Coffee Is For Closers

Starting from Scratch: How I Built a Thriving Real Estate Career Without a Sphere of Influence When I began my real estate journey over 25 years ago, I didn’t exactly scream “future top producer.” I was fresh out of college, armed with enthusiasm, a questionable wardrobe, and a social circle that mostly revolved around Hurricane Harry’s and The Dixie Chicken—great for a Friday night, not so great for finding homebuyers. The First Assignment On my first day of training, the instructor gave us a seemingly simple task: “Go home and make a list of everyone you know who might buy, sell, or refer real estate business to you.” I sat down, pen in hand, and…crickets. A week later, I turned in a list of 10-12 names, and I’m pretty sure a couple of them were fictional. Meanwhile, my classmates showed up ready to dominate: One woman had over 200 names, thanks to her husband’s job at the university. Another brought a list of 200+ clients from her previous gig at a jewelry store. And then there was ...

"Are you the doctor or the nurse? The Communication Lesson That Every Real Estate Agent Needs" Let me take you back to one of those learning moments in my career as a real estate manager. Years ago, I fired off a quick text to a top agent in our office, asking her to attend a training session the next morning. Her response? She had an appointment and couldn’t make it. Fair enough. Now, here’s where things went sideways. I replied with what I thought was a clever callback to a joke from a recent team meeting: “Are you the doctor or the nurse?” —a tongue-in-cheek way of asking, Who’s running your schedule—you or someone else? I even added a winky-face emoji to soften the message. Spoiler alert: it didn’t land. The Fallout She was livid. My attempt at humor felt to her like an attack on her professionalism and her ability to manage her business. Ouch. To make matters worse, when I called her to clarify, I made the rookie mistake of asking her to “calm down.” (Pro tip: Never say...