What to Do in the First 9 Months

Establish a Career Plan

BY JIM HATFIELD

Where will you be in five, 10, or 15 years? How successful will you be? Will you be making tens of thousands in commissions, or hundreds of thousands? If you're a little fuzzy about the answers to these questions, you might not be taking the proper steps to ensure your success in the years to come, according to career-planning professionals.

Just how important is it to have a well-thought-out career plan? "Very," says George Selix, chief learning officer for Century 21 Real Estate Corp. in Parsippany, N.J., citing a 25-year study of Harvard Business School graduates. "The study showed that those who had a formal career plan and followed it earned more than 100 times those who had no plan or one that wasn't very specific."

Fred Peterson, director of educational services for RE/MAX of California and Hawaii, agrees. "Having a good business plan can mean the difference between having a great career or just a few good years," he says.

A good career plan should be focused on more than earnings, according to Lennox Scott, chairman of John L. Scott Real Estate, which serves Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Scott has a life plan that keeps his business and personal life in balance and a coach who helps him stay focused on his plan.

Whether you call it a career plan, business plan, or life plan, the important word is "plan," says Selix. It should be specific and it should be on your desk or computer for periodic review and not put away in a drawer.

"There's a big difference between someone who has a plan and sticks to it and someone who wings it," says Selix. "Sooner or later, the difference reveals itself in results."

Where to Start?

Hard questions and honest answers are essential to a good career plan, says Pat Lawless, senior vice president and managing broker of Long & Foster Real Estate Inc.'s Centreville, Va., office. She suggests starting with fundamental questions to determine whether you're even in the right line of work. Topping her list are:

• Is sales the field for me?
• Do I have the drive, motivation, and flexibility to accept rejection?
• Can I control my fear of failure until I learn the skills needed to succeed?
• How many calls will it take to get an appointment?
• How many appointments to achieve a close?
• How many closes to achieve my financial goal?
  
  Once you've addressed these basic questions, you can then focus on your financial goals. Include a realistic assessment of where you are now financially and include projections of where you want to be in five, 10, and 15 years, says Peterson, who teaches classes in career planning for RE/MAX. "It's not enough to start with 'How much do I want to make?'" he says. You also should consider:
  
• What are my current household expenses?
• Does that include cash reserves?
• Does it include risk management?
• What happens if I don't close a deal?
• What happens if I have an auto accident?
• Do I have disability insurance?
• What's my current debt?
• How much is that strangling my family's cash flow?
• How am I going to put my kids through college?
  
  "By the time we finish asking and answering all the questions, someone who thought they could live well on $100,000 in commissions may find they really need $200,000," Peterson says.
  
  In all your financial analyses, don't forget the bigger picture, Scott says. "It's worth taking extra time to figure out what's important to you. When you say it's important, it becomes important. If you don't make this effort, you find yourself working to meet someone else's expectations rather than your own."
  
  Peterson believes that good mentors are essential to career success. "Sometimes a mentor is not even someone in real estate but someone who is willing to listen to you, listen to your dreams, pat you on the back, and hold you accountable," says Peterson. "This kind of person is the difference between making it and not making it. It's not the information the person provides that makes the difference; it’s the inspiration. If you have the motivation, you can find the resources you need."
  
  Resources: Most large real estate companies have training programs that include career and business planning. A number of companies, including the Mike Ferry Organization and Howard Brinton's Star Power Systems, offer business development seminars and training. And books like Kenneth Edwards' Your Successful Real Estate Career (AMACOM, 2003) and Carla Cross' The Real Estate Agent's Business Planning Guide (The Real Estate Education Co., 1994) provide career guidance and advice on how to create realistic business plans.
  
  Six-Month Game Plan to Grow Your Sales
  
  If you want to start off your real estate career with a bang and achieve a high level of success, the following six-month plan will help you get there.
  
  Month One
• Assess your present situation: How well are you meeting your financial goals?
• Seek advice from others in the field.
• Calculate the impact that adding one or more assistants would have on your sales.
• Consider the impact and responsibilities of recruiting one or more salespeople to form a team.
• Estimate the costs involved in providing office space and equipment for your team.
• Determine how many transactions you'll need to cover your costs and yield sufficient profit.
• Consider all tax implications.
  
  Month Three

If you decide to form a team:

• Write a mission statement for your team.
• Develop a marketing plan and calculate its cost.
• Set sales and financial goals for one, three, five, 10, and 15 years.
• Hire assistant.
• Recruit additional team members.
  
  Month Six
  Whether or not you’ve launched a team:
• Calculate your operating costs to date.
• Calculate total revenues vs. expenses to date.
• Develop financial projections for next two years based on number of transactions completed.
• Evaluate marketing efforts and adjust if necessary.