5 Environment-Driven Obstacles Holding You Back

I love helping people find simple ways to improve their lives.

When people start coaching with us, the things they want wouldn’t surprise you: they want a business plan, they are struggling to hire, or they aren’t hitting their short term targets.

Obviously, these are things which are fundamentals to the business, and we help with these, but the thing which might surprise you is that most of this stuff isn’t really what holds people back.

• You can grind away and crush it without having a clear business plan.

• You can get along with someone mediocre or hire a temp agency to manage your workload.

• You can buy leads to help you hit your targets.

Usually there is something beneath the surface which holds people back from reaching their true potential. And one of the hardest things to change is your environment.

Sorry - I’m not going to sugar coat it. This isn’t an easy one. BUT, if you decide to be purposeful about improving your environment, the results are incredible.

Why you ask? Because the mindset and energy you show up with every day is a bigger factor than the business plan you wrote, the words you say to a client or the CRM automations you built into your business. Doing fundamental things to improve these can completely change your life.

So, if you want to improve your LIFE, and your business as a byproduct, here are 5 environmental driven factors which get to either be obstacles holding you back… or if you choose, a set of spring boards you use to improve every aspect of your life.

I’m ranking these from least to most important… so make sure you get to the end:

#5: Your Friends

Love it or hate it, you really are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.

This isn’t to say that you should drop your pals and become an entourage for rich people. I’m saying you should pursue relationships with meaningful people who inspire you and you enjoy learning and growing with.

What are your values? What are your priorities? What’s your mission in life?

When it comes to friendship you SHOULD keep your old friends, but make sure the TIME you spend is time well spent. Create space for relationships which give you energy, inspiration and provoke you to move forward.

#4 Your Professional Environment

When I started in real estate I interviewed 10 brokerages before placing my license.

I didn’t know much, so I just went and checked out all the big brand franchises in my local area and scheduled meetings with all the brokers.

I’ll never forget this one office. Walking in they had 4 kinds of tiles in the front entrance and, because most of them were cracked, they had put a dingy carpet over the walking path. The receptionist told us to wait in the basement for the broker to come and find us. If you’ve seen office space, it felt like the room they move “Milton” to when they moved him out of his cubicle for the final time… It was dark, flickering fluorescent lights, fold out tables… the works. In the corner there was some old man eating a sandwich and the whole thing just made me so sad.

It was palpable, and the worst part was that the old man came over after finishing his sandwich and introduced himself as the broker. I was bright eyed and excited for my new career with hopes and dreams… This scene completely took the wind out of my sails and I felt like running.

• Whats the space like at your office?

• What’s your broker like?

• How’s the culture?

• Do people come into the office to work and share with one another?

• Are there massively successful agents you can interact with?

Be the small fish in a big pond.

#3: Your Personal Workspace

I loved my real estate lawyer.

Every time I went to close on a property I felt like I was visiting a time capsule. He was literally a caricature of a real estate lawyer. Buried in his office behind stacks of paperwork, pacing around using an old school tape recorder to make voice notes to his 4 assistants. It was entertaining and endearing… but god I wold have hated spending more than my 30 minutes in that office.

The space was cluttered, dark, and uninviting. When you left you felt lighter and it was impossible not to feel overwhelmed by the volume of work he had constantly leaning over him.

• How do you feel when you walk into your office?

• Is there space on your desk for you to take notes?

• Does your computer run efficiently and have all the tools you need?

Little things like always having to search for a pen or a stapler can drive you crazy and cause you to hate your workspace… but it’s so silly! Buy 3 staplers if they get left in different places! Clear your desk before you leave on Fridays! Buy a nice coffee machine so you aren’t always leaving to go get one!

Make your personal workspace a place you WANT to be… you’re going to spend a lot of time there, invest a little of that time in making it a pleasure to be in!

#2: Your Business Partners, Team Mates, Coaches and Mentors

I told you it was going to get more and more impactful as we got lower on the list. I’ve gotten in and out of business with many of the above and each time it brings to light the weight that the right, or wrong relationships can bring to your business.

Partnerships are the ultimate example of this. Real estate is a lonely business, it’s every person for themselves and, while you can form great relationships, it’s also a cutthroat competition with lots of ups and downs. All of which you burden on your own… so people LOVE forming partnerships. But it often doesn’t work out.

The people you partner with, your team members and your guides such as coaches and mentors are second only to you in the vision and execution of your business… Choose them wisely.

Ask yourself:

• Are you in alignment with them on the long term vision for your business?

• Are they a person who could care for your responsibilities without you feeling concerned?

• Are they just a solution to a short term pain point?

• Or perhaps my favourite: Would I enjoy going on a 5 day road trip with them, just the two of us in a small car?

If they are just a temporary solution there are better ways to solve the problem, I guarantee it. Make sure the people you bring into your business are people you want there for the long term. You should be excited about them, you should like them and you should want to help them get everything they want!

#1: Your Family

OOF

Yeah I know I said the last one was rough. Sorry, I’m not sorry.

I can’t change this for you and I’m probably going to get a lot of flack for this, but simply put: The most important decision you make in your life is the one person you choose to spend the most of it with.

I’ve asked a lot of questions in this post, now ask them about the person you share your home, your bank account and your bed with. I’ve had clients who don’t find joy in their partnerships but felt they “needed to stay”.

One common challenge realtors face is a lack of support when long hours are sometimes necessary. I will shout from the mountain tops that you can create an amazing business averaging 40 hours a week or less, but the active word is AVERAGE.

I’m fortunate to be married to the love of my life… but if either of us didn’t feel that way, I wouldn’t want us to stick it out just because we felt we had to.

This is the one life you get and the person you celebrate it with can either be your biggest supporter or not. Choose wisely and if it isn’t what it needs to be then work to fix it.

Okay, dark note to end on, I know…

Here’s the deal though, you CAN control every part of this.

In your life you can either be the victim of your circumstance or the architect of your destiny.

Personally, I choose the latter.

Go back and look over the five obstacles and flip it:

• Which ONE improvement could you make that would have the most impact?

• What’s a small thing you can do in each of the 5 areas over the next Quarter?

• What’s a little thing you can do today?

Chip away at it my friend, it’s your life and you deserve the best. These are just simple and tactical ways to make it better.

As always, thanks for the time you took to read this.

Sean