Rob Minton - Renegade Millionaire Real Estate Agents

A lesson on FOCUS by Arnold Schwarzenegger

I've coached hundreds of agents over the  years and I can honestly say the biggest mistake I see most agents make is...

Lack of FOCUS

We seem to get easily distracted by other agents, the news, interest rates, our brokers and hundreds of other outside influences. Allowing yourself to get distracted from your goals is a recipe for disaster.

Several years ago, I watched an older documentary on Arnold Schwarzenegger titled "Pumping Iron." This documentary highlighted his training for the 1975 Mr. Olympia Body Building Championship. I was blown away by Arnold's complete focus. You'll probably be shocked by Arnold's comments in this video footage. Fast forward to 7:15 for Arnold's comments and his thought process on focus:

When I first watched this documentary, I was blown away by what Arnold said. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how critical focus was for success. It doesn't matter what your goal is. If you're not 100-percent focused on accomplishing your goal, you're doomed. I went back and made notes detailing Arnold's comments word-for-word. Here they are:

"If you want to be a champion, you cannot have any outside negative influence coming in to affect you. If I get emotionally involved with a girl, it can have a negative effect on my mind and destroy my workouts. Therefore I have to cut my emotions off and be cold in a way. Do this with the rest of things. If someone steals my car right now, I don't care. I can't be bothered with that. All I can do is call the insurance agency and they'll laugh about it. I trained myself for that and not to let things go into my mind.

When my father died, my mother called me on the phone and said, "Your father died." This was two months before a contest. She asked me to come home to the funeral and I said "No - It's too late. He is dead and nothing can be done.Sorry I can't come home."

Most real estate agents change course in their businesses every few weeks. Every time you change course in your business, you lose momentum. We've all experienced this at some level. One week, we want to focus on referrals. The next week, we change our minds and decide to go after seller prospects. A week later, we decide to go after buyers because we didn't get a new listing.

Not only do we change our target market of prospects often, we also change how we market from week-to-week without much consistency. We try classified advertisements, and then we skip to Craigslist. Then we get frustrated and decide to mess around with Twitter for a few weeks. Then we go to Facebook. And then we move on to the next big thing.

Zero focus.

The next time you think about changing your focus in business stop and think about Arnold. Ask yourself the following question:

Would Arnold allow himself to be distracted by what I'm considering?

NOTE: On January 6, 2010 I'll be releasing 100 copies of a new report titled "How Real Estate Agents Can Eliminate Negative Cash Flow in Their Businesses." I've been working on this report for several weeks and it's sure to change the way you think about your business going forward. In fact, I've come to the conclusion that selling more homes could lead to financial disaster in your business. I'll detail exactly why in this report. If you'd like to receive special advance access to this new report, join the Pre-Release email notification list at http://www.NotificationList.com

Who to hire first - a buyer's agent or an administrative assistant?

I’m often asked whom to hire first – a buyer’s agent or an administrative assistant?

My suggestion typically is to hire a buyer’s agent first because you don’t have to pay them a salary. They are free to your business and may help bring in additional commission income. The price you have to pay for a buyer’s agent is your time. You’ll have to invest time to teach and train them how to handle leads and clients for your business.

The problem with hiring a buyer’s agent first is you still have to deal with a great deal of administrative “stuff” that isn’t income-producing. This is definitely not a good use of your time. My first hire was a buyer’s agent. My second hire was a part-time administrative assistant. This was back in the 1990s, before virtual assistants were around.

Had I to do it over again, I would probably hire a part-time virtual assistant. I absolutely love virtual assistants for many reasons:

1. You can find someone with a ton of experience, which adds tremendous value to your business. This is because you’re able to hire anyone from anywhere. You’re not stuck looking for someone with experience who is living in your home town.
   
   
2. You can hire them for two hours a week or 10 hours a week. You have complete flexibility and don’t have to be locked in to a certain number of hours a week. This will help you save a great deal of money.
   
   
3. You don’t have to provide any employee benefits, such as medical insurance. This is very big savings!
   
   
4. If you don’t need them or they aren’t performing, simply stop sending work to them. You don’t have to “fire” anyone and have an ugly situation in your office.
   
   
5. You don’t have to set up payroll and deal with payroll taxes. This will save a great deal of time and money.

A virtual assistant offers so many benefits to small businesses. It’s like having your cake and eating it, too!

My assistant, Trish Lewellyn, recently decided to offer virtual assistant services to other real estate agents. I notified a few of my coaching students, and two or three of them quickly hired her to help with their businesses. I believe she can handle a one or two more agents. If interested in hiring her as your virtual assistant, send her an email at:

[email protected]

I’ve worked with Trish for over five years, and she has a ton of experience. She tracks leads, maintains my database and has processed home sales for my agents. She already understands how we operate and what’s important in our businesses.

Is a database of 500 prospects enough?

Last week, I received a great question from one of my Renegade Report members. The member asked the following question:

"My database has around 500 prospects. Every now and then I send them deal alerts but very few respond. I've only been able to generate a few appointments and a few offers to date. At what point (1,000? 5,000?) can I expect people to make offers and actually buy?"

This is an excellent question, isn't it?

First off, if you're marketing to your database of 500 people via email, you have to understand that only a small percentage of people will actually read your emails. This is because of spam filters, dull email subject lines, and competition over your prospect's inbox by other marketers, friends and work-related issues. Let's assume that only 10 percent of those in your database read your emails. A database of 500 prospects would indicate that 50 people read what you've sent them.

In marketing, 50 interested prospects isn't a very large number.

This doesn't mean that you won't sell, it just means that you're not going to generate huge results through email marketing, unless you build a larger database. With 50 interested prospects, you can assume that 5 percent to 10 percent of them might respond to your offer. This would translate into two to five responses, depending on what you're marketing and how you're marketing it.

As you can see, marketing is all about numbers. The larger your database, the more responses you'll receive. You shouldn't expect 100 people to respond to something you offer via email if your database has only 500 prospects. It simply won't happen.

This is why building a large database is so critical for your success. I constantly preach that you should generate 100 leads a month for every full-time agent on your team. My monthly lead-generation goal was 400 leads. Throughout a year, my database grew by 4,800 prospects. Unfortunately, not many agents are listening. In fact, I get negative comments from agents who say 100 leads a month is too many for one agent to handle. Simply not true! In fact, it's a major limiting belief.

Imagine how your marketing would change if you had 10,000 prospects in your database? One email would be opened by 1,000 prospects (10 percent) and 50 to 100 (5 percent to 10 percent) would respond to the offer made in the email. The game changes dramatically.

Everything gets easier.

As you start to think about 2010, make sure your marketing focus is on building your database. It's the best investment you'll ever make. If you need a little help, I strongly suggest downloading my program titled "31 Days to a Larger Database" for just $12.95 available at:

http://www.31daydatabase.com

Oh and don't wait for January to start implementing new strategies for your business. Let your competition blow off November and December waiting for the New Year to start.

Begin implementing your 2010 goals now and get a head start!

Declaration of War

Photo by Blahmni
Post Written by Rob Minton
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Building a real estate business is similar to going to war. Our business war is similar to a real war in many ways. We go to war:

- To achieve financial independence
- Against limited home sales
- To end roller coaster income
- To protect our time

A great deal about military strategy can be learned from Sun Tzo's "Art of War". Portions of this article of been excerpted from Sun Tzo’s work.

A definition of war is as follows:

“A concerted effort or campaign to combat or put an end to something considered injurious.”

Is struggling financially each month injurious? Is a business with limited home sales injurious? Is a prospect who wastes your time and then buys a home without you injurious? Is a reduced commission for a sale you work your ass off injurious? Hell yes.

If this is the case, maybe we should declare all-out war to eliminate each and every injurious thing we face from day to day. To go to war, we must become battlefield warriors. Warriors:

• Believe the mission of the war is a just cause and will lead to greater good for people they care about.
• Must be mentally prepared to go through the most challenging mental and physical battles they’ll ever face in their lives. Warriors are ready to be pushed to their limits.
• Are willing to sacrifice everything, including their own lives.

What this seems to boil down to is that someone going into war must be willing to do anything that will help the people they care about.

The question I obviously have for you is:

Are you willing to go to war to build your business?

If your answer is no, then stop reading. You're wasting your time. I’m not kidding. I'm fed up with agents who aren't willing to do whatever it takes to build their businesses. To build your business and win your war,  you’ll have to:

1. Face your fears.
2. Transform yourself into a completely different person.
3. Sacrifice your free time.
4. Risk losing your money.
5. Let go of or lose friends.
6. Actually implement all of the ideas you’ve been talking about.
7. Learn to take massive action.
8. Learn to be decisive.
9. Act with speed.
10. Accept failure as part of the process.

I believe financial dependence is injurious to my family. I’m willing to do all of the things listed above in order to end this injurious situation. In fact, I’ve personally gone through everything I listed above.

You must, too.

You don’t have a choice. It’s required. Are you willing to change your life this year? And no, you cannot blame the economy or housing crash for your situation. You must take 100% responsibility.

Since you’re still reading this article, it is safe to say that you have agreed to the terms above. You’re ready to change your life and step into your own war to build your business!

How do you win your war?

The answer can be found by studying Sun Tzu, who is known as one of best military strategists in history.

According to Sun Tzu, in the Art of War, there are five essentials for victory in war. They are:

1. He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
2. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
3. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.
4. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
5. He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

Now, let’s translate these five essentials for your war to build your business:

1. He will build an awesome business who knows what opportunities to pursue and what opportunities not to pursue.

Trying to be everything to everyone is a recipe for disaster in real estate sales. You offer no "real" benefits to prospects and cannot exert any dominance over your competition. You must pick a niche within the market and focus 100% of your time and energy to dominate the niche.

2. He will build an awesome business when he knows how to turn adversity into opportunity.

The wealthiest people through history have always found and exploited opportunity in the midst of adversity. Today in the States, we are in the midst of adversity. Hundreds of thousands of agents have left the business because they aren't able to "see" opportunity. The largest share of sustainable wealth was created during the Depression. Study John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Conrad Hilton and others to see this in action. The time for you to find opportunity is today, not tomorrow.

3. He will build an awesome business when surrounded by people with similar goals and a similar mindset.

You are who you spend time with. If you spend time with struggling real estate agents, you'll be a struggling real estate agent because you think and act like they do. You must get around people who have what you want. Their thinking does rub off on you. This means that you’ll probably have to let go of your old friends and make some new ones. I have gone through this myself. It is hard to do, but required. This obviously applies to people on your team. Your business is only as good as your team members.

4. He will build an awesome business when he has the courage to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

Do you follow the masses? If so, you’ll be slaughtered. You must think independently. Set a new rule for your actions. Do the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing. Advertise more now. Recruit great agents now. Implement more lead conversion systems now. 

5. He will build an awesome business when he has become "pissed off" enough to sacrifice everything for his business.

Success requires change. You must begin to think differently, otherwise you’ll do the same things and get the same results. It seems that people don't change until they've hit bottom. It's at the bottom where you get pissed off enough to do what's required. I can still remember when I hit my bottom. I decided once and for all to stop talking and start doing. I committed to doing whatever it took to build my business and I followed through.

In the next article, I'll share Sun Tzu's two methods for attack in war and how you can apply them in your business. Watch for this next week!

What I learned about business taking flying lessons

Post by Rob Minton
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Several years ago, we were headed on vacation to Hilton Head. We got stuck in a traffic back up looking over Lake Norman in North Carolina. As we sat waiting for the traffic to start moving again, we fell in love with the lake.

While on vacation, I hatched a plan to relocate to North Carolina from Ohio. I could tell from our limited discussions, after the traffic jam, that my wife wasn't as excited about relocating as I was. She wanted to stay in Ohio to be close to family and friends.

I decided that I could overcome this challenge by getting my pilot's license. I figured that if I learned how to fly a plane, I could easily fly her home to see family and friends whenever she wanted. 

I stopped at a small little airport close to my home and signed up to start taking flying lessons. The instructor handed me several manual which I was to read, study and memorize. We also scheduled our first training flight. When I got home, I began to read one of the manuals and I was shocked to see numerous checklists. As an example, here is a checklist for inspecting the plane before starting it:

Each item on this list is to be examined before you even enter and start the plane. Every item listed requires you to visually inspect something on the exterior of the plane. The goal is to make sure the plane is ready to fly and to identify any problems before getting airborne. To be honest, a great deal more must be analyzed that hasn't been listed in this checklist. Two biggies are the weather and the your flight plan.

Once you've gone through this first checklist, you are able to move forward and head to the runway to get ready for takeoff. Before taking off, you need to stop and go through another checklist. This process is called "Run Up." Here is a sample "Run Up" checklist:

The goal of the "Run Up" is to make sure the plane is functioning properly before takeoff. You need to test every control throughout the plane to verify that it is operating properly.

Now I realize this seems to be a lot of information. This is because it is. These checklists are required to be followed before every single flight. Why?

Because if you miss one item in one of these checklists, you could end up dead. These systems are in place to ensure your safety and the safety of others.

Has anything about these checklists jumped out at you? I certainly hope so. Here are a few takeaways for you to ponder:

1. These checklists allow beginning pilots to learn the proper way to evaluate a plane and prepare for takeoff. 
2. These checklists help an experienced pilot stay on top of their game by reminding them of those pesky little important details.
3. These checklists are very thorough and have been developed to prevent previous mistakes or problems from recurring. I'll bet these checklists have been improved many times over the years as more plane crashes have been studied and analyzed.
4. Being able to perform every task on these checklists is part of the examination to obtain your pilot's license. This means they are standard practice for all pilots.
5. Most pilots have copies of these checklists, and others, with them at all times. They refer to them frequently.

What would happen in your business if you had detailed checklists like this about every aspect of your business? Answer: YES

Do you think it would be easier to recruit and train new agents for your team or harder? Answer: YES

Do you think your business would run without your day-to-day involvement? Answer: YES

Do you think your clients would receive better service? Answer: YES

Do you think you're team members would perform better if they were forced to adhere to your checklists? Answer: YES

Starting today, treat your business as if it were a plane. Create checklists for every aspect of your business and force everyone on your team to follow them. Start by listing the various systems you have in your business and then build checklists for each system. Improve these systems when things go wrong.

You probably have heard that we didn't relocate to North Carolina. When we decided not to move, I put my flying lessons on hold. I didn't really have anywhere to fly to... (I was also a little bit freaked out about the "stalls.") I'll share more on this in a future blog post.

Interesting Time Management Strategy for Real Estate Agents

Post by Rob Minton
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In a recent Twitter update, I wrote:

"Great time/life management question to ask yourself: "Will what I'm doing right now matter in 5 years?"

This is very challenging way to view what we do from day-to-day because it forces you to focus on the most important activities. You'll also quickly find the low value activities. The beauty of this one simple question is that it doesn't require a special Day Planner or fancy time management system to track your time. It simply helps you make better choices about what you do and what you don't do. As an example, compare the following two activities:

1. Watching a sporting event or game on TV.

2. Reading a book with your child.

Which of these two activities will matter in 5 years? At first you might think, neither. But as you think about it further, you'll see that reading the book with your child will matter a great deal more in 5 years than watching a sporting event. You never know the impact of the time you spend with others. 

Let's walk through another comparison together. However, this time we will focus on work. Which of these two activities will matter more in 5 years?

1. Attending a home inspection for a home you sold.

2. Reading a book about marketing.

The book on marketing seems like it would be the better option because the lessons you learned would still be adding value to you 5 years down the road. The funny thing is that I've had to actually stop and think about my choices differently. At first, you might argue with me on this example and say that the home inspection might help prevent a buyer from buying the wrong home. This is definitely true. However, let's consider the impact of a great book on marketing. Would the book allow you to help many more buyers vs. the one?

Since my "tweet" on this topic, I've been using this little question almost every day to analyze what I'm doing. I can honestly say that this one little question can transform your life. The reason is because this question gets you to instantly focus on what is important and cuts away and the unimportant.

Will writing this blog post matter in 5 years?

It will, if it helps one person make better choices about how they spend their time. (Maybe you might spend more time with your kids....) What if my answer would have been "No" this blog post won't matter in 5 years. What then? Well, I shouldn't write it. I shouldn't spend my time on things that don't matter. Neither should you. 

This question allows you to apply the 80/20 rule to all areas of your life. It gets you to focus on the most important 20% activities. I'm definitely not perfect with this by any stretch of the imagination. I've made some poor choices about my time in the past. This really doesn't matter. What matters is what I do with my time right now. What matters is what I do with my time tomorrow and next week.

Since adopting this little time/life management question, I've found two similarities in my choices...

1. Doing something for or with someone else always seems to outweigh any other choice of how to use your time. This is simply because we do not know what the future holds for us, or for the other person. We tend to worry about our future, but what about the future of the people in your life?

My daughter wanted to volunteer at the Humane Society. She isn't old enough to volunteer on her own, which meant I had to volunteer and she could come along with me. We had to attend classes and be trained. I was getting a little irritated at first because volunteering wasn't my idea. I wasn't sure that walking dogs and playing with them was the best use of my time. Well, after asking this little life management question, I instantly realized that the time with my daughter mattered more than just about anything else.

2. Reading, studying or learning always seems to outweigh many of the trivial things we do from day-to-day. For example, I could spend 2 hours tonight watching TV, or I could use this same time to read Seneca's book titled "On the Shortness of Life." When you start asking yourself this little questions, you'll be amazed at how much time we tend to waste on a daily basis.

Speaking of Seneca's book, I thought I would wrap up this blog post with a quote, from the book, which had a profound impact on me. Here it is...

"...it is the sign of a great man, and one who is above human error, not to allow his time to frittered away: he has the longest possible life simply because whatever time was available he devoted entirely to himself. None of it lay fallow and neglected, none of it under another's control; for being an extremely thrifty guardian of his time he never found anything for which it was exchanging."

Time really is our most important asset. This asset dwindles every single day. The problem is we aren't paying attention to it. We freak out when the value of our 401k drops, but we don't even bat an eye when our time is wasted.

We trade our time for the most trivial things. The time/life management question included above forces us to analyze our time as an important asset. It helps us start to see what is important and what isn't.

The Run

Many of my blog readers know that I'm training to run the Disney marathon on January 15th. I've decided to run a marathon after reading Dean Karnazes book "50/50 - Secrets I learned running 50 marathons in 50 days."

I'm following Dean's training program included at the end of his book. The basic plan is to run several 4 to 6 mile runs during the week and then one longer run on the weekend. Each week, the length of the long run increases by a mile. This plan slowly takes you to marathon day for the 26 mile run.

My long run day is Sunday. I get up in the morning and brew a pot of coffee. I work for an hour or two to wake up and then I go through the typical process of getting ready for the run. Trust me, there is a process to get ready to run for two hours. You don't just put on your running shoes and head out the door. You have to be proactive with pain management. I'll spare you the ugly details.

I'm usually out the door by 7:30 am, just when my family is rising from bed. I run while they make and eat muffins and waffles on Sunday morning. By the time I'm home, they are all ready for the day. I'm ready for a hot tub.

Yesterday, my plan called for a 14 mile run. It was cold, windy and rainy here in Cleveland, Ohio. My GPS watch battery had died which meant I had to follow a course where I was familiar with the mileage. Otherwise, I could simply run wherever I want and monitor my mileage through the watch.

I will tie this to business a minute. Hang in there with me....

The course I was forced to run follows Lake Erie. This is usually a fun run with a lot to see. However, with the ugly weather yesterday, this run was a big challenge. The wind was blowing hard off of the lake. In some cases, it almost tripped me by knocking one leg into the other. I knew I was in trouble when the wind was at my back for the first half of the run. In essence, I ran 7 miles with the wind. I dreaded the point in the run when I had to turn around and run into the wind to get back home. I would be forced to run into the wind on the hardest part of the run.

Usually the last few miles of the long are the most challenging in good weather. Your feet hurt. Your legs hurt and you have to push through the pain in order to build your endurance. The entire purpose for the long run is to go through the last few miles. To take your body and mind beyond its comfort zone.Your comfort zone expands from week to week as you adapt to longer, more challenging runs. The same really goes with every goal in life, doesn't it?

As I turned to head into the wind, I realized that my run was exactly how the real estate market had been for real estate agents. We sold houses in the boom from 2003 to 2006 without having to work to very hard. This is just like the first 7 miles running with the wind at my back.

We got lazy. We didn't pay attention to our income. We took on unnecessary expenses. We didn't prepare for the storm. We thought the wind would be at our backs forever. It never is...

Now we are running into the wind with our businesses.

We struggle each week with another painful step into the wind. Loans not closing in time. Appraisal problems. Nervous buyers. Unrealistic sellers. The list goes on and on. Many real estate agents have found this to be too hard and have left the business.

Not you. You haven't quit. You keep putting one step in front of the other. One mile at a time. You're pushing past your comfort zone. You're making tough decisions. Your learning many valuable lessons about yourself and about business.

When you get to the finish line as the market rebounds, you'll be stronger, tougher and ready to kick some serious ass. There will be fewer competitors. This challenging economy and real estate market is here to teach us some very important lessons. Keep a log of these lessons because you'll need them again in the future. The cycle we are in today will repeat itself. Another storm will come at some point in the future. Next time, you'll be prepared.

Today, keep fighting. Keeping going one mile further into the wind. Because sooner or later, the wind will change and it will be at your back. Now is when the real business people stand up and everyone else sits down. The meek will not inherit the earth. Only those who choose to run into the wind will.

How do you manage your time?

Great question! It really is a very important question because time is our most important asset. Money can be replaced, but time can't. In my book, Renegade Millionaire Strategies for Real Estate Agents, you'll find two chapters on this topic. You can download my book for free at www.FreeRenegadeBook.com.

I have some additional thoughts on this question because I recently tested a new work schedule. In July, I spent most of the month on vacation. I won't get into all of the details, but I will tell you that I copied Andrew Carnegie's work schedule. Andrew would work for around 3 hours a day. He would accomplish more in the 3 hours he worked than most people would accomplish in a week. Massive action!

During my vacation, I got up early and worked from 6 am to 9:00 am each day. I would then check and respond emails for about 30 minutes at the of the day. After 3 weeks, I learned a great deal about myself! Here is what I learned:

• That I didn't delegate enough.
• I was only able to work on two areas of my business: customer service and future income generation.
• I didn't make any progress on current income opportunities.

As entrepreneurs, we have 4 main areas to cover in our businesses. These areas are

1. Administrative Duties
2. Customer Service - Keeping your current customers happy
3. Current Sales and Income
4. Future Sales and New Opportunities

The time you allocate to each of these activities will dictate your future income. For example, lets say you spend 30% of your time on administrative tasks (processing sales), 50% of your time on current sales opportunities (showing homes to buyers/getting listings), and 20% of your time on customer service (communicating with your listings, clients and handling problems), you're future income is in jeopardy. This is because you're not devoting any time to building your future pipeline.

I think the ideal strategy would be allocate your time to each area based upon the following percentages:

1. Administrative Tasks: 0% (Delegated)
2. Customer Service: 10%
3. Current Income Opportunities: 40%
4. Future Income Opportunities: 50%

Have you ever experienced the income roller coaster? I have. You have a great month followed by a terrible month. Why does this happen? It happens because when your slow, you focus on creating future sales. Then when these sales kick in, you're busy and don't to continue to build your future pipeline. Your sales dwindle and your slow again. This creates a constant income roller coaster.

My time allocation above was designed to completely end the income roller coaster. It was also designed to increase your income each year. How much time are you currently spending in each of these four areas? How can you re-allocate your time to meet my allocation? You should pre-plan your schedule based around activities in these categories. This will help you stay on course!

What If There Was a Recession But You Didn't Attend? (Part One)

An exclusive discussion with Dan Kennedy and Rob Minton

For those who don’t know, Dan Kennedy is a multi-millionaire serial entrepreneur; author of 11 bestselling business books – including two new ones we’ll discuss here; a popular speaker who has often appeared on programs with a wide variety of legendary entrepreneurs including Donald Trump, Jim McCann (1-800-Flowers), Debbi Fields (Mrs. Fields Cookies) and even Gene Simmons (KISS) as well as leading business speakers Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy and Tom Hopkins; and, through his newsletters and networks of consultants and coaches, directly influences over 1-million business owners a year – including countless real estate agents.  I have been relying on Dan for strategic business and marketing advice since 2004, and have been a Member of his most elite Platinum private client group and high level coaching groups for 4 years. Recently, while at a Platinum meeting, I sat down with Dan to discuss the economy, business, money and even politics. Here is the result:

ROB: Let’s start right out with the so-called elephant in the room, the economy, and the dreaded ‘R’ word. Economists are arguing over technicalities. The news media has had us deep in a recession for months. People do seem troubled by gas and grocery prices. What’s your take on it all?

DAN: First, you always have to temper what people say with objective reality. For example, if you listened to all their weeping and wailing about gas prices, you’d presume everybody had their cars up on blocks, huddled in their homes as if in caves. But the recent Memorial Day weekend had only a 1% reduction in people driving 50 miles or farther from home according to AAA. There is no doubt that there are segments of the population severely affected….others slightly affected….some unaffected by this very specific inflation of gas and groceries. In big-ticket spending, the inevitable hitting of the wall with using appreciating home equity as an ATM has whacked big, dumb, slow to adapt companies like Home Depot and Lowes. Cities and businesses dependent on summer vacation dollars may be hurt this year. So I am not a “recession denier.”  However, it’s also important to look at all this in full context. For example, as we’re doing this, we’re in the 4th straight week with declines in jobless claims – less people each week filing for unemployment. The stock market still reflects a fairly optimistic analysis of the overall economy.  Real estate is not, as media reports, in an across the board collapse. In the Cleveland area, where I have one of my homes, foreclosure numbers are roughly 25% to 30% higher than normal, putting the area in the top 5 markets in the U.S. for foreclosure problems, but luxury home sales are healthy, and even more telling, commercial real estate transactions were up in 2007 vs. 2006 and are apace to grow again in 2008, and there’s more new investment in significant development in and around the city than anytime in the past 7 years. In short, saying “recession” is a big, fat, over-broad, over-simplified generalization. There are plenty of consumers, plenty of investors and plenty of business owners spending plenty of money – and that’s one of the things I want to talk about, related to one of my new books. Further, there’s no profit in buying into this concept of a giant black cloud of doom descending over the entire land – and every business owner must constantly be asking himself ‘where’s the PROFIT in that?’ – with regard to his own thinking, his own analysis and his own actions.

ROB: Before we get to the practical cures, if you will, let’s talk a little more about this thought process. How should businesspeople manage their own thinking about the economy?

DAN: This is a presidential election year, during which well over a half-billion dollars has been spent, and between candidates, parties, and independent groups called 527-c’s – for which I write some ad and direct-mail copy – another billion dollars will be spent, most of it aimed at convincing voters that we are in crisis here, there and everywhere. One side cries “crisis and change.” The other side threatens “crisis requires steady, experienced hand.” Either way, everybody’s selling crisis. There’s also a profound media bias, even what I call ‘media mental illness’, a very unbalanced emphasis, excessively reporting bad news, nearly ignoring good news. On CNN, which I call the Communist News Network, you get good economic news only in the little type crawl across the bottom of the screen. You actually have to go to Fox Financial News or CNBC or the Wall Street Journal to get a fully balanced presentation and, of course, most people don’t. So the gloom ‘n doom sales machine is cranked up on high. To quote one of the success authorities I studied very early, Earl Nightingale, “we become what we think about most.”  So if you DON’T actually MANAGE your thinking about this….if you let yourself accept the mainstream media’s and politicians’ selling of crisis, if you think about it, regurgitate it in conversation with others, hang out with others regurgitating it to you….you’ll undoubtedly find yourself upside down in it, shit up to your ankles!  It’s up to you to seek out better, more complete information. And, incidentally, to turn around and provide that information to your real estate clients. You’d better be what I call a “good news merchant” yourself, influencing your clients’ thinking about this – yours may very well be the only such voice they hear. And being that lone voice of reason and encouragement can be very magnetic. I’m sure that you, Rob, have been telling your real estate agent coaching clients  this and in your weekly fax and other tools you provide them, doing this for them. There’s a thing called the Consumer Confidence Index, a measurement of consumers’ attitudes that at least somewhat predicts their near future spending. Every business owner needs to be actively working at positively influencing his consumers’ confidence.

But beyond that, here’s how true entrepreneurs think about this: it is a set of circumstances, of changes in the marketplace, to have foreseen and prepared for, now to respond to, in which there is enormous opportunity  - and REDUCED competition pursuing that opportunity diminished by fear, indecision, emotional paralysis, resentment toward the need to adapt, and in many cases, lack of agility. This is a good time to be grabbing market share, acquiring new clients, marketing aggressively. There is always a ‘set of circumstances’ and there are always winners and losers. A lot of business owners do well only in a generous economy. But a lot of other business owners get their traction, outpace their competition, and create their greatest wealth during economic times widely regarded by others as “poor.”   To complain about there being circumstances or changing circumstances is to complain about there being weather.

As an investor, I don’t worry a lot over a company’s dip in stock price at a time like this, because that reflects the mass public’s foolish acceptance of recession as a universal reality, as a completely dark time. I look for companies where insiders are buying up more stock at bargain prices and  the company is expanding, growing, launching new initiatives. In a recession, everything goes on sale. Stock in very good companies. Real estate in very good areas. “Eyeballs” for advertisers and marketers – less people sending out direct-mail means less clutter in my customers’ mailboxes means more space and better opportunity to gain their attention and interest for me.  Less pages of advertising in the magazines or newspapers my customers read, lower rate negotiated and more attention for me. When others cower, you want to be bold, aggressive, opportunistic.

ROB: Okay, let’s talk about being opportunistic. What are the big opportunities you are emphasizing for business owners right now?

DAN: There are two big topics I’m spending a lot of time talking about with my clients, coaching members, and readers right now, reflected in my two brand new books: NO B.S. GUIDE TO RUTHLESS MANAGEMENT OF PEOPLE AND PROFITS and NO B.S. GUIDE TO MARKETING TO THE AFFLUENT – as they say, available now at a bookstore near you or amazon.com, BN.com and so on.  One topic is using this sea-change from generous, indulgent economy to grumpy, demanding one as motivation and mandate to re-assess your business inside out, and get smarter and tougher and more diligent about managing for maximum profit. And it is my contention that most businesses – including those in your industry could suffer a 25% drop in gross sales (revenues) but simultaneously enjoy a 25% improvement in net profits, employing the from a-to-z ruthless management strategies in my book. Also, most businesses could suffer a 25% drop in response to advertising and marketing, a 25% “drying up” if you will of prospective new clients coming their way but simultaneously create a 25% increase in conversions, in converting new prospects to clients. In fact, one of the chapters in my Management book is titled ‘How to Profit From The Age Of Mass Incompetence And Coming Monster Recession’. As you can see, this is a very timely new book.  Second, is the grand and glorious, newly developing opportunity to re-direct a business to attracting, serving and securing more affluent clients – the subject of my new MARKETING TO THE AFFLUENT book. So, the hot words are: re-assess, re-tool and re-direct.

ROB: Sounds like a lot of unpleasant work – who wants to do all that re-assessing and re-tooling and re-directing?

DAN: Hardly anybody!!! -  which is why there’s such abundant, exciting opportunity for the few who do.  You know, I started in business myself during a real recession – that makes where we are now look like a light summer breeze in comparison to Katrina. Thanks to Jimmy Carter, we had the reality of double-digit base interest rates, unemployment rates and inflation….all more than double the current numbers, high gas prices and gas rationing, a credit crunch…and a widespread emotional malaise as well. It wasn’t pretty. For most. But I prospered. And I got to work with quite a few agile entrepreneurs who did. I have absolute understanding that the best time to speed up and gain position is when others are riding the brakes. But you’re 1000% right: most people long for the ability to get their business arranged a certain way and then never have to tinker with it again. But success in business doesn’t work that way. I’d love for that to happen with my houses too. One of our homes is just 6 or 7 years old. Re-paint the deck; next replace the deck. Carla wants to put a new floor in the kitchen. Paint this. Change that. Why, oh why, oh why, can’t it all just be left alone? Well, even if you want to, you can’t. Style changes, tastes change, furnishings wear out, water tanks wear out, garage doors wear out.

Look, in business, the surest path to mediocrity, to disappointments in income and wealth short-term and long-term, to losing disinterested customers (client/patients) to others’ seductions is denial,  is resentment or procrastination over the need for constant change. That’s why being a part of groups like yours, being coached, being in your Less Clients More Money Program, coming to brain-exchange events like your mastermind meeting for real estate agents is so critically important at all times but treble important in particularly challenging times. You have to see the need for change as exciting opportunity, not as burden. You have to be mentally agile. With full disclosure, some of the companies I invest in now: Disney, Landrys Restaurants, amazon, 1-800-Flowers…all of which have been good to me and I expect them to be even better in the future….have creative, agile, innovative, opportunistic leadership and corporate culture. Nothing stays the same. If you are striving for same you’ll be slaughtered.

Especially now, but really at any time.

The transcript of this conversation with Dan Kennedy will be continued in my next blog post! Stay tuned!

An email that I received - plus my response...

Yesterday afternoon, I taught a 2 hour webinar. In the webinar, I taught the following...

1. How to attract investors to your business - including actual advertisements I used for my business.
2. How to get investors to "apply" to become your client.
3. How to create a club for investors generating monthly passive income for your business.
4. Detailed financial results from my business including my personal story in real estate.
5. A unique strategy that guarantees unlimited home sales.
6. How to create multiple income streams in your business.
7. How to use Future Banking for massive wealth.

I revealed so much from my business in this webinar that I made attendees sign a non-disclosure and non-compete agreement. I even highlighted how we get automatic referrals and automatic testimonials. In my humble opinion, this was probably the most valuable webinar on how to build a real estate business. It was also FREE!

Here is an email I received from an agent who was registered to attend, but didn't...

"Your webinar sounds very informative however I don't have 3 hours to listen to you on the computer."

I wonder what this agent did instead of joining the webinar??? Lets make some assumptions on what this agent might have been doing instead...

1. Showing homes to a pre-approved buyer.

Would this be a better use of their time? Depends on your priorities. My answer is NO. What is better for your business, selling one home or learning how to attract clients that buy multiple homes? Which offers the biggest return on your time investment? The webinar, of course!

2. Going on a listing presentation.

Now, I would rather show homes to a pre-approved buyer than go on a listing presentation. Why? Because a large percentage of the listings don't sell. Even worse, the average number of days on the market is "forever" here in the States for those that actually do sell. Listings are a waste of time in my opinion. I think you have a better shot at collecting a real commission if you work with a buyer. Attending my webinar would have been a much better use of their time.

3. Handling emails or looking up info on the MLS.

These are both zero income tasks. They should be delegated to someone else...

The point of this post is to challenge how you think about your time. What do you consider a priority? Are your priorities real priorities? You've probably heard the old saying...

"If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten."

Your priorities dictate what you'll get in the future. In this case, this agent's priorities will hopefully generate one commission instead of multiple commissions.

Oh, I'll be hosting this exact same webinar next week. If you can fit it in your schedule, register now by downloading this one page registration form at:

http://www.ProfitWebinar.com

Donkey, donkey...

Photo by by Cat Faery Shari

I didn't write this and I don't know who did, but it's good! Enjoy...

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway;  it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing.

He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up!  Shake it off and take a step up.

Help! - I Can't Get Out of the Box I Put Myself In!

This post is a guest post from my mentor, Dan Kennedy. It is part of a series of articles titled "Why People Fail."

The fast food industry got the idea for drive-in windows from banks. I guess there was a McDonalds executive sitting at the bank drive-through one day who thought, "I don't think we can fit the milkshakes in these tubes, but..." Netjets, the leader in fractional jet ownership, now owned by Warren Buffett, owes its birth to the vacation time-share industry. The microwave in your kitchen was not originally intended to go there; its original manufacture, Litton, believed no consumer would but it and built them only for restaurants. When was the last time you heard of Litton?

What does this tell you? That successful businesses live or die by cross-industry 'borrowing' of ideas, that inspiration more often comes from outside the box than from within. Ordinary businesses stay ordinary, their owners eking out only ordinary incomes - and working too hard for them - as long as those owners foolishly and stubbornly, mentally stay in their own tiny backyard. Breakthroughs come from bringing fresh ideas found outside one's own business and applying them in new ways. You choose to limit or expand your income by the way you reject or embrace ideas found far afield from your present modus operandi and industry norms.

The vast majority of ordinary business people with ordinary incomes and never-ending complaints about how hard they work but how little they gain, about being able to compete with the bigger and cheaper...have this in common: they get their hands on powerful information like that in this very publication and waste their time and energy in the non-creative activity of finding all the ways it can't and doesn't apply to them. Some people have such teeny, tiny, calcified, crippled imaginations they can only appreciate an example precisely matched to them - oh, that won't work for me because her place sells pizza and I sell Chinese food, and hers is a medium sized city and I'm in a small town, and it rains a lot where she is but it's sunny here; you have to show me an example from a Chinese restaurant in a small town where it's hot and dry. Fools stay suck in the very limiting "But MY Business Is Different" box, thereby negating the value of 99% of every successful strategy, example model they see or are presented with.

My client list is, fortunately, chock full of people who think in very opposite ways. They get rich by finding non-obvious opportunities. Living creatively. Adapting tried-and-true winning strategies from somewhere else to where they are. They attack each issue of my newsletter, each book I suggest to them, with yellow hi-liter and bias for action, not closed mind. They are willing, even eager to "re-imagine" their businesses while others have Bilbo Baggins' (the Hobbit) attitude: not interested in adventures - they make you late for dinner. Space here does not permit telling you such client stories, but I'd invite you to get a peek, viewing the half-hour TV show at www.rob.in12months.com, free of charge.

One of the most successful marketing strategies of all time is called 'gift with appointment.' Today, it brings new patients to dentists' offices, affluent investors to financial advisors' seminars, new home buyers to developments and resort communities, and is in play in hundreds of fields, helping create millions of sales appointments every week. To the best of my knowledge, it came from a woman named Estee Lauder. I wonder how many people from how many different fields ignored it for how long, because 'Nothing having to do with selling lipsticks and perfumes could possibly apply to MY business. MY business is different."

The WHY PEOPLE FAIL articles are provided by Dan Kennedy, serial entrepreneur, from-scratch multi-millionaire, speaker, consultant, coach, author of 13 books including the NO B.S. series (www.NoBSBooks.com), and editor of The NO B.S. Marketing Letter. WE HAVE ARRANGED A SPECIAL FREE GIFT FROM DAN FOR YOU including a 2-Month Free Membership in Glazer-Kennedy Insider's Circle, newsletters, audio CD's and more: for more information and to register, visit http://www.FreeGiftFrom.com/robminton

P.S. The Bilbo Baggins photo was by by dogwelder

The value of a "real" mentor is priceless

Recently, I sat down and evaluated my life and I came to a few conclusions about success. I'll share one of my findings with you in this post!

When I look back at every single major accomplishment I have had in my life, I realized that I had a mentor to help me. This includes both personal and business accomplishments.

For example, a long time ago, I had a goal of running a marathon. I realized that one of my college professors was a runner. I started asking him questions about running after class. He was happy to share his experiences with me. I found out that he had run in several marathons. He went on to help me prepare for my marathon. He suggested various training runs. He also taught me how important nutrition was to running. I went on to finish the Cleveland marathon. They were taking down the finish line when I crossed it. I'm not kidding! My wife was waiting for me at the finish line. She said that she got worried when a lady pushing a jogger stroller with two kids crossed the finish line and I hadn't. My goal wasn't to win the race. My goal was simply to finish the race. I accomplished my goal. My college professor's advice and guidance was immensely helpful! (Note - the lady pushing the jogger stroller beat me by about an hour!)

Several years ago, I started reading books by Dan Kennedy. I found his books to be phenomenal. I decided to try and join one of his mastermind groups. I sent Dan a fax listing my goals and requesting to be considered for one of his groups. Dan replied back suggesting a day of consulting. The fee for one day of his consulting was $8,600. This was a few years ago. I honestly don't know what his fee is today. I scheduled the consulting day. The day changed my life. Dan became my mentor and I have learned some very valuable lessons from him. My best friend thought I was nuts to pay someone $8,600 for one day of consulting. He joked that he would spend the day with me for $4,000. Dan helped me triple my business. He also helped launch a coaching business for real estate agents. I honestly cannot put a value on what Dan has taught me. I'm so glad that I saw the value in a mentor when my best friend didn't. Had I listened to him, I would probably be in the exact same place I was back then.

Now, I'm in the process of learning Brazilian Jujitsu. At 37 I'm finding this to be very challenging. Over this past weekend, a fifteen year old who weighs 30 pounds less than I do, made me tap out twice. He has been training for a year and a half. He is way ahead of me.

To master this art, I have found a mentor. In the picture above, I'm with Relson Gracie and his son. They are legends in the Gracie family and Brazilian Jujitsu. I attend one of their Gracie schools here in Willoughy, Ohio. To learn more about the Gracie family see my previous post:

What real estate agents can learn from mixed martial arts

I could go on and on with various examples from my life. I'll bet if you really think about your life that you'll see mentors have helped you with your major accomplishments. Sometimes you might not even realize it. Take some time to think about it. I'll bet you'll find a mentor behind you who helped. Once you realize how powerful a real mentor is to goal accomplishment, you should seek out "real" mentors to help you achieve all of your goals. A real mentor is someone who has already done what you hope to do.

A "real" mentor can save you hours of time, thousands of dollars and help you avoid costly mistakes. Their help and guidance can and will become invaluable to you. My suggestion would be for you to find a mentor for every one of your major goals. This is what I have learned to do in my life.

"I Know I'm being Successful When..."

Yesterday, I while I was uploading a few new marketing videos, I started going through the "In-box" on my desk. Uploading videos takes forever and I'm always afraid to do something else on my computer because I'll mess up the loading process and have to start over. I absolutely hate doing things twice. I'd rather slow down and get it right the first time!

In my hard copy "in-box", I found something that I want to share with you today. It was written by Dean Jackson and it was titled - "I Know I'm Being Successful When..." 

Here it is:

1. I can wake up every day and ask - "What would I like to do today?"

2. My passive revenue exceeds my lifestyle needs.

3. I can live anywhere in the world I choose.

4. I'm working on projects that excite me and allow me to do my best work.

5. I can disappear for several months with no affect on my income.

6. There are no whiny people in my life.

7. I wear my watch for curiosity only.

8. I have no time obligations or deadlines.

9. I wear whatever I want all the time.

10. I can quit anytime.

Is that powerful, or what? Go back through the list and check off the ones that are true for you. How many were you able to mark? I'm guessing that you weren't able to check off more than 3. How do I know? Because I used to be in your shoes.

As a traditional agent, you don't have very much control over your schedule. In addition, selling homes for a commission is not "passive." You can't live anywhere in the world and you also can't disappear for several months without any impact on your income.

If you agree with Dean Jackson's list for success, what are you doing to change your situation? Do you believe that its impossible to achieve all 10 items on his list? I can tell you from experience that its definitely not impossible. However, you have to think differently in order to make progress on success.

In my next post, I'll try and share some of my thoughts on this with you!

Oh, have you signed up to watch my Dan Kennedy Mastermind buddy create an online business on camera in just 4 days? If not, click here and register for this FREE video training session! Setting up passive income streams online might just be a way for you to be successful according to Dean Jackon's list!

Why people fail...

If you want more, make yourself more valuable!

The mayor of a small town once wrote to Benjamin Franklin asking for a donation so the town could by a bell for its town square. Franklin sent money with a note suggesting they forego the bell in favor of buying books for the town library. It is at the library we might find an answer to why so few succeed and why most fail—at anything, at everything.

Most people do not apply themselves to acquiring know-how nor apply the know-how they acquire. In short, they have the attention span of a gnat, the diligence of an idle, random breeze. They certainly don’t study.

I have become quite rich and somewhat celebrated, reaching the pinnacle of success in not one but three different fields. At each required skill-set, I once sucked. For me, there has always been a crawl to competence, then a fast rise to superiority. Part of the process is getting through a lot of information in a hurry but also continuously. For nearly 25 years, I read a book a day plus newspapers, trade journals, newsletters, visited the public library weekly; took on a needed skill and so thoroughly and intensely studied it as to become a world class expert. When I was teaching myself to be an advertising copywriter, for example, I studied no less than an hour everyday, listened to recorded material on the subject constantly, sought out and got to know the top people in the field, and when one told me to take great direct-response ads and write them out longhand 21 times each, to teach my subconscious the rhythm of such writing,  I did that with 100 ads.

I collected over 200 books on the subject and immersed myself in them. I build organized files of samples that fill a room. I traced one master back to his teachers, they to theirs, thus even knowing the genealogy of the field. When I am asked by fledging or journeymen copywriters how they, too, might have clients waiting in line to pay them $100,000 in fees when there are thousands of copywriters advertising their availability for 1/10th that or less, and I tell them this answer, they reject it. They seek rewards out of kilter with their value and are unwilling to do what is necessary to build up their value.

The same answer could be given by the top earners in insurance, real estate, retail store ownership, dentistry—name the business or profession. The answer is the same.

I am told by people all the time that they simply do not have time to read and listen to all of the material they have purchased or subscribed to. But time is democratic and just. Everyone has the same amount. When I choose to read with my mid-morning coffee break and you choose to blather about trivia with friends’ when I choose to study for an hour sitting on my backyard deck at day’s end but you choose to watch a TIVO’d American Idol, episode, we reveal much. When someone says he does not have the time to apply himself to acquiring the know-how required to create sufficient value for his stated desires, he is a farmer surrounded by ripe fruit and vegetables, whole grains and a herd of cattle on his own property who dies of starvation, unable to organize his time and discipline himself to eat.

Incidentally, success in every business, including yours, depends on a mastery of a handful of critical competencies (one of which is always marketing). The individual who sets out earnestly and diligently to acquire wealth of know-how in each winds up with wealth in his bank account. All others watch with envy and cry in their soup, two activities they do seem to find time for.

The WHY PEOPLE FAIL articles are provided by Dan S. Kennedy, serial entrepreneur, from-scratch multi-millionaire, speaker, consultant, coach, author of 13 books including the No B.S. series, and editor of the No B.S. Marketing Letter. WE HAVE ARRANGED A SPECIAL FREE GIFT FROM DAN FOR YOU including a 2-Month Free Membership in Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, newsletters, audio CD’s and more: for information and to register, visit: http://www.FreeGiftFrom.com/robminton