“Talk does not cook rice.”
- Chinese Proverb

By the end of my first year I paid off $46,000 in debt. That was a tremendous relief. However, that meant I had only $20,000 left in savings. I still wasn’t living the life I wanted and I knew I had to take a chance!

Over the past year I had generated about $222,000 in gross commissions, but because I worked for a broker, he received roughly 40% of that. The split was $120,000 for me, $100,000 for the broker. That’s a lot of money to give up when you’ve done all the work! I knew my success depended on becoming a broker, opening my own office, and hiring agents to work for me!

If you’ve worked for an agent for two years or accumulated 1750 points, you should definitely take the exam and become a broker. I went the route of opening my own offices, but you can make a deal with a brokerage to work in their offices as an associate and still keep at least 90% of your commissions. Some brokers ask for a monthly fee, others want 5-10% of your commissions. Either way, becoming a broker is the most direct way to essentially double your income with little extra effort. My route was a little more complicated, but it was exciting and rewarding as well!

Opening your own office requires a little extra work and courage. I got a small two-room office on 61st Street and Lexington Avenue. Late into the night I was laying the carpet and moving in furniture. I was exhausted! But 9am the next morning when I walked through those doors, the feeling was tremendous! It was my office. My space! Although I had apprehension about taking this leap, I was also filled with excitement and positive energy! However small the office (I only had three desks!), however little money remained in my savings account, however few employees I would hire, I had arrived in the real estate world! It felt incredible!

How well did I do? Within four months I had to expand to a larger office! I needed space for more agents, but I was locked in my lease for the current office. No problem, my landlord agreed to let me break the lease if I found a renter to replace me.

Soon I was in a brand new office that could hold sixteen agents. This larger office was critical. There is very little difference between paying $2,000 and paying $4,000 in rent each month, but there is a HUGE difference between having three agents and having sixteen agents! The jump in commissions made it a no- brainer!

In the new space I started hiring as many agents as I could hold. The more people I had working for me, the more money I could make. But I didn’t want just any agents. I wanted agents who were smart, motivated, and energetic. My brokerage was small; I didn’t have room for 100+ agents, two-thirds of whom wouldn’t last the year. I only had sixteen slots, and I didn’t want someone not cut out for the business filling a desk that someone with the ability to excel could fill.

Also, unlike many brokers, I planned to take the time and energy to train my agents. That means I suffer a bigger loss when one of my agents leaves. On top of that, I would be the office manager for the time being, so anyone who needed help or special attention would be coming to me personally. That is a significant investment of my time. In fact, the time I had available to show apartments was greatly reduced because of the time and energy it took to handle my agents. I needed people who could close deals. I asked myself ten-times over if someone interviewing with me was a good fit. Would they be willing to work as hard as I did in my first year – or at least 80% as hard? It just wasn’t worth investing the time in people who don’t have the type of personalities needed to make it in real estate, or even people who are content with just getting by.

More important than hiring the right agents, is firing the weak agents. You really need the cream of the crop. Weak agents will drain your time and resources. They need the most assistance, take up most of your time, and don’t bring in the numbers to make up for it. Successful agents are self-starters that can figure out a lot of things on their own. When they do come to you, it’s well worth your effort to teach them because you know they’re going to use your advice to bring in even more commissions!

I’ve made a policy of firing the bottom 10% of my agents every 60 days. This 10% took up 80% of my time, therefore this policy really freed up my time and resources.

Open your own office only if you have the personality to handle all types of managerial responsibilities. If not, simply become an associate broker with an existing company. Either way, it’s an important next step in your real estate career!

In addition to becoming a broker and expanding my business, I used my second year to make some important changes in myself and the way I approach success.

Your Focus Creates Your Reality!

About 5 months into the second year I attended a seminar by Anthony Robbins, author of “Awaken the Giant Within.” He shared an amazing thought that has changed my life forever:

“Whatever you focus on expands.”

He offered an example that if you had invited Mother Theresa to an anti-war rally, she would politely decline every single time. However if you asked her to come with you to a peace rally, she would be the first to lead the march. She focused her energy on what she wanted and refused to give thought and energy to the things she didn’t.

Whatever you focus on, whether positive or negative, eventually creates a belief system – something you believe about yourself or the world. Many times we’re not even aware of our belief systems, which makes it even harder to dismantle the negative ones that can keep us down.

You will undoubtedly form belief systems about your career in real estate. I eventually realized that my focus was expanding in negative directions and leading me to beliefs and doubts were not true! After a client would submit the application I found myself automatically thinking, “He’s going to find another apartment, he’s going to change his mind!” And that’s exactly what happened!

Affirmations to the Rescue!

I knew I needed to change my mental focus, so I consciously began to tell myself that my client loves me, he’s going to take the apartment, and I’m going to see a commission check shortly! For the first few days this didn’t sound convincing, but soon thereafter things changed – I believed that my clients would sign the lease, and they did!

Similarly, when I was growing up I harbored the belief that I wasn’t handsome because of my acne. I believed I wasn’t attractive to others and was constantly self-conscious. Finally, I realized that it was my own focus on the negative that created this belief in me, and I set about changing it. Every morning I would reaffirm “I am handsome. I am handsome. I am handsome…” It may sound silly but if you practice it long enough you develop an innate, internal confidence that you are attractive to other people.

I also had the belief that I was unlucky, that things generally didn’t go my way. So I applied the technique again, using the affirmation, “I am lucky. I am lucky. I am lucky…” For the first few weeks I felt like I was just faking it, but after two or three weeks of CONSISTENTLY saying it to myself, I got to the point where now I believe that everything that happens to me is lucky – even if it’s something difficult, I consider myself lucky because there is a lesson in it.

The affirmation process can make such profound changes in your life that it’s almost magical! Once you let go of your limiting beliefs and focus on what you want and deserve, your life can change dramatically!

Create a list of affirmations and say them to yourself repeatedly each day until you truly believe them! Include both personal and business affirmations.

Creative Thinking Can Boost Your Income – Without Extra Work!
“Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it and dog it until it is done right.” – Walt Disney

As I further expanded my business that year I began to explore ways to work in areas where other agents didn’t venture. I realized we did very little business on Roosevelt Island, which is an island that’s connected to Manhattan by subway and a tram at 59th street. When we asked clients to take a look at an apartment on the island, most resisted saying it was akin to living in one of the boroughs. They assumed traveling to Manhattan would be as much of a hassle as coming from Brooklyn or Queens. It was the distance and travel they wanted to avoid by living in Manhattan! Yet the building on Roosevelt Island was extraordinary in its amenities: free gym, concierge, pool, a great neighborhood feel.

The landlord offered two months rent to brokers as an incentive to bring clients to the property, so I tried to figure out what I could do to get my clients to say “yes” to looking at apartments on Roosevelt Island. Paying careful attention to their objections, I found that the biggest obstacle was the distance clients perceived between the island and Manhattan. Exploring numerous ways through trial and error, I finally found a technique that worked – the “105 Seconds Technique!” Our office at the time was at 63rd and Lexington and the subway to the island was right downstairs. We timed the ride; the train took 105 seconds to get from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island. Over the phone when clients asked us how far it was to the apartment we would answer, “Well, our office is on 63rd and Lexington and the property is 105 seconds away.” That completely changed the outlook of our customers. When they came and saw the floor plan, the look of the building, the concierge, the free gym with the pool…they were so enamored and excited they didn’t mind the train ride to Roosevelt Island! We went from doing $5,000/month on the island to $30,000/month. Look for areas neglected by other agents. A little out-of-the-box thinking can mean a big boost to your monthly business!

It’s how I made $249,000 in my second year in real estate!