7 Ideas For Staying Motivated No Matter What Occurs In The Market

September means Back to Basics right here at Inman. As actual property navigates the post-settlement period with new fee guidelines, actual property professionals from throughout the nation will share what’s working for them, how they’ve advanced their methods and instruments, and the place they’re investing personally.

Specializing in steady enchancment and objectives fully inside your management may also help agents keep constructive and motivated when the market is impartial. When we’re not getting the pure each day motivation from transactions, we have to create different methods to motivate ourselves by triggering our pure impulse to study new expertise and tackle significant duties.

In 2020 and 2021, it was straightforward to really feel profitable. All of us had the wind at our backs, and whereas the market was irritating at occasions because of the degree of competitors, transactions have been taking place, typically at a dizzying tempo. Quick-forward to 2024, and a few markets are caught within the mud, I stay in certainly one of them, Austin, Texas.

In 2024, the Austin market hit a 13-year high in inventory. Transactions have been few and much between. In case you measure your success by gross sales numbers, this 12 months would possibly really feel like a failure, and your efficiency will invariably disappoint you.

A few years in the past, I used to “race” in Ironman triathlons. I put “race” in quotes as a result of it’s exhausting to name what I did a race. It was survival, possibly even enjoyable, however it was a slog; there was no racing right here. As proud as I used to be of finishing these occasions, nothing I used to be doing was remotely aggressive. 

So, how did I keep motivation understanding I might by no means be among the many upper-level athletes? How do you discover a sense of accomplishment and development when the gross sales quantity or race occasions don’t present success? 

Discover success and achievement within the stuff you can management. Hold an athlete’s mindset, and give attention to these seven tricks to keep motivated in a difficult market.

1. Set objectives which you could management

Setting a aim of a sure variety of transactions or particular gross sales numbers in a market that isn’t supplying you with that chance can be irritating.

As an alternative, give attention to the actions resulting in success when the market improves. Set a aim of a sure variety of consumer conferences weekly or give attention to finishing enterprise books or trainings you’ve been which means to finish. 

2. Measure your enchancment, not anybody else’s

Comparability is the thief of pleasure. No matter successes different brokers are posting on social media is simply advertising and marketing. 

As an alternative of evaluating your self to colleagues, give attention to growing the metrics that may result in your success.

Determine what actions are crucial to your success, measure these, and give attention to bettering these. For instance, in case you did two annual opinions a month final 12 months, see in case you can develop to 5 a month this 12 months.

3. Add to your choices yearly

After you have dependable methods up and operating, they need to be capable of run extra effectively.

The primary time you implement a system for consumer birthday playing cards, it might take some time, however when it runs easily, you must have the bandwidth so as to add the subsequent service you need to give your shoppers.

Final 12 months, you began birthday playing cards; this 12 months, chances are you’ll add pop-bys. 

4. Have quarterly check-ins with your self at a minimal

Set common conferences with your self all year long to verify in in your progress. You probably did 30 pop-byes in Q1? Set a aim for 35 in Q2.

5. Set affordable expectations with your self

You cannot overhaul your total business in three months. This isn’t affordable. Decide just a few issues to enhance and operationalize, and as soon as these are full, focus in your subsequent enhancements.

6. Discover your weakest sport, and give attention to that

Yearly, I centered on the game the place I ranked the bottom — all the time operating or biking — and labored on bettering in that space.

What expertise do you need to enhance as an agent? Is pricing your weak spot? Set a aim of finishing pricing evaluation for previous shoppers 2 hours every week. Have you ever all the time wished you excelled at networking? Set a aim of going to 3 occasions a month. These are objectives you may succeed at no matter market circumstances.

7. Management your monetary burn price, and you’ll keep away from working out of concern

This isn’t one thing I discovered from “racing,” however it helps all the identical.

Market change is a truth of life. To the best diploma potential, preserve expenses low so you may nonetheless function your enterprise throughout a downturn. The aim is to outlive till the market shifts once more and emerge from the downturn extra effectively and with higher expertise. 

These instruments may also help you give attention to development, offer you accomplishments to assessment on the finish of the 12 months and present you a approach to really feel profitable no matter gross sales numbers and race occasions.

Jen Berbas is the group lead of the Berbas Group in Austin, Texas. Join along with her on Instagram and Linkedin.