Do you ever notice how some agents seem to succeed easily in this business while others seem to struggle a lot? And in using the term "succeed easily," I'm not talking about agents succeeding while coasting and not doing their work. I'm talking about agents who work hard in this business who also produce outstanding results in the process.

So what do you think? Can anyone learn to become a highly successful agent in our industry? Or is success only reserved for a certain kind of individual who is born with the right capabilities?

And can the skills for success in our industry be taught to both new and veteran agents? Or are some people born with these skills and abilities already in place, then moving on to become the top earners in our business?

In my opinion, there are both people who come into our industry with many of the proper skills and abilities already in place, and others who may not have these same skills and abilities who can learn them. But also in my opinion, not everyone can learn to become a highly successful real estate agent in our industry.

To begin with, a person must have the right stomach to work in this business for many years and make a successful career out of it. If you've been an agent in our industry for many years, you know that this can be a business of wild emotional highs and lows. One week you have eight transactions in process, the next week three of those transactions fall apart, then the following week you have two new transactions in the works that didn't even exist last week.

Then, one week later, one of the transactions that originally fell apart is showing new signs of life, but two of the other ones that looked good last week are now looking doubtful. And then three days later you sign two new listings that you're very excited about.

I personally know of no other business that has the incredibly wide emotional mood swings that we experience in our industry. I would imagine that a number of the people who work on Wall Street and in the financial arena experience wide mood swings like this, but our industry is truly one of the unique ones when it comes to experiencing these ongoing wide emotional highs and lows. (And of course, the general public thinks that we're overpaid while we continually experience this throughout our careers.)

So in a nutshell, it takes a certain kind of individual who can tolerate working in a profession like this, which is why so many people end up leaving our industry within their first 2-3 years of working in it. Living through a constant rollercoaster of ups and downs combined with working on 100 percent commission definitely takes its toll on people.

But both the people who come into our industry with natural skills and abilities, and those who end up l earning those same skills and abilities in order to become successful, have one thing in common ... a burning and unyielding desire to become hugely successful in our industry. And if you've ever read Napoleon Hill's legendary book, "Think and Grow Rich," you know that this burning unyielding desire to become hugely successful is the most important ingredient anyone can have to achieve the financial success they've always dreamed of.

With this in mind, whenever people contact me to discuss my coaching services, there are always two things I must assess about them immediately:

1. Do they have a burning, unyielding desire to become highly successful in our industry?

2. Are they willing to be coachable and take direction in order to achieve this success?

If they don't have these two qualities, I'm not interested in working with them.

And from my experience, people can definitely learn how to become highly successful in our industry. It all comes down to how strong their desire is to make it happen, and whether or not they're willing to take direction from the right person to get them there.

As an example of this, one agent, a veteran, approached me some time ago asking me if I could help him achieve his goals. And I could definitely tell that this man had the burning desire to make it all happen. In the beginning of our relationship together he wasn't as coachable as I would have ideally liked him to be, but there finally came a moment when he completely let go of doing things his way and began taking direction from me much more effectively. And as a result of this, his income went from $200,000.00 a year to $1,000,000.00. So I know with certainty that people in our industry who have that burning desire can be taught the proper ways to dramatically increase their income.

So there are people who come into our industry with many of the natural talents to become successful, and others who come into our industry with not very many of these talents already in place. But with the burning desire to become successful, and the willingness to take direction from the ideal person who will guide them towards the success they want to achieve, these agents who aren't born with the natural talent can go on to become the top producing agents they want to be.

Published: October 4, 2005

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