Every good agent has a solid SOI (Sphere of Influence). You probably have one. The problem with an SOI is that most agents don't use them. They have an SOI, but they don't make any effort to make their SOI work for their business. The biggest failure when it comes to SOIs is that agents do not maintain contact.

Maintaining contact with your SOI is very important. You should be contacting your SOI in a personal way (meaning not through emails or fliers) at least twice a year minimum. There are many ways you can do this. Here are some great ideas:

- Throw an SOI party. This could be for Halloween, your business anniversary celebration or just a simple gathering.

- Give a seminar. You could get a local professional to give the talk about an important topic, like taxes or legal issues of small businesses.

- Throw an open house at your office. Invite everyone to see how your business has grown and to thank them for helping you get to where you are with your business.

- Host a dinner in their honor. You can break up your SOI into different categories and throw a diner for each group. For example, throw a dinner for people in your SOI who have purchased multiple houses from you or for those who have provided you with referrals.

- Host a charity event. This is a great idea because you are getting face time with your SOI and also raising money for a good cause. Many people who may not attend other SOI events will likely come to this one since it is for a good cause.

No matter what ideas you use, the point is to have personal contact with your SOI. You want to be able to talk with them and let them know how grateful you are to them and how important they are to your business.

One of your goals in business is to make people want to work with you. A good lesson to learn that will have people flocking to you is about the power of a positive attitude.

There is a lot of talk these days about something called the power of attraction. The idea behind the power of attraction is that positive attracts positive and negative attracts negative. You don’t have to take anyone’s word for it, though. Simply give this concept a try.

Spend one day being completely positive. If you feel any negative thoughts creeping in then push them away and replace them with positive ones. When you speak, only speak positively. Put a smile on your face and greet every person you see with a friendly hello.

You might just be amazed at how well the power of attraction works. You should see immediate results. Imagine if you did this everyday. You could really make some big changes in your life and in your business.

Start trying to be more positive every day. Always look for the good in any situation and make the most of it. You should start to see a positive influence in your business and in your own life once you adopt a positive attitude.

As a business owner one of your most important skills is the ability to communicate with your employees. Without communication your business will slowly crumble. You will lose control and eventually fail.

Good communication is essential to good business. You must be able to communicate clearly your ideas and thoughts so that your staff knows what they are supposed to do and how you want it done.

Communication is also important to making sure your employees are motivated and that they know when they are doing a good job and when they need improvement. There is no room for unclear messages. You have to know how to get your employees moving and how to get them working at their peak performance.

The best business owners are the best communicators. No matter what other skills you have or what else you do for your business, without good communication you will struggle. You can be the best agent in the market, but if you cannot communicate with your staff and even with your clients then you will never become a top agent.

Communication is something that comes naturally to some people, but for others it can be something they have to work on. Figure out where your communication skills rank and work to improve them. Communication is really the key to business success.

As a real estate agent you probably do many different tasks everyday. However, as a business owner you need to be focusing your efforts on only the tasks that will make you money and delegating those tasks that are simply administrative or otherwise do not directly make you money.

There are only four tasks that will make you money. They are:

- Listing
- Prospecting
- Selling
- Negotiating

As you can see those four tasks are directly related to your clients. You are trying to attract clients, work with clients and make sales. These are the tasks that should be taking up the majority of your time.

A top agent knows that they need to be making the most of their time. If you want to be a top agent then you will access your business and access what you do on a daily basis. If you see that you are wasting your valuable skills doing tasks other than those four money making tasks, then it is time to make some changes.

In the end your goal is to make the most of your time and to make the most money for your business. Once you focus in on the four money making tasks you will start to see that is exactly what will happen.

Nobody ever said that business has to be complicated. There are many aspects of your business that should be simple and should be free of needless complexities. Right now is a great time to stop and take a good look at your business. See if things have gotten too complicated and complex.

A simple business runs easier than a complex one. Sometimes simple is much better. You will likely find many aspects of your business that have been made more complex than they need to be. Take time to simplify things. Get rid of unnecessary processes and make things as simple as possible.

You cannot get rid of every bit of bureaucracy, but you can clean up many things. You can get focused on what is important. Take your business back to the basics. Once you do a good cleaning you will see how much it benefits your business.

The current real estate market has everyone wondering if an end is near. It can be tough to make your business progress and grow in a market that is just not performing. You don't have to just take the losses, though. A good agent can flourish in a slow market if they are willing to just put in some extra effort.

Here are some great tips that you can use to make your business a success in a market that seems to be failing:

 Understand that you will have to work a bit harder because easy transactions are far and few between. People may not be coming to you as they used to, so be willing to go out there and drum up your own business.
 Put your best foot forward at all times. Buyers and sellers are going to be very picky. You will have to show them you have the skills and the ability to help them.
 Take this time to make improvements. If you have been wanting to upgrade things in your office or do some rearranging within your business then now is a great time to handle those things. Improving your business will pay off down the road and with some extra time on your hands you can now do those things on your to do list.
 Reconnect with past clients. Send out cards, make calls, get connected with people that you have not spoken to in a while. Work on your database. Clean out inactive contacts and work on updating contact information.
 Look to markets that you may not be familiar with. You should look into markets like expireds and FSBO. It is a great time to expand your knowledge and try something new.

All good agents are going to be working hard. They will be trying to make their business benefit from the slow period. If you want to be part of the group of top agents that will come out of this market slow down, then you have to keep working and not let this market get you down.

Years ago, a real estate agent was simply an agent. You sold real estate, networked with clients, set up beautiful staging, and sold houses. Today’s real estate market is much different. There are more agents than ever and it takes much more than just being a traditional agent to make it.

Today, you have to be a business. It is not enough to know how to sell a house or get new clients. You have to know the business inside and out. This means knowing everything from marketing to budgeting.

To stay on top in the real estate market today, you need to think like a business owner first. Everyday you need to focus on your business. Being an agent is secondary. Things have changed and without the right approach and a chance in focus, you will drown amongst the agents that are business minded.

When things are going bad with the market and there is not a lot of hope on the horizon it can be easy to fall into a pessimistic state. You can very easily see the bad in everything. You attitude turns to one where you start to stop planning for the future and begin to believe that things will never look up.

If you want to continue growing your business and make it through this rough patch then you have to change how you think right now. You have to get rid of the pessimistic attitude and start adopting an optimistic attitude instead.

Start by changing how you think. Instead of jumping on negative things, try to find something positive in everything. Look for positive news or something positive to focus on everyday so you can start to ignore the feelings and thoughts that are negative. It takes focus, but after a while you will find yourself going to the positive instead of the negative.

Make a plan that allows for set backs. Set goals. Try to set yourself for success instead of failure. Give yourself steps to reach your goals that will be easy to reach. Do not set goals that will be too hard to reach. Don’t set yourself up for failure. This is common in people who take a pessimistic view.

Changing from being a pessimist to an optimist is not easy, but it is worth it. When you start seeking out the positive, you will see a big change. You will be happier, more productive and better able to cope when problems do occur.

As a business owner you probably know that time management is essential to keeping your business running smoothly. However, good time management does more than just help your business run properly. Here are some more rewards you get from proper management of your time:

- Boost in self confidence. This is a side effect of things running good and of knowing that you have everything handled. When you are organized and have time management mastered you just feel better about yourself and that will show through in every aspect of your life.

- Balance between work and personal life. When you have time management skills you can balance things at home and work without feeling as if you are being pulled in a million different directions.

- Less stress. When you have things together and everything is running as it should be you are less likely to be stressed.

- Better relationships. When you manage your time you include time to allow you to build up and nurture relationships, both personal and professional.

- Better perspective. Your planning and managing will allow you to not get overwhelmed and you will be able to really see what is happening. This will lead to being able to ensure your business is on track and let you catch problems early.

Time management is about more than just making sure things get done. It is something that will effect you in every aspect of your life. It can make your life easier and help you to run your business better. If you are not using time management well in your business then right now is the time to start.

It is common for a business owner to get themselves overwhelmed with work. You try to do everything because you want it done right and you don’t trust anyone else to do it. You have a lot riding on the success of your business so you throw yourself into it, completely. Is this really helping?

The answer is no. You cannot let your business run you. You are supposed to be running your business. Don’t get so wrapped up in the business that you lose yourself.

Sometimes all you need to do is take a step back. Look at what is happening. Are you able to really live your life or are you always working? Is it worth the pay off? Are you sacrificing important things in life for your business?

Owning a business does involve sacrifice, but you should never lose yourself. You still need to live. After all, you started your business so you could have a better life, right? Sometimes you have to know when it is too much.

If your business is running you then get help. Hire assistants. Outsource tasks. Do what you have to so you are in charge again. You can be a success without living for your business. It is a part of your life. It should not be your life.

You may think that you are doing an amazing job with handling your clients. Your people skills may be great and your ability to communicate may be second to none. You might also be missing something about how you interact with clients.

There are two main ways to approach client interactions. You can either connect with your clients or impress your clients. Connecting with clients means that you are forming a real relationship with them. You are friendly and show an interest in them.

When you are simply out to impress clients, you are more focused on you. You are sales oriented and you try to show off your knowledge and skills. Clients see this as being pushy or being disconnected and only interested in making money.

Every good real estate agent knows that to be successful, you have to stop trying to impress clients and focus on connecting with them. Only then can you really build that bond that will keep them loyal to you and that will give them the ability to trust you.

How you deal with a crisis is important in business. As a business owner you probably face crises everyday. Some may be small and some may be very serious. No matter the extent of the crisis, you must know how to handle it properly and not let yourself freak out in the face of an issue.

Here are 5 simple steps you should take to handle any crisis that comes your way:

Step 1: Face the crisis head on. Many people often feel the need to avoid the crisis or put off handling it. This usually only makes matters worse. Step up to it and face it right away instead of running or ignoring it.

Step 2: Clarify the crisis. Sometimes we can get overwhelmed and make things out to be much worse than they are. Simply take a look at the facts. Separate out the fiction and stick with the facts. Get to the heart of what is happening so you are better equipped to handle it.

Step 3: Take emotions out of the situation. When you get too emotional about something it clouds your mind and takes away your ability to reason. You need to push emotions aside and look at the crisis with a clear head.

Step 4: Come up with a solution. Now that you know what is happening and you have a clear head, you can begin to formulate a solution. This can take time, but you should be able to clear up any crisis if you just focus on finding the best solution.

Step 5: Solve the crisis. Once you have your solution all that is left to do is put it to work and solve the crisis.

These 5 steps may seem simple, but all too often when faced with a crisis, people get too worked up. By taking a step by step approach, you can be a master at handling any crisis that comes your way.

You probably know that getting feedback is a good way to monitor your sales efforts and ensure that your business is on track. Feedback allows you to find out what people think about your service and if they think there are things that you can improve upon. You need to get feedback from anyone you work with. That includes those selling homes, as well as those buying homes.

Seller feedback can help you to lower stress and make clients happier. It will help you to learn about what things you did that really stood out. You can find out if they would do business with you again and why or why not.

Feedback should be collected on a regular basis. It is not something to let slide. If you must, hire someone to handle feedback. This not only includes gathering it, but also addressing concerns and making you aware of what the feedback has been about all aspects of your business.

By getting feedback and using it you can make your business better. When you improve your business, you improve your profits, so it is something that you definitely want to keep a handle on.

Setting goals is the easiest part of achieving your dreams. It is reaching the goals that can be difficult. Many people feel overwhelmed and just do not know where to start on the path to reaching their goals. The best way to go about it is to take small steps.

When you take small steps it breaks down the long process and makes it easier. It makes your goals much more attainable. You no longer feel like you are trying to accomplish so big that it is impossible.

You may think that by taking small steps you will never reach your goals, but the truth is that when you try to accomplish too much too soon it can hold you back. When you try small steps you will be working at a pace that you can keep up with. You will not be trying to do more than you handle.

Here is a video that talks about reaching goals through small steps. This video focuses on MLM, but what he says really would be applicable to any business. The main idea is all about how to take small steps to make big things happen.



When you set a goal try to break it down into small stesp. Once you get started you will see that you can make amazing changes rather quickly just by moving in small steps.

There are many different tasks in your business that you simply cannot handle everything on your own. You may hire assistants or even other agents to work in your business for you. These employees may handle many of the tasks that you cannot handle yourself. However, there is another option that you can try to get help in your business and make the best use of your budget.

At home workers are quickly becoming a valuable business resource. Agents who discover the usefulness of at home workers will not only get more work done in less time, but also spend less money doing it. At home workers are not permanent employees. They are contracted to do a specific job for you. They are paid to do that specific job for the specified time. Instead of having a part time employee that you must pay by the hour handle a task, you can set aside a specific amount of money and hire at home workers to handle the task.

It is well worth learning more about at home workers and the type of tasks that they can handle. You will find out that you can get a lot of quality work from at home workers for a smaller price then you would ever pay an actual employee.

Your unique talents are what will make your business unique. You need to figure out quickly what your unique talents are. Once you figure them out you should explore them and work with them to perfect them.

Your unique talents are the things that you are naturally inclined to do. Perhaps you are a good communicator or you love to work with people. Maybe you have a great eye for staging or you can sell anything. Everyone has unique talents, so it is all about finding out what yours are.

Once you have defined your unique talents, you must start working on perfecting them. Attend seminars or take classes that relate to your unique talents. Do what you can to make yourself better at doing them.

The time you spend working on your unique talents is time invested in your business. In the end, your unique talents will help you grow your business and become a successful real estate agent.

In the last post we talked about the importance of delegating tasks. There was no specific mention of what to delegate, though. Not all tasks should be delegated. You already know that you should work on the important tasks, the real money making tasks. Another thing you have to keep in your own hands is the financials of your business. Never, ever delegate the financial controls of your business.

You can not trust anyone when it comes to money. Too many business owners have thought they could trust their staff and ended up being ripped off for large amounts of money. Reclaiming stolen funds is difficult if not impossible, so do not even risk it.

The financial controls of your business is a very important task. Not only do you need to handle them to keep from having problems with theft, but part of being a business owner is understanding how your business is doing financially. If you do not handle the financials then you will not see where changes need to be made or where problems are starting to occur.

The financial aspect of your business needs your direct attention. You can get assistance with it from a professional, but you should always be right in there, learning and watching what is going on.