BEST PRACTICEElite Agent

Six Degrees of Success

THE FIRST DEGREE – THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOURSELF

This is possibly the toughest relationship you’ll have to work on. Ask yourself this. How is your relationship with you? Are you the true you?

Too often we think the person we are at work is different to the person we are at home. Well, if that is the case, which one of you is not the true you? Often it’s the ‘work’ us that is the imposter.

After we’ve been doing what we do for a while, it’s easy for us to slip into the groove of ‘going through the motions’ in business, in particular when it comes to dealing with clients. We know what to do, we know how to do it, but sometimes we’ve forgotten why we do it. And that’s when we lose the purpose for why we do what we do, and the passion for how we do it.

And this shows in the relationship you have with your clients.

Take a look in the mirror. Do you still absolutely love why you are doing what you do each day? Because that will most certainly have an effect on how you do it. Realign your purpose in business with your passion for doing it and with that comes a sense of truth, reality, and authenticity as to how you carry yourself in business.

THE SECOND DEGREE – THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER

Do you lean on the ones you love? Or are you the tough guy or gal that holds it all inside and processes everything internally?

One of the things I have learnt over the 11 companies I’ve owned over 25 years is that there is no such thing as a self-made millionaire. Everybody needs help from somebody some time if they are to achieve their ultimate goals. But many of us don’t take advantage of those relationships to make our lives easier.

In times of stress and pressure it’s easy for us to internalise the problem, but it’s not always the healthy thing to do.

The market shifts, listings are short, you’re taking a beating at the office, you take that stress and head home come end of day, and because sales are slow and money is tight, you end up carrying that stress into the one relationship that could ultimately give you the strength to carry on.

For many years I felt that being an entrepreneur was a lonely life. Nobody understood what I was going through, how hard it was, what I had to deal with in a day. And then I learnt that the reason nobody knew was that I wasn’t telling anyone what I was dealing with! I was not sharing.

I wasn’t using the great support I had around me to help me not only diffuse the stress and pressure that I was carrying, but also to help me solve some of the things I was dealing with faster.

THE THIRD DEGREE – THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR PEERS

As a professional speaker, it’s not unusual for me to look out over a crowd of anything between eight to 8,000 people and look into their eyes as they all wait for some pearls of wisdom or gems they can take home that will change their lives.

Well, this might sound very self-effacing, but here’s the deal: the smart guys are never on stage. The real commercial intelligence at a function, event, conference, or gathering of any kind is standing or sitting right beside you. Your peers are the smart guys in the room.

So what stops us from really unlocking those relationships? Our egos!

All too often, when placed in an environment where we are with our peers we are too afraid to open up and be vulnerable with them for fear of showing weakness. Our egos get in the way of good sense, and in some instances, our lack of ability.

Imagine how much further you could drive your business and your career if you had unlimited information from your peers at your disposal on how to overcome obstacles and harness opportunities.

Imagine how powerful the collective intelligence could be to do something as simple as helping you build better relationships with buyers and sellers.

Well, it’s there for the asking; you just have to open up and ask.

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