I often find myself saying to my team and fellow Realtors, “How many career paths allow you to develop relationships around your passions and hobbies leading to opportunities to become a trusted advisor with unlimited financial success?”
But before you drop everything and jump on this train with me, read on…
Think back to a moment in your life when you deferred gratification. When in your life did you apply yourself over and over (and over!) again to achieve a goal? Graduating from school? Training for a marathon? Learning another language?
A real estate career is really wonderful, I truly love what I do and so do my team members, but from years of experience as a real estate advisor and coach, it takes real fortitude. As I articulated in an earlier article – Seven Things I Learned Running My First Marathon – “success is not a destination; it is a lived commitment to the process.”
You’ve probably heard of the 10,000 hour rule, coined by Malcolm Gladwell in his blockbuster book “Outliers.” As Gladwell tells it, the rule goes like this: it takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to achieve mastery of complex skills and materials. In November of 2022 the esteemed entrepreneur Naval Revikant nuanced Gladwell’s thesis in a tweet: “It’s not 10,000 hours, it’s 10,000 iterations.”
In typical social media fashion a debate ensued, one relevant to the current or prospective real estate professional. Is it 10,000 hours or iterations that lead to change, expertise and success?
I’m here with my take: It doesn’t @#$&’ing matter!
These two incredibly smart people, and those that debate this, are missing the point.
I’ve been called a numbers guys, so let me break it down:
- There are 52 Saturdays in a year. There are 52 Sundays in a year. If you do one thing every Saturday and Sunday it will take you 96 years to equal 10,000 iterations.
- If you work 40 hours a week over 52 weeks you will hit 2080 hours. It will take you five (5) years to hit 10,000 hours.
- If you work 65 hours a week over 52 weeks you will hit 3380 hours. It will take you three (3) years to hit 10,000 hours.
- If you speak to 15 people per day every single day it will take you approximately two (2) years to hit 10,000 iterations.
Semantics aside, the bottom line is that it takes TIME!
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 75% of Realtors fail in year one (1). By the fifth year the dropout rate for Realtors is 87%.
Whether iterations or hours, success requires repetition. You can however get a leg up if you are coached on what things to repeat from the start. I’d encourage you to quit your job and get your real estate license only if you have the willingness to do specific activities over and over again. If you have this kind of stamina, call me.
To become a successful Realtor it takes a runway of time to learn the basics, initiate the right habits and then consistently repeat those habits. To flourish faster it takes a team with systems, a brokerage with top technology, and mentorship. If you ask the agents on my team, they can attest to these contributing factors as behind their choice in joining, whether they join with some, a lot, or no experience at all.
As American author John Maxwell shares, “people don’t have amazing results because they’re amazing, they have amazing results because they’re steadfast. They know that a one-step-at-a-time process will get them to any destination that they ever want to go to. It just takes time.” To watch a video of John Maxwell speaking about this click here.
So a question I often hear: How much time will it take to become a successful real estate agent? From experience, I can tell you that it correlates with how much time you devote to becoming a real estate professional. Regardless of what the team leaders or recruiting or social media are telling you, there are no shortcuts. Yes there are those that do amazing things in year one, but that is the exception, not the rule. What type of Realtor do you want to be? Are you a hobbyist? Are you part-time? Are you full-time?
Looking at the facts of 10,000 iterations and 10,000 hours it is going to take you a full time commitment of three (3) years.
Think about it. If you have 12 conversations per day about real estate over 260 work days you will hit 10,000 conversations (10,000 iterations of speaking real estate) in approximately 3 years. Or if you work 65 hours over a 52 week period you hit 10,000 hours in about 3 years as well.
Do you have three years in which you can devote to real estate and defer those consistent paychecks?
Yes you will make money before year three. However, you need three years to establish yourself as a professional real estate agent and develop a consistent pipeline of clients to help them and advise them and to have that feeling… I made it.
I know you can do it. Just enter into this new career with your eyes wide open. Good luck!