Ryan Holiday Nails It: Re. Consultancy.

When I was a Realtor, when I was in and of that world, there was always an echo of wrong in it.  There was such a din of thoughts injected into my head from top producers, the NAR, brokers, and everyone else that I never got to the point of the matter: Most Realtors were grossly overpaid for the service that they provided.  A few have the systems & commitment that made themselves worth every penny.  But that would be–in my guess–roughly 1%.

This doesn’t mean that the remaining 99% don’t have integrity.  They may.  This doesn’t mean that the remaining 99% aren’t conscientious, aren’t trying to do a good job.  They are.   But they are also likely to be obtuse enough to be insulated from the reality that a big part of what they do and who they are is just redirecting value and equity from consumers.  The conspiracy that is the NAR brainwashes people down to the core. There was something there, some disconnect with reality.  A litany of noise whenever 6% was challenged, and a list of expenses would be proffered, none of which had shit to do with selling a house.

The deceit was top down, the conspiracy against consumers.  I lacked the vocabulary to understand what I was uncomfortable with.  I wanted the Acura, the toys, the awards.  The medals.  The recognition.  The salve for my daddy issues, whatever.  I was able to pound the phone, admit I was a salesman and do OK.  The hustle got me 6 figures…and ultimate financial ruin.

I was better than average.  More conscientious.  I lied less often than most Realtors.  I outproduced lots of them, averaging 35ish houses a year.  But the standard is so low, it’s like saying I was the kindest SS guard at Auschwitz.  Not something to be proud of or hang your hat on.  Not enough.  Fleecing people out of their equity.   Greg has a start of how to fix it in this little treatise. It’s a start, maybe enough I don’t know.

Point is this:  I’m doing consulting now.  There’s a disconnect.  I’m not accountable for the results.  I’m accountable only for the actions.  When the scumbags at Granger Terry fleeced the Owens campaign, and sent their listless consultant who was late and indifferent, they were taking real dreams away.  They added no value.   I don’t want to be that way.

So–without going that path, what’s left for a projectaholoic?  I can do my own things. I can create products as I’m doing at Guerrilla.ME.

It’s easy to be better than the existing, but I’ve got to think about what standards I want to carry, what I want to do and how I want to do it.  I haven’t done that yet.    I’m not gonna do the thing where there’s any pressure in agreements.   Where the service ends at the sale.

This post originally came from the Freelance Sales Blog GenuineChris.com My company is http://flatratewebjobs.com/ go check that out when you get a moment. .

What Kind of Consulting Are You Doing?

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A lot of times, I’ve written down goals.  It’s a big step, and it’s important.  It’s not something that you do lightly, but in my case, my goals never mattered to me.   Not one day that I was a full time real estate agent did I give a shit.   Not one day that I was a lender did I care.   Oh–let’s be honest.  I’m great at generating leads.  I’m reasonably personable, and reasonably honest (by reasonably honest, that means I’d never let anyone get screwed over).  

I set goals–sell x units, do y in volume.  But I never felt it.  The big ’so what’ was always behind that.  I couldn’t make myself give a crap about any of it.  Sell another commodity house here in CMH?  Sure.  Happy to serve.  No, really.

I got jazzed about the marketing: doing something that generated leads.  And I had a tsunami of leads.  But I saw myself as a (just) six figure guy, and that’s what I did.  Oh, I sustained a bunch more in ‘05, but we all did.  I had the gig from 01 to March of this year.

If I felt I had enough listing appointments, I’d flake out on people, cancelling them.   I only wanted so much work, and I didn’t realize that.  Since I was great at generating leads, I could always pick from the easiest and nicest people to work with.

Each quarter, there I was, netting out what I needed as a Realtor, letting leads and deals rot on the vine.  When leads are abundant, I didn’t value them.  (Hey, kids, they are still abundant).  Rather than work with an asshole it was, “Here, here’s your listing back, sign this mutual release, and I’m out of there.”   I didn’t care, couldn’t care, and still don’t see the anxious need to produce the nothing that makes up a lot of the Real Estate Practice.

Still.  Still there are good reasons to love the business.  The reason I still orbit it is this:  if someone is willing to take a 100% commission job, they value freedom over security.  That must be nurtured, period.  That spark is sacred, and part of the best within the American spirit.  If you can do your job better for them,

Life went on.   I would then pretend I loved the business after being geeked by a MFO event or something like it.  And in lieu of creating what I wanted to (leads), I got stuck as a practitioner.   And I would set goals I couldn’t care about each year.

60 houses.
$350k average price
$550 GCI.
$350k net.
1000 hours prospected.
Etc.

Yawn.  Possible?   Sure.  But money doesn’t lead, it follows.  You don’t start with an income and then build a life around it.   To maintain it, I had to ingest so much poison I almost became that guy.   And I didn’t have the right ethos then to really get after it.  I didn’t have acute needs, till the IRS gave me the Rodney King treatment, I was coasting, if that.   I didn’t love what I was doing.  And that’s a way to waste your life.

Not saying you can’t.   Not saying it’s not possible, but I ratcheted it all down to mere numbers.  Numbers do matter, but only when you’re chasing something that also drives you.   Right now, i’m driven to write, driven to lose weight, driven to help people get efficient, and I’m driven to get out of debt.   I’m carrying a net worth of roughly -$65,000 that I want GONE.  Money comes easily enough for me.  I don’t need to make that the end all/be all.   I want to make Right Right now into a practice of some sort.  A couple people asked what my BIG DAMN GOALS were:

1. I will weigh in at 175# before March 1st 2009. My ultimate goal is 159#, but I won’t be thinking about that for a bit. I want to think about all the milestones I need to pass through first.  Friends, that’ll put the total weight loss at 97#.  That’s a gymnast.  I’ve already lost a bunch.  Only standard is to get to 175#.
2. Next E-book, f-therapy, does 10,000 units. I’m getting it started (this is the first time I’ve talked about it) at http://f–ktherapy.com  It’s a strident treatise about uncluttering your life, your mind, and ignoring the toxicity of our society.
3. I will get “subprime” published and collect an advance of $50,000 or more. Again, I’m already stacking the deck in my favor.  The quality of the writing & insight matters, but I’m making it such that I’ll get the most receptive audience possible.   I don’t know if it’s a meritocracy or not, but if it’s not, that benefits me as I like to win, and I’m competing to win right now.  I stack the deck with stuff that makes it hard to ignore me.  Just watch.
4. To be debt free in 500 days. I have my debt pegged at $65,000, most of it being the IRS’s suff.   It might be a little less, and I’ll tabulate it next weekend.   My budget/burn rate is something like $2500/month.   Gross THAT up for taxes, and I’m at an income need of $4,000.    365/500 =73%.   73% of $65,000  = ~47,450.   Gross THAT up by 30% for taxes = $62k.   Divide that by 12, and we’re at: 5200 month for debt retirement.   Add that to $4,000 and we have a need (without savings) of 9200/month.  This puts me at 108,000 for the year, a number I can hit in my sleep, doing this stuff.

That’s pretty much what matters.   I put a $$ on the advance because I want to have it taken reasonably seriously–I’m not necessarily going to just take the first person to write that check, I’m going to make it have the best chance at a real live widespread audience.   I know times is hard.   I don’t want to be in a ‘need the money,’ point in my life.  And I won’t be.

A lot of other things are ‘nice to do’ next year:  I wanna read about 100 books, 40 fiction/60 nonfiction.   I want to run a 3:30 marathon.   And to make $108k, I’ll need to divide my income somehow–ebooks aren’t a ‘guarantee’–I need to pursue the courses that I have taught, and the rest of the stuff that I regularly do.  I think that if I rely on the consulting gigs for the income and make everything else ‘fun,’ we’ll be juuuuuuuust fine.

I have to rewrite it fully (or therabouts, there are great scenes) by Feb 1, 2009, choose the best representation by 6/1/09…and catch lightning in a bottle.  I can do ll this stuff, things like this always happen quickly for me.  Someone next year will sell a breakout debut novel, lose a ton of weight, and do a kicking e-book.   Why not me?

Dashboard comes up tomorrow.

This post originally came from the Freelance Sales Blog GenuineChris.com My company is http://flatratewebjobs.com/ go check that out when you get a moment. .

Big Damn 2009 Goal Post, Part 1.

Related posts:

1. Big Damn 2009 Goal Post, part 3, Inputs.
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3. More Daily Goal Tracking with Google Docs.

One of the things I advocate is having solid, “best practice” answers to questions that you get every time. These “answers” want to get into and have for myself. Over the next few weeks, I’ll write, and RECORD some of the best answers I can think of to the obvious questions:

1. How did you get into the business?

Old answer:

Well, I hated showing houses, and I couldn’t stand carting buyers in my car. It was tedious and stupid, and we have nothing but commodity product in Columbus. So I became a mortgage lender even though I sold a ton of houses.

New Answer:

I got into Real Estate–as a Realtor–when I was recruited by a builder after college. I became a Realtor because I wanted more products to sell when the builder’s stuff wasn’t the best choice. Then I got into mortgage lending because I loed the working “business to business” with Realtors.

(Optional) It’s a great advantage having worked that side of things–having sold homes, and having had exposure to the level of care that Realtors offer.
Follow Ups:

1. How did you get into your business?
2. How did you choose the company YOU work for?
3. Have you been having a good year?
4. Do you come across people that need a mortgage?
5. Who would a good referral be for you?
6. What would help you grow your business?

Both of the answers are true, right, but one answer is negative and stupid, and the other is WAAAAAAAY more engaging. Just to get in the door, you gotta be prepared to have a consistent, attractive message for people.
Here are the other questions: I’ll knock them out as I can…minimum of 2 per week.

1. How long have you been a mortgage lender?
2. Why did you pick being in the mortgage business?
3. Why did you stop being a Realtor?
4. How did you pick your company?
5. What rates do you offer?
6. How did you meet your wife?
7. How did you pick Westerville?
8. What hobbies do you have?
9. What charities/groups are you involved in?
10. Do you co advertise with Realtors?
11. how long does it take you to close a file?

This post originally came from the Freelance Sales Blog GenuineChris.com My company is http://flatratewebjobs.com/ go check that out when you get a moment. .

Taking My Own Medicine – Best Answers to Life’s FAQ

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