course of ten days, Houdini will destroy the bandage every two days. I pay to have the vet fix it four more times. Then two days before the stitches are to come out, Houdini gets out of the bandage, eats it, throws it up. I put him in the warmer, dryer yard for just a couple minutes while I clean up the mess. And in THAT time he manages to tear a stitch.

Back to the vet. 3 to 5 more days. New bandage. Cone tied to his collar now.

I want to quit. So many times. I want to let him roam free and take my chances. And his. That he won’t get an infection, won’t tear more stitches. But I don’t. I do triage. I wrap it using my dad’s EMT methods from days of yore. I resolve to wrap it myself every day until the stitches come out.

The Japanese Proverb states, “Fall down seven times. Stand up eight.” This market we’re in, with low inventory, with crazy multiple-offer situations, where buyers write and lose 3, 4, 5 times is exhausting.

You either quit real estate and go work a “regular job” OR you get back up. You find new ways to succeed. You persist until you break through.

Sellers still need to sell. Buyers will buy. Where can you get ahead of the curve to find the listings?

• Go searching on behalf of a buyer’s specific needs. Mail, call, door knock if it’s appropriate. “I have a particular buyer looking for this specific type of property in your neighborhood. Who do you know whose house might fit the criteria?”
• Connect with seniors through a virtual or in-person seminar. Gather your probate attorney, de-cluttering expert, auctions specialist, reverse mortgage lender, senior living director and give tons of value.
• Talk to your elder care and probate attorneys. See what you can do to help them help their clients.
• Reach out to investors who may be unaware of the equity they’re sitting on.

There are many more ways to generate listings. These will get you started. Contact me if you need more.

By the way, Houdini is free now. Stitches out, cone retired, living his best life sprinting around the backyard with his beloved brother. He didn’t give up, and neither did I. You shouldn’t either.

ASK FOR HELP if you need it. Email me at amy@realestatemastersguild.com or call me at 303.682.1072 and I’ll help you get back up.

I woke up on Tuesday, November 30, just six hours before my first of three flights would be departing. I had inexplicable anxiety. I wasn’t well. I went to the bathroom and just sat. For 30 minutes, I debated. I prayed. And then I started to cry. What was happening?

I decided to postpone. Two days prior, the news of a coronavirus variant, referred to as Omicron, had been announced. The U.S. had cut off travel to seven South African countries. Not where I was headed, but concerning nonetheless. A week later, other countries, including Tanzania, my destination, had been added. I would have been stuck on the other side of the world!

So what does any of that have to do with business planning?

The Best-Laid Plans… and a PLAN B

The best time to business plan for next year? It’s already passed. So now what? Well, the second best time to plan is RIGHT NOW. It’s never too late for planning. And it’s a critical part of ensuring you achieve the goals you’re dreaming about. Where do you start?

I won’t pretend that business planning is easy. However, it IS simple.

Let me give you the five key areas to consider:

1. Identity. This includes Vision, Mission, Core Values, Guiding Principles, and Purpose. These five come together to form the foundation on which you build a meaningful business.
2. Financial Plan. Simply put, your numbers. Production: this includes sales volume, business by source, and gross commission income. Budget: this declares cost of goods sold and business expenses based on your projected gross, and thus net income.
3. Marketing Plan. In real estate, that means four key areas: Past clients/sphere of influence; Brand awareness; Listing marketing; and New Business generation. What, when, and how need to be answered for each of these.
4. Team Building. Even a “solo agent” has a team. So first, think Leverage. When, What, and How do you offload some of the workload you’re carrying? Vendor colleagues, virtual assistants, part- or full-time staff, sales agents? After those questions are answered, think Quality. That includes training, accountability, and culture.
5. Systems. Anything that you do more than once needs a system; consider systems in all three of the following areas: Transactional, Follow-up, and Internal Operations. What needs added, improved, or discontinued?

Now, once you have gone through all those areas, it’s time to go back through and consider your Plan B. All sorts of things could happen to derail your well-laid-out plan. Weather, world crises, market shifts, life events… these and other unexpected occurrences might force you to make adjustments. It’s called Contingency Planning, and it’s an important next stage to effective business planning.

Which brings me to Africa. Tanzania, to be specific. Many of you know I started a charity to help the children of our beloved Mt. Kilimanjaro crew members and their fellow workers. (Visit here if you want to know more or get involved.) Months of planning went into this trip. Flights and lodging are the easy part. Transportation is a little trickier but still fairly easily solved.

Much more involved: Could we possibly gather all, or most, of the now-39 sponsored students and their families? If you know me, you understand how much getting to meet and hug all those wonderful people would be for my heart and soul. And by gosh, by the grace of God and the planning of two very compassionate and reliable “brothers” of mine there in Tanzania, we had it figured out. Until I postponed.

So I’m in process of forming a Plan B, which looks much like Plan A, on different dates, but with some changes. For example, the children were all at the end of their school year in December. Easier to get them together, naturally. The trip will now (hopefully) be centered around a holiday or break when there are extra days off from school. Flights can be rescheduled. Hotels can be re-booked. Coronavirus, well, we wait a bit and see what unfolds. I’m still going to Africa. Count on it.

No matter what life throws your way, don’t quit. Get up. Get going.

And if you’re stalled out with business planning, ASK FOR HELP. This is what coaches are for! Email me or call 303.682.1072 to schedule a 15-minute consult to get your plan for 2022 in place.

Not enough listings… too many offers… appraisal issues… the list goes on.

Most of us have experienced a day (or several) where we’re questioning whether we want to get up and do this all over again tomorrow. If only there were a reset button.

What are YOU doing to reset tonight and get back to your best tomorrow?

Fill the G.A.P. and Find Yourself Moving Forward

Do any of these statements ring true for you?

• I wake up and reach for my phone to check texts and email to see what blew up overnight.
• I sometimes (often?) lay awake at night rolling through an ever-growing list of things I need to remember to get done.
• I’ve sat up in bed in a panic about something I may have forgotten to do.
• I fall into bed exhausted and/or wake up feeling fatigued.
• Most days I just can’t keep up.

Real estate is relentless. Do you want to live reactively for the rest of your career?

Identifying the G.A.P.

Many of you may have a morning ritual. That’s an important and valuable practice. But did you know the process really starts the night before?

The GAP is a simple five-minute exercise you do each night before climbing into bed and drifting off. Its success is born of its simplicity. Grab a journal, a laptop, or your phone and write down the following:

G = Gratitude
What are you grateful for, in this moment? Even on the crummiest of days, we can all find something to be grateful for. Simple gifts like having running water are worth your gratitude. Are you grateful for a warm, sunny autumn day? The attentiveness of one of your peers when you needed to vent? Write down at least one gratitude each night.

A = Accomplishment
Acknowledging any step to move forward, no matter the size of the step, is critical. What is one thing you accomplished today? Did you get an offer accepted? Reduce the number of emails in your Inbox? On a really rough day, did you still manage to get up, get dressed, and get out the door? Write down one accomplishment below your gratitude.

P = Priorities
Some days in real estate, it feels like everything is urgent. The reality is, we’re not in a whole lot of life-or-death situations. If you let the day start by reacting to the first email or phone call that catches on fire, you may never get your big business picture moving forward. Get clear on the most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Write down your Top 3 (or fewer) priorities for the coming day. This will help your mind relax so that you sleep better, and it will also help you get up tomorrow with a sense of purpose.

Commit to doing your GAP each evening for two weeks. Then evaluate if you notice any positive changes as a result.

We’re looking for six more clients to level up their business in 2022 with the support of a dedicated coach! Email or call 303.682.1072 to schedule a 15-minute consult to get you on the path to great success.