I’m going to share what I learned my first-year blogging about real estate. It’s been a journey to say the least! And you can learn from my “mistakes” whether you want to add blogging to your real estate business or want some basic business tips to help you “level up”.
Ten things I learned my first-year blogging about real estate
Lesson Learned #1: success is gonna take longer than expected – just like anything you think you can do well in, most of us read about the person that was super successful in a short amount of time. The agent that make $100,000 their first year or the blogger that replaced a full-time income and quit their job in the first 8 months. Sure, those results CAN happen, but the reason why they’re headline news is because their unusual. The reality is that you may need to grin much longer than you think you will. Which is why I recommend agents get their finances together before committing to the profession full time. All in all, I also recommend you looking at the success story timeline as the minimum and asking yourself if you’d still be interested in blogging about real estate (or any other goal you set) if it takes double or triple the time that you expect.
Lesson Learned #2: it will take more effort than expected – blogging takes much more effort that what it looks like. Sure, when you hear others success stories, the years of their grind and hussle are summed up into a nice tidy bite sized package of about 1 minute. It’s not that they’re hiding anything, it’s that successful people need to be able to shorten the last few years of their life into a quick tidbit to share with others. What you don’t hear (because it’s hard to convey) is the blood, sweat and tears that comes with success. You’ll need to commit to working harder than you’ve worked before and doing things you’ve never done to get the results you’re after.
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Lesson Learned #3: you have to practice self-care and strive for optimal health – in other words, the business will only be as good as you are. Boy, did I learn this! I wrote about having a “not-quite-mental-breakdown” back in August 2018 because I was working and working and not seeing the results I wanted. I thought that I could run my business like a sprint. But the truth is, you can’t keep a sprint pace for a cross-country run. Let me say that again – you can’t keep a sprint pace for a cross-country run. Your body just won’t let you. You’ve got to figure out how to take care of yourself. What foods bring you the most energy and what hobbies and activities do you enjoy? Then schedule those as important tasks so they actually get done.
Lesson Learned #4: positivity is key – you CAN NOT sit down and say mean, negative things to yourself and expect to be successful. IT. JUST. WONT. HAPPEN. I’m preaching to the choir here, but you need to learn how to speak positivity into your life. One of my blogging friends Faith Mariah likes to say, “I am certain my massive success is inevitable”. Yes! If you believe you can, you have a higher likelihood of being successful.
Lesson Learned #5: set a consistent schedule and follow it with action – in order to make progress, you have to take the right action consistently over time. Everyone knows you won’t reach success by doing the wrong thing over and over. So, what makes you think that you can do the right thing some of the time and expect to have huge success? I’ve seen my success grow faster when I follow my schedule and consistently do the top tasks that will help my business grow.
Lesson Learned #6: mentorship is key – even with the best laid plans and best training, it can get a little lonely. You’ll want a mentor that’s been where you want to go. Someone you can bounce ideas off of. If you can afford a paid mentor or mastermind group, I say dive right in. However, if you don’t have the money for that, see if someone in your office will accept to mentor you and get a portion of your first deal or two.
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Lesson Learned #7: focus, focus, focus – If I ever had doubts, it became quite clear that I am the squirrel that gets distracted by every little thing. And it’s hard to make progress when you change your strategy every other week. Once you find one or two people who you’d like to model only follow that one or two. And no one else. You can read more about the productivity hack I use now to stay focused.
Lesson Learned #8: education is key but so is execution – in other words, faith without works dead. It’s my favorite quote in the Bible, but it’s also relevant here. Gaining more knowledge about real estate and blogging is definitely something that I’d never diminish. It’s imperative. But all the education in the world won’t help you if you never execute. You have to take consistent action over time in order to see the results of your new knowledge.
Lesson Learned #9: be passionate – passion is so important because of the amount of effort, time, and training required to make it in real estate (or any business) means you really need to be really passionate about it. It’s the passion that will carry you through the days where you feel like giving up. I’d like to say there’s passion and then there’s a compelling “why”. In other words, I love real estate, but the thing that keeps me going when times get tough is my “why”. I’m running this business because of my strong desire to build financial independence. What’s your strong “why”? Why are you passionate about sharing your knowledge about real estate?
Lesson Learned #10: get comfortable with being uncomfortable – I learned this phrase in the business world and I love it! I’ve also found it to be oh, so, true. There are so many things that I’ve had to do that made me step outside of my comfort zone. BUT I did them because it’s what a successful trainer told me I needed to do. So, I learned that I need to be really comfortable with “doing it scared”. After all, it’s hard to reach a new level of success if you keep doing the same things you’ve always done.
10 things I learned my first-year blogging about real estate
So now you know what I learned my first-year blogging as a real estate agent. Adding a blog to your business model is a great way to get more people to know you and like you. It’s a great way to showcase yourself and become a household name in your market. But it takes effort, for sure! I shared my 10 tips to help you benefit from my “lessons learned”. To help you along your blogging journey, download my free Real Estate Agent Content Planning Calendar.
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