A Message from Gary Keller for Real Estate Agents on the Shift Sept. 2016

1. Lower your expenses every month for the next nine months. Make it a game and acknowledge and reward those who help. Reducing is not a one time event. You review everything every month from now til next march. You'll be surprised at what you miss each time and how once you drop something, you then realize the next month you can drop it even lower... 2. Double your lead generation efforts. Sit down with your plans and make strategic decisions right now and execute quickly. Be lean, mean and move fast. 3. Triple your focus on lead conversion to appointments. Again, sit down with your plans and make strategic decisions right now and execute quickly. The battle will be for the truly motivated buyers and sellers and there will be a fight for them. Win that fight. 4. Increase talent recruiting effort. There is a lag between when the market drops and when agents drop out! You will notice for the rest of the year that the people entering the business won't sinc up with the market slowing down. Why? Because people have already committed to getting into the business and so they just continue on that path. you'll see the slow down on new people getting in start to show up towards the end of the year or by the first of next year. So, you hit it doubly hard right now and stock up for the winter with the right people. I'd guess that 70% of the agents currently have never seen a shift down and don't know what it looks like. It's an opportunity for you to pass out the "shift" book and start the dialogue early. Trust me, you will look really really really really smart to them over the course of the next year. 5. Increase training effort. You think you're doing all you can do, but then the market shifts and you realize there is more to do. Just quadruple what you've been doing. Not kidding. Just load up on it and watch what happens. You teach lead gen, lead conversion, pricing-marketing-price reductions on listings, customer service and follow-up. You have work sessions with your team, get everyone into bold,.etc..... 6. Be very visible and communicative. Let them see you and know you're working your tails off and you expect them to do the same. You're already doing it, but you now want them to really see you working. This is an opportunity. Won't seem like it, but it is. You watch. You get way out in front on this with tons of energy and on the back side of this you will see new heights you weren't sure how you'd get to. Shifts make this possible. It just hurts in the interim! I'll see you at the top! Onward.... Gary Lisa Ekanger Your Hometown Realtor!

People Ask Me, Why Do I Do IT?

Here's Why I do It... People often ask me "What is it like to be a KW Team Leader?". They’re curious as to why I do it. I've heard things like "isn't it hard, like herding cats?" or "how do you lead in a fair way with so much commission on the line?" As a coach and trainer, I have been blessed with meeting many people from different parts of this great country. I’ve had the privilege of helping real estate agents realize their full potential. My goal is simple...to help them become the agents they intended to be. I say through the BOLD laws and the with the MOST amazing real estate training in the world, I have been able to this because I put coming from contribution first. I sometimes hear “it must be hard with all the repetition -- the hitting of reset from day to day! So, I would like to share a story to help better illustrate how I feel. Once upon a time a boy went into a pet shop, looking for a puppy. The store owner showed him a litter in a box. The boy looked at the puppies. He picked each one up, examined it, and put it back into the box. After several minutes, he walked back to the owner and said, “I picked one out. How much will it cost?” The man gave him the price, and the boy promised to be back in a few days with the money.“Don’t take too long,” the owner cautioned. “Puppies like these sell quickly.” The boy turned and smiled knowingly, “I’m not worried,” he said. “Mine will still be there.” The boy went to work-weeding, washing windows, cleaning yards. He worked hard and saved his money. When he had enough for the puppy, he returned to the store. He walked up to the counter and laid down a pocketful of wadded bills. The store owner sorted and counted the cash. After verifying the amount, he smiled at the boy and said, “All right, son, you can go get your puppy.” The boy reached into the back of the box, pulled out a skinny dog with a limp leg, and started to leave. The owner stopped him. “Don’t take that puppy,” he objected. “He’s handicapped, he can’t play. He’ll never run with you. He can’t fetch. Get one of the healthy pups.” “No thank you, sir” the boy replied. “This is exactly the kind of dog I’ve been looking for.” As the boy turned to leave, the store owner started to speak but remained silent. Suddenly he understood. For extending from the bottom of the boy’s trousers was a brace--a brace for his disabled leg. Why did the boy want the dog? Because he knew how it felt, and he knew it was very special. Why do I do it? Because I know how you feel. You see, for the past 9+ years, I too was in real estate, I went through the ups and downs and everything in between. Lord knows, I know what agents are going through...good and bad. I know in my heart that this has helped me become a better teacher, trainer, coach and leader. I’ve seen so many lives transformed, because of the mindset of positive thinking that is KW. This......is why I do it. Until Next Time, Lisa Ekanger Your Hometown Realtor!

28 of the Best Things I Ever Did

28 of the Best Things I Ever Did — from My Bedroom to My Business 1. Started treating my office like it was a real room that was worthy of my best treasures, not the “spare room made into an office”. 2. Drinking hot lemon water in the morning. Great for digestion, skin, alkalinizing. 3. Admitted that I don’t like managing people, and therefore I am not excellent at managing people. Good news is, I’m an excellent leader. 4. Took voice lessons with Awilda Verdejo — It changed.the.way.I breathe. And if you change the way you breathe — your relationship to your power shifts. 5. Got a hot tub. 6. Stopped bringing clothes to consignment stores. The money is rarely worth the time and hassle (and mild humiliation. “What do you mean you don’t want to re-sell my parachute pants?”) It’s way more gratifying to give or trade clothes with friends or donate to a charity store. 7. Put my bed on the floor. You want better grounding, grinding, and good sleep — lower your bed. 8. Got light-darkening shades in my bedroom and removed anything that blinked or flashed. Sweet Lord Jesus circadian rhythm happiness. 9. Downloaded the whole Deva Premal library, began studying mantras. And then…actually used them. Om gam ganapataye namaha. 10. Invested in a Sonicare toothbrush. 11. Kicked gluten. 12. Found a wonderful local food fairy to make me delicious dishes every week. Promptly decided to not feel guilty for having a food fairy. 13. Went through with the divorce. 14. Self published the first edition the The Desire Map. I put the book out in a few months rather than the few years it would have taken with a traditional publisher, and I made full profit. That gave me solid ground on which to negotiate when a publisher I adored came along. We created a really unique deal for book production, distribution and sales. Triple win. 15. Stopped trying to have a NYT Bestseller and just did my own thing. It worked. Over 75,000 copies of The Desire Map are in print. 16. I became harder to get to so I could have more ease in my life. If it impinges on my creativity or being home when my kid comes gets back from school, I’m a No, Thank you. 17. Put up serious boundaries with people who took great pleasure in not taking my boundaries seriously. 18. Got an elliptical. Used it. 19. Decided to bag the parenting books and to just be really honest all the time with my kid. 20. Got my boy a guitar and filtered through guitar teachers until we found the one who said, “Forget scales. What song do you want to learn to play today?” 21. Started taking my work with the healers in my life more seriously — treated it as essential and ongoing learning, rather than a “fix” when I was in crisis. 22. Got a financial planner who is a Feminist. 23. Started going to spin class. Hooked. 24. Went back to a vegetarian way of life. Tho’ I make guilt free concessions for really crispy bacon and grass-fed cheeseburgers. 25. Started working out with two other girlfriends. Holy motivation. And sweaty, lung-burning laughs. 26. That danger zone between 11:30pm and midnight — where I get my third wind of the day…I stopped pushing through that to check more email or start another project — and I shut ‘er down. If I’m in bed before midnight, I fall asleep right away. If I pass the danger zone and stay up — I get re-wound and it takes longer to unwind for sleep. Anything I think I need to do after 11:30pm can wait until the morning. For. Sure. 27. I let the pain soften me. I let the joy soften me. I let the desire soften me. I let the pain soften me. I let the joy soften me. I let the desire soften me. 28. Stopped responding to text messages immediately just because they were “text messages”. Remember when not that much was urgent? — Danielle LaPorte