Inspiration for living a Top Producer Life™

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Protect Your Vision

self care sunday Jul 27, 2019
 

OMG I moved to Santa Barbara this week! Living in California is something I began dreaming of as a child. I even moved to Los Angeles when I was 17, right after being graduated from high school, but it didn't last long. Twenty seven years later, I've come full circle and am back on-track with this vision.

Living life on our own terms is something I believe we all want. One would think that after nearly three decades of life experience, moving to a new city would be relatively easy. Or at least low-drama. Compared to my 17 year old self, I have resources and knowledge that only come with the passing of time.

But for me, the move was neither easy nor drama-free. This was one of the most intense weeks of my life. I was pushed to the edge emotionally. I felt fear, loneliness, frustration, anger, loss and doubt - just to name a few of the negative emotions. I was reduced to tears at least once a day. I also felt excited, empowered, happy, enthusiastic,...

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Tinder Is Ruining Salespeople

self care sunday Jul 20, 2019
 

After buying something online, when do you expect it to show up? Thanks to Amazon‘s Prime Now app, the answer for many is literally "now"! Or at the longest two days; anything longer is simply irritating. We have become a pretty impatient society and that extends to relationships.

I recently sat at a restaurant bar and watched the young guy next to me pull up his Tinder app and swipe left on tons of profiles. Was it too much effort to try to start a conversation with any of those women? Was he secretly hoping Amazon would drop one in his lap within an hour or two? Maybe he had really high standards. Or he could've been a jerk. Or possibly just bored...

Ironically, if the answer for him was "just bored", swiping left was only going to isolate him further and contribute to the boredom.

I started thinking about my early experiences dating as a young man. The world was much slower and we couldn't "swipe left" on...

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What If Facebook And Google Deleted You?

self care sunday Jul 13, 2019
 

What if one day you woke to discover your website was removed from Google's search index or, that your Instagram or Facebook page was taken down

What would you do?

I know a Realtor who lost her Facebook business page because someone stole her identity and used it to spread hate speech throughout Facebook. All accounts with her identity, real and fake, were removed.

Have you heard of shadow banning? That's where it looks like your account is operating normally but you've been rendered invisible to most other people because you've broken a rule.

This happened to me recently when I used too many hashtags on my Instagram posts. Instagram allows a maximum of 30 hashtags, but apparently the rules are such that if you always use 30 and they are remotely similar, your posts will be banned from showing up on any hashtags feeds.

That meant while I was shadow banned, if I wanted people to find me with #realestate, I was out of luck...

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Do you establish boundaries with clients?

self care sunday Jul 06, 2019
 

My brother's first child is starting kindergarten this year and he told me they bought all the school supplies the other day! I was like: wait, summer just started!

Then I was asked on the blog for help establishing boundaries. When I spoke to the agent who posted the question, I learned she was feeling pushed around by her clients and the generally scattered, busy nature of summer.

By the end of my coaching calls this week, it felt like everyone was running around trying to do as much business as possible while managing the kids and trying to squeeze in some fun to boot. In other words, people I spoke with were feeling stressed because boundaries were being crossed all over the place.

Some people will tell you they have standards; others will say they have boundaries. From a coach's point of view, what you call them is far less important than deliberately thinking about them.

You didn't get into real estate to be pushed around....

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Benefit Of Turning Down Business

self care sunday Jun 29, 2019
 

The first time you turn down business is simultaneously terrifying and empowering.

Terrifying because as entrepreneurs, we instinctively understand that generating leads is our primary job. We see evidence all around us of agents who suffer from a  lack of consistent leads and walking away from even one can seem downright reckless.

Empowering because once our business is steady and consistent, we know we've reached the point where we're ready to choose. Choose the kind of clientwe want. Choose the area we desire to serve. Choose the type of housing we enjoy selling. Choose to focus so we succeed at a higher level.

I imagine some of you reading this are thinking: NO WAY! I'd never turn down a good lead. That would be okay because you have to reach a certain level of consistency before even considering passing up any lead.

Others are probably thinking: I totally remember my first time!

So, in whichever group you fall, today's lesson will inspire you....

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Why advertising won't sell your listing

self care sunday Jun 22, 2019
 

When a house isn't selling as fast as the seller wants, they often ask listing agents to spend more money on advertising. And if the seller is under pressure they can be down right demanding!

That triggers calls to me. "Jasen, can you help me come up with ways to advertise this house so it sells faster?!"

Creative advertising in general? I'm all in!

Advertising to sell the house? Absolutely not!

That's because advertising doesn't sell houses. Houses sell houses.

If you're going to spend any of your hard-earned money on advertising, I think you should understand why.

When I got my license in the early 1990s, people were thrilled when a listing sold within 90 days. Now, because we've been in a strong seller's market for so long, I've seen people panic when offers haven't been submitted within the first 90 minutes! How's that for perspective?

So here's the tricky part about real estate advertising: homeowners will always think you are running ad campaigns specifically to...

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Vacation alternative for the entrepreneur

self care sunday Jun 16, 2019
 

"If you love what you do you never need to take a vacation."

Whoever first said that owes us an explanation! I love what I do and still, about every three months or so, I feel the need to escape my routine and get far away from my business and daily life.

Have you ever wanted to take a vacation but held back for fear of missing out on business? Odds are you just nodded yes, which only makes you normal. Certainly no one is accruing vacation days from their broker so any who wants a break of any kind will have to figure it out for themselves.

We are our own boss and we control our own schedule, right?  My message in this weeks video explains a twist on the traditional vacation that supports the unique life of an entrepreneur and I'd love to hear what you think. Watch the video then leave a comment with your thoughts!

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The Buyer Love Letter [with Recent Examples!]

self care sunday Jun 08, 2019
 

Picture this: You spend all day working with a buyer and just when you decide you've got the pickiest clients ever, they walk into a home and quickly give you that look. You know, the "this is the one, write it up" look!

So you pile in the car and head back to the office. On the way back you call the listing agent and tell her you'll be writing up an offer. Her response: Fantastic, we already have two and another one on the way. Yours will be number four. 

Well, crap. Now you have to break this news to your client and help them structure an offer that gives them a fighting chance.

There are many tactics you could recommend at this point and one that I often see overlooked is the buyer love letter. Although after this week's lesson, you may not want to overlook it anymore.

That's because recently in Austin, TX (one of the strongest seller's markets in the country) this strategy was the primary reason a buyer got her offer accepted, even though the seller had another...

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Are You Hiding Behind The Listing?

self care sunday Jun 02, 2019
 

Coming up with marketing ideas isn't easy for many people I've coached. If there isn't a listing or open house to promote it can be a struggle to find inspiration for marketing campaigns that provide a consistent flow of new leads.

That's because the supply of listing information, and of Realtors who are eager for new clients is outpacing the demand.

While many still fight that reality and run advertising only when they get a listing, others see opportunity. Some agents are even learning how to control the demand!

If the majority of your marketing is focused on listings, you're hiding behind them and focused on the supply. When you are willing to try new things and get out in front of the listing, you can learn to control the demand and unlock previously hidden business.

And that's what I teach you in this week's video!

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Top Producers Never Ask This...

self care sunday May 25, 2019
 

What if there were a question that if asked, could predict whether you'd make it long term as a real estate agent? I'm sure that sounds dramatic if not a bit click-bait-ish and it's also a real thing. In fact, I know of a few questions that are predictive in that way and in this week's video, I talk about one of them.

It has to do with finding leads and should be an eye opener for many. If you tune in to what I'm saying, you will discover how the question itself reveals how likely it is the person asking will ever be considered a top producer. Brokers and teams dangle the promise of leads in front of unsuspecting and underdeveloped salespeople like a homeowner using cheese to lure a mouse into the trap. That's not to say that there aren't brokers and teams who have well run operations with plenty of leads and happy, thriving associates. The problem is they are the exception, not the rule

Because I'm in the trenches with individual agents as a...

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