Making choices to alter ones self...

“There are two ways of meeting difficulties. You alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet the difficulties.” (Phyllis Bottome), from the Jack's Winning Words Blog. The only true way of meeting difficulties is obvious in that quote, since none of us have the power to alter the circumstances (difficulties) that we find ourselves in, especially the real estate market that we are facing right now. So, the question really becomes one of "How can we alter ourselves to meet the current difficulties?" I choose to double up on Jack's Blog quote today by using another - “The trouble with life isn’t that there is no answer; it’s that there are so many answers.” (Ruth Benedict - anthropologist).

I've certainly opined here enough times about things that I should be doing differently; however, I think that I'd add to that last quote a second sentence, "Find the answer that works for you." In my Blog two days ago, I talked about the need for change - to my routine and approach; so this is a follow-on to those thoughts. For me there are just some things that I know I won't do; so, saying that I'm going to change things by doing them is just lying to myself to make myself feel good. Sometimes I do that because others around me will say something like, "Oh, you should be doing this or that." I hear them and I understand that what they are saying is a viable answer that might work, if it were the right thing for me to do. Often it's not. No matter how many times I try to convince myself to do more cold-calling, deep in my heart I know that I'll find some way not to do it. I hate it and I just won't do it.

So, rather than continuing to beat myself up over things that I won't do, I'm spending more time trying to find things that I will do that will work. I like meeting and working with people, so holding open houses is something that I enjoy doing and I'm pretty good at them and at converting visitors to clients. This Blogging and other SN stuff is something else that I enjoy doing, as well as working on my Web sites and some of that is starting to gain some traction with potential clients. I do a bi-monthly newsletter that I mail out to over 500 people and that seems to be something that they enjoy and that they respond to - I get 2-3 listings a year off of just that. I get 1-2 leads a month from my company that come from people visiting the corporate site and requesting help and I do very good with those, although a high percentage end up not doing anything. I'm also starting to get some corporate relocation leads, after 2 years of being on the relo team waiting list.

My sense is that in a more normal market the things that I'm doing to attract clients that I'm good at would likely produce enough results that I'd be OK. But, we are not in a normal market, so I have to add to or supplement that things that I'm doing basically to increase the opportunities that I get to interact with potential clients. If I can just get more opportunities, I know that I can be successful once we start talking. My challenge then becomes picking from those many alternatives that are out there and allocating the time to try new things that might work for me. Stay tuned and I'll let you know what I find and what worked. Just don't expect a cold-call from me.