đź’°How to Close More Deals and Make More Money
Happy Monday!
Here is an Idea, an Action, and a Question to consider this week.
Idea
Back in 2003, the British cycling team had only one gold medal in the previous 100 years of cycling at the Olympics, so their coach decided to change things up. He came up with a long-term game plan that focused on breaking down each and every aspect that goes into riding a bicycle and improving all of them by 1%. If the team members were able to maintain this incremental improvement process, over time, all areas of their training would continually rise to optimal levels.
As you might imagine, they began with the obvious improvements of bike ergonomics and performance. Beyond the improvements of the bikes, they also began focusing on the athletic improvements of the riders––everything from wearing heated shorts to maintain the perfect muscle temperature to utilizing bio-sensors to maximize each workout. They continued their efforts further by having specialists instruct the riders how to avoid infection or buying the perfect mattress/pillow combination to ensure optimal sleeping. The sweeping areas of focus were intentionally holistic in their 1% approach to improvement.
At first, these small changes weren’t noticeable, but they began to compound over time. After five years, the team achieved such a high level of performance that they won nine gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and also set seven world records!
Agents: By now, you know how I feel about the importance of going from agent to investor-agent. REI is a key component to long-term wealth creation, but I know that the road to investing can be rocky. If you have doubts, concerns, or obstacles holding you back from real estate investing, you can work on overcoming them using the same technique that the British cycling team implemented.
Implementation: James Clear tells us in Atomic Habits to, “focus on small, continual improvements each day. Small improvements on a daily basis lead to massive compounding effects.” As you implement these small improvements, you'll notice that they go from "improvements" to "habits." And as your habits become more fortified (through time and consistency), you'll notice that your "habits" are now part of your "identity." This is huge, because as you start to identify as a certain kind of person, you start to become that person naturally..
For example: You decide to improve your ability to close deals. Every day, you read 10 pages from a negotiating book. After that book, you enroll in a negotiating course for investor-agents. Slowly, you start to apply your knowledge in your real life. You notice that you're closing more deals than ever before! It feels amazing. You double down. You read two more negotiating books, and even start a Facebook group for fellow agents who want to improve their negotiating skills. Soon, you become a person who identifies as "The kind of investor-agent who is consistently closing deals."
If you identify as the kind of investor-agent who is consistently closing deals, then you will close deals––no matter what! You can reinforce this mindset and solidify it more over time. When you wake up in the morning, you can say to yourself, “I’m the kind of investor-agent who is consistently closing deals!” Soon, you’ll start to believe that. And then, you’ll start to be that. Everyone around you will know that you’re the kind of investor-agent that gets deals done no matter what. And guess what? Everyone wants to work with the kind of investor-agent that gets deals done.
So:
Make small daily improvements.
Turn those improvements into habits.
Turn those fortified habits into part of your identity.
Become a force to be reckoned with, no matter the state of the market!
Action
Get one percent better at something. Start today. Here are some ideas:
If you read for twenty minutes a day, start reading for twenty-five minutes a day.
If you analyze ten deals a week to practice your skills, start analyzing eleven deals a week.
If you go to two meetups a month, start going to three.
If you tend to talk to four people per meetup, start talking to five.
Look for small ways to increase your income. For instance, I found out that with my STRs, I was undercharging for pet fees, so I increased mine.
Look for small ways to cut your expenses. For example, consider installing smart thermostats in your rentals to save on power when you don’t have guests.
Look for small ways to increase your lead generation. If you make 100 phone calls a day, increase it to 101.
Question
How would it feel to know you were improving a little bit each day?
See you next week,
Matt “Roar” Gardner
Real estate investor-agent, Author of Supersonic Real Estate: Light Your Afterburner to Accelerate Your Investor-Agent Career (Coming Soon!), and keynote speaker.
