This Powerful Analogy Will Totally Change the Way You Do Business
Aug 04, 2024
by Steve Shull
Last week, I listened to an incredible podcast by Michael Singer.
If you’re on my coaching calls, you already know that I mention this guy all the time. He’s the author of The Untethered Soul, as well as other powerful books that directly inform the way I coach Mindset.
In this podcast episode, he says life is like being in a boat in the open ocean, on a journey.
I LOVE this analogy, {{ first_name }}.
You’ve got four things here: you, your boat, the wind, and the current.
You have control over yourself and your boat.
You do NOT have control over the wind or the current.
That’s pretty straight forward. Here’s where it gets interesting…
Obviously, if you focus only on the wind and current and do nothing with yourself or your boat, you will not get where you want to go. You’ll get wherever the forces of nature decide to take you.
If you focus exclusively on what you control and pay no attention to the wind and current, you will ALSO not get where you want to go. You will aim precisely for your destination, then get knocked off course.
Getting where you want to go is a dance among all FOUR of these forces.
Self-effort alone is not enough. Grace alone—i.e. everything outside your control—is not enough.
Whatever destination you choose in life (and hopefully you choose one), getting there is a BALANCE between self-effort and grace.
And still, there is no guarantee you’ll get there.
The only thing you can do is become a better sailor.
To be a great sailor, you have to know how to work with all four of these factors.
That means not only building the right kind of boat, keeping it in top condition, and knowing how to steer it…but it ALSO means knowing how to read the winds and currents and respond accordingly.
Because those forces WILL change. That’s the only guarantee in life—change. Sometimes the conditions will be favorable, and sometimes they won’t.
The goal is to increase your ability to sail under ANY conditions.
And the very first step to being a better sailor in life is having a clear destination.
At Performance Coaching, we make this very simple and easy for you. The destination we coach is building a repeat and referral business.
That’s what our coaching is all about—nothing else. There are two reasons for this.
The first is simply that real estate IS a repeat and referral business—that’s how the vast majority of deals happen. And it’s that way for good reason: buying a home is the biggest transaction most people ever make, and they want to do it with someone they TRUST.
The second reason is that a repeat and referral business puts the compound effect to work for you.
When you cultivate your database and nurture relationships, one person will bring you many deals, from their own transactions and the other clients they refer to you. Over time, you have to work less and less hard to sustain your business.
In other words, your investment in each relationship compounds over time.
In contrast, the lead generation / lead conversion model—i.e. chasing—is one-and-done.
One person, one deal. You have to hustle HARD to get each person, and that hustle isn’t even an investment in the future of your business. You’ll have to work just as hard—if not harder—to get the next deal.
No compounding. So why do people do this?
Because no one wants to be in a relationship. Being in a relationship requires you to be vulnerable, curious, and open-hearted…and it seems easier to chase strangers.
I’m not saying a repeat and referral business is the destination you should choose—that’s up to you. I’m saying that if that’s the destination you choose, we can help you get there.
The thing is, most people don’t have a destination in mind AT ALL.
What they’re actually doing with their life is sitting in the middle of the ocean, just trying not to drown…
And what they don’t realize is they’re just laying down face-first in a 2-inch puddle. All they really need to do is pick their heads up.
But instead, they’re stuck in panic mode thinking about all the things that can go wrong and what they would do if those things happened.
This is why you chase—because you think that if you do one more deal, you won’t drown.
However, there IS another option. You don’t have to live your life or run your business this way.
It starts with that clear destination: building a repeat and referral business. You commit to that destination no matter what—favorable or unfavorable conditions.
Then you need the right kind of boat, and it’s made from the 6 Building Blocks we coach every day:
- A Mindset of Harmony
- Time Blocking
- CRM
- Process Management
- Tactical Empathy
- Knowing Your Numbers
The 6 Building Blocks are the guardrails that keep us afloat and moving towards the destination no matter what’s happening around us.
When conditions are favorable, we go fast.
When they’re not, it takes more time.
You can’t rush it—it’s gonna take the time it takes.
Right now, the entire real estate industry is headed for very choppy waters.
The industry will get through this. People aren’t going to stop buying and selling homes.
It’s a question of what the storm is going to look like, and we won’t know until we start sailing through it. Today’s storm will not be the same as yesterday’s, or tomorrow’s.
The people who will thrive are those who learn to navigate the fastest.
The advantage of being in the Performance Coaching community now is that we’re going to figure this out quicker and better than anyone else, bar none.
And in particular, Tactical Empathy (Building Block #5) will be the skill that gives everyone the greatest chance for success in this new environment.
Make no mistake, there will be a select group of agents who end up with a pay raise and increased business…and everyone else will experience the exact opposite. That’s all going to be based on how well they learn to sail in this new environment, whatever it turns out to be.
If you want to come out on top, join us this Thursday for a live workshop on how to be a full fee buyer’s agent in the post-NAR world.
Four of our top coaches will share their insight on how to navigate the coming storm—NOT by pitching your value but by proving your worth through the use of Tactical Empathy.
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