ONE LESSON

Earlier in my career, I did not enjoy speaking with people I didn’t know. I am not a person who enjoys small talk or conversations that live on the surface, which is where I believed most of my conversations lived. So, I would try to avoid them. This story played out over and over in my head daily, and as it grew larger and larger, I started to pull back more and more from connecting with people, which is vital to a real estate agent’s business.

It grew so large that I found myself getting annoyed when I would get invited to a real estate event. I would let the email sit in my inbox for days until finally I would reluctantly convince myself to attend. On top of this, I developed a routine for going to these events. I would show up 15 minutes late to avoid random people coming up to me, speak only to people I knew, and then make an excuse to leave as soon as possible, not making a single new connection.

LESSON LEARNED: Taking the time to explore how you operate and interact with the world around you can help expose unknown things that are limiting you from living a better life.

I realized that to do what I am doing now on the education side of real estate, which is what I am passionate about and love, I would have to change my beliefs on how I connect with people. After spending some time thinking and researching, I discovered that I enjoyed conversations that went deeper, so it was up to me to take them there. This led me to find a series of questions I can ask people to dive below the surface, which allowed me to not only enjoy conversations a lot more but also learn about the people I am speaking with! After doing so, I have developed many more relationships in my life, which have led to a lot more opportunities I would never have gotten.

TIP: MY favorite question to ask (and one I highly suggest you steal and use) is: What are you passionate about?