Audio/Video:

1. Anything by Jim Rohm
2. The Aladdin Factor
3. “Do It” A video by Art Williams (www.artwilliams.com)

Daily Reading:

“God Calling” an amazing daily devotional

The book of “Proverbs” (1 a day)

I recently had a conversation with David Pollay, who, among other things, is the author of an upcoming book titled “The Law of the Garbage Truck.” I’ve been reading this book, which is full of messages and strategies that remind us that we always have a choice when it comes to who and what we let into our lives. David Pollay creates a vivid picture of the garbage that so many people carry around with them and how they tend to dump their garbage on those of us who allow them to do so. Best of all, he challenges us to declare our personal and professional lives “No Garbage Trucks! Zones.”

When you think about it, our inputs determine our outputs. What we take in determines what we put out. That’s why the great Jim Rohn would say, “If you want the stuff on the highest shelves, then you have to stand on a higher stack of books.” The better the books you read, the smarter you get. The smarter you get, the better you think. The better you think, the better you do. The better you do, the more you succeed. The more you succeed, the more significant you can become. The more significant you become, the greater the legacy you leave. Rohn said that “the best things in life are usually located on the highest shelves, where not everyone can reach them.” What a great reminder he was of how simple it is to succeed. I think David Pollay would agree with Jim Rohn, because his book underscores the notion of “garbage in, garbage out.

Unfortunately, what’s easy to do is even easier not to do. As a broker who counsels with hundreds of professionals each year, it amazes me how success boils down to one simple decision. The most successful people I know have simply DECIDED to succeed. They haven’t decided to succeed as long as it’s easy, or as long as the market doesn’t shift, or as long as they can afford it, or as long as someone doesn’t outmaneuver or outwit or outplay or underprice them. They decide to succeed. Period.

Think about this: When obstacles present themselves in your life, do you feel that they threaten your success? Most people do. I used to, too. Then, I realized that the more successful people in my life have a very different perspective of their obstacles. Because their success is certain, they perceive obstacles merely as ingredients in their ultimate success – ingredients that are simply part of the journey. I cannot begin to tell you how much freedom we can gain from improving our perspective around this issue.

If you think that your success has more to do with what you do (or what’s done to you) than how you think, I disagree. There are plenty of examples of people who have succeeded on the outside at very high levels, only to lose it all because they never were that successful in their own minds. People make millions of dollars in business only to become bankrupt because they never really believed they were worth the success they achieved. People perform at the highest levels in sports only to end up in an eternal slump because they never really believed that they could truly be “the best” at anything. If you want to succeed in business, in your relationships, in your faith, in anything, then you have to DECIDE to succeed at it…for better or for worse.

This year Gary Keller was explaining to a group of people why he plans his vacations and his play time at the beginning of each year BEFORE he plans his work time. He said, “I do this because I know I’m going to work hard and I’m going to need it. And I know I’m going to be successful, so I’ll be able to afford it.” Brilliant. The bottom line is that Gary books vacations way ahead of time because he already KNOWS that he’s going to work hard and be successful. Gary just happens to be one of the most successful people I know.

Year after year, too many agents “wait and see” before they plan their vacations and put their deposits down. They “wait and see” how their income is before they invest in a 33 touch program designed to produce massive results. They “wait and see” how their year is going to turn out before they create leverage and hire talent to help them succeed. This strategy all too often results in vacations never taken, touch programs never developed, talent never hired and results never achieved. In the Keller Williams course Quantum Leap, we teach that if you don’t plan your time, then someone else will!

It’s now June. We’re almost halfway through the year. Now is the time to make a pit stop and check your inputs, defend yourself against the garbage trucks who want to dump their mediocrity on you, and commit yourself to the decisions you need to make in order to have the life and business that you want. If you’ve been a passenger in your own life’s car, then move over and settle into the driver’s seat. Take control. Reconnect with your BIG WHY, re-focus on your goals and intentions, improve the books you read, improve the company you keep and DECIDE to succeed – rain or shine.

It’s been an awesome year so far, and I believe that the second half of 2010 may be one of the most critical times of the rest of our careers. Deciding to succeed and doing the time-tested, proven things that produce results is going to be a crucial part of our daily routines. Look at the results you want to achieve – that you REALLY want to achieve – and then make a list of the things that you do each day that directly impact, or cause, those results. This is a fantastically simple exercise that can call you out on a lack of focus or commitment to your goals. Often times what we want and what we are doing seem worlds apart. Re-evaluating where you are now and re-committing yourself to what you want and why you want it could be the most important thing you do this year.

Thanks for all you are doing to make a difference. And know that if you want to discuss any of your strategies and accountabilities, our leadership team is ready, willing and able to help you succeed at any level you wish to succeed. No one succeeds alone, and in this company, you’re never alone. So be sure to take advantage of all of the good stuff we have created here to make sure that we have a productive and fun environment in which to work and prosper.

DECIDE…

Shaun Rawls
OP – The Rawls Group – Keller Williams Realty
RD – The NY Tri-State Region – Keller Williams Realty
www.RawlsGroup.org

This week, I had the opportunity to take a course called “Fierce Conversations.” That title might bring to mind a destructive warrior or an angry lion at first. In fact, I believe my husband’s words in response to my alerting him of my endeavor was “uh oh.” Really, the definition of this class is:  A fierce conversation is one in which we come out from behind ourselves into the conversation and make it real.” Pretty cool.

The two days were based on the study that, “Our careers, our companies, our personal relationships and our very lives, succeed or fail gradually, then suddenly, one conversation at a time.” Pretty powerful if you think about it. Consider for a second, how many times you’ve passed on a conversation because you “don’t like confrontation” or “it isn’t worth my time” or “it could open up a can of worms” (all cows by the way). Well, if you follow the principles of Fierce, you’ll understand that not every conversation can change your life, but any conversation could. To put in to perspective just how relevant a conversation is, take a look at the ones you have.  The conversation IS the relationship.

There are seven principles we learned before diving in to conversation on a team, coaching and confrontation scenarios and I will leave you with them and encourage you to read the book and more importantly take this class.

1. Master the courage to interrogate reality. 2. Come out from behind yourself into the conversation and make it real. 3. Be here, prepared to be nowhere else. 4. Tackle your toughest challenge today. 5. Obey your instincts. 6. Take responsibility for your emotional wake. 7. Let silence do the heavy lifting.

If you would like to hear more about this class, I’d love to chat with you about it. Send me an email or call anytime jerim@kw.com.

Proud of you!

Jeri Moran

 If you like REALLY interesting stories about what NOT to do in real estate, then this message is going to make your day. Today, I was made aware of one of the most unique violations and criminal acts that had occurred in a transaction, and it involved one of our agents. Thankfully, the improprieties involved the OTHER company in this particular transaction and not “us.”

It appears that our agent successfully negotiated a binding contract on a piece of property, the terms of which included our buyer placing $10,000 of earnest money with the listing broker. That’s the good news.

Check out the bad news:

1. The listing agent fraudulently signed the contract on behalf of the seller without the seller’s consent;
2. The listing agent also (and fraudulently) signed two other contracts on behalf of the seller without the seller’s consent, none of which were made to believe that their contracts were anything other than primary contracts;

3. In addition to the $10,000 of earnest money that our buyer paid to the Listing Broker, there was an additional $50,000 of earnest money paid by the buyers of the other two contracts;

4. All of the earnest money was cashed. However, not by the Listing Broker.

5. When I questioned “How in the world an earnest money check made payable to “Company X” could be cashed by anyone other than Company X?”, the broker explained that the agent had opened a bank account under the name “Company X,” which allowed the agent to deposit the earnest money funds into this account

6. Even more unfortunate is that the Listing Broker informed me that his agent was “duped” into taking the earnest money by an internet scam that led the listing agent to send all of the $60,000 of the buyers’ earnest money to Nigeria in hopes of receiving untold amounts of riches. I kid you not.

7. The listing agent stole $60,000 of earnest money, sent it to Nigeria and has nothing to show for it. And even better, the listing broker doesn’t have it either.

8. Our Team Leader, our agent, our buyers and the broker for Company X are all freaked out.

9. Did I mention that the listing agent is 62 years old, married and an associate broker with his firm?

 
More Good News:

1. After getting off of the phone with the listing broker and realizing that he doesn’t have the funds to do the right thing, I immediately called our client to let them know (a) of the thousands of real estate transactions that I’ve been involved in over the past 20 years, his is, perhaps, one of the top 3 most interesting, and (b) The Rawls Group is going to write him a check for his $10,000 so that we can bear the burden of getting the money back from the listing broker, not him. This will allow him and his family to get back to work finding their next home without any stress or delay.

2. When I called our agent to let her know of my conversations with the listing broker and her buyer, she tearfully told me how she’s always read that “I got your back stuff” and just sloughed it off, never realizing that I really did have her back until I had an opportunity like this to prove it.

3. Under the circumstances, I don’t really see covering our buyer’s loss from this freak incident as anything more than the right thing to do.

The Morals of this story are:
1. Agents should never take earnest money from buyers that they deposit into their own accounts only to send those funds to Nigeria to cash in on a get rich quick internet solicitation. If you do, then you’ll probably go to jail like I believe the listing agent will.

2. Who you are in business with and who you do business with matters.

3. Doing the right thing is sometimes expensive. However, the right thing to do has nothing to do with profit or loss.

4. I recommend that we (Keller Williams Realty – The Rawls Group) hold earnest money as often as possible because it will always be held and disbursed appropriately and legally.

5. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you’re wrong!

Please, please, please use your common sense out there. Operate with the highest level of concern for your reputation, your integrity, your profession and your broker. The liabilities and the risks that we take everyday are staggering. No transaction is worth your reputation, regardless of the amount of commission you could earn.

Thanks for always being a shining example of the integrity and the professionalism that I want The Rawls Group to be known for. I appreciate you, and…

I really do have your back!

Shaun

The first quarter timer has run out and we now have one more before half time. Evaluate; are you playing to win or just to stay in the game? At this point, in my opinion, this is now a focus and mindset game. Evaluate, who are you surrounding yourself with and can they motivate and educate you to get you where you need to go. Remember, John Maxwell says, “You are a combination of the five people you spend the most time with.” Who are they?

Focus: At Family Reunion, top agent Chris Heller reminded us of what we already know but so many of us don’t do. Chris said the key to his success is that every day he time time blocks and lead generates, period. Most likely, if you say you don’t have time for _______, it isn’t so. What that means is you just haven’t made that task priority, yet. Why is it that we all have 24 hours in a day yet some can accomplish so much more? Focus.

Why do you get up every day and do real estate? Is it your family, the home you want to build, the travel you want to do one day? I encourage you to determine what that is and focus on it. Think about this word, FREEDOM. What does that mean to you? Focus on just that every day and then time block and lead generate. It won’t seem so bad to do the things that you procrastinate when you have a larger purpose to focus on.

One of the greatest things about real estate is that it is an equal opportunity career, though it has unequal results. We are not judged based on our intelligence, education, behavior but only on our results. One of the things I have to remind myself on a weekly basis is that it is unfair to judge or criticize who and where I am, based on what I believe others have accomplished or who I think they are. The only thing we can be sure of, is what we know about our own insides and how we think and feel. I believe if you assess that and what it means to be the best version of yourself then true success and happiness will follow. Please go on this journey with me. Though it isn’t always easy, it is truly rewarding. Just think of the impact you could have on others if you only focused on improving your own insides and didn’t worry on others outsides.

So, I challenge you to wake up every day and say your positive affirmations.. And yes, I mean it! Just try it. Trust me. I got your back!

Remember, Q: “How’s the market?” A: “Why do you ask?”

You see, training this adorable puppy has been trying, challenging, frustrating and rewarding. I have two boys, 9 and 5 years of age, who’ve never had the “pleasure” of owning and training an eight week old dog. In an instant, this little creature has made the most popular word in our house, “NO!”

“Koda, NO! NO Koda! Kodaaaaaaaaa NOOOOooooooo! Oh, NO Koda!” can all be heard at any given time in our house right now. And it occurred to me the other day how fascinating it is that a simple, two letter word can be said in a million different ways, from one syllable to many. As a result, I’m actually training my family on HOW to say “No” and have a baby dog respond appropriately.

When the puppy is chasing my 5 year old, nipping at his shirt tail, my son is screaming like a child and trying to run away from the dog at the same time. He screams a long “NooooooooOOOOOOOOOO” that clearly sounds like he is powerless against such an intimidating, eager creature…and the dog responds accordingly.

My 9 year old, on the other hand, says “No Koda” without much emphasis on either word in the sentence, and then goes back to watching TV claiming that the puppy just doesn’t seem to listen well.

And then there’s my wife. She just says, “Kodaaaaaaaaaaa Noooooooo,” where the end of the word “no” just kind of ends up in a sigh of frustration.

Puppies, as it turns out, are no different than anyone else in our lives, especially our buyers and sellers. Knowing how to say “NO” may make all the difference in how well we train others. I’ll never forget Howard Brinton teaching us that “No” is one the most powerful and advanced scripts in the business of real estate, and that “No” is a complete sentence.

As professionals we must practice saying the word “No.” We must say it alone. We must use it in sentences. And when we deliver this powerful word in a real life situation, we must say it firmly and professionally, and we must mean it.

The tough part of saying “No,” in my opinion, is that deep down we aren’t saying “No, I can’t.” Rather, we are saying “No, I’m not willing to.” Therefore, we are basically telling someone that “we won’t,” or “we’re unwilling” to do something…not that we “can’t.” If this weren’t true, then we wouldn’t always try to make “NO” sound more palatable by inferring that we “can’t” because of time restrictions or obligations or responsibilities or other relationships or something. We all-too-often say “No” in a way to make others believe that it’s out of our control and that if we had some control over it, then we wouldn’t be saying “No.” The truth is, we are always in control. The question is, “Do we use our control to say NO to the people and things that we should say NO to, so we can say YES to the people and things that will make the biggest difference in our day, week, month, year?”

Some might argue that “No” is a negative word. “No, I can’t” is negative. “No, I won’t” and “No, I’m not willing to” is powerful and freeing, and will bring positive results in our lives. Spend some time with any top producer or otherwise successful person. The more successful they are, the better they are at saying “No.”

I know people who say “No” and you feel like you’ve been punched in the nose. I know others who say “No” and it feels like a compliment. The point is that you can learn to say “No” really well or not. You can say “No” and still get the listing. You can say “No” and still make the sale. In fact, the better you get at saying “No,” the more listings you’ll take and the more sales you’ll make. “NO” only sounds bad when it’s said bad. So practice it. Record yourself saying it. Say it from the gut – strongly, surely, definitively. It’s arguably the single most important word for improving your time management, your relationships and your income. Besides, if you ever get a puppy, it’ll come in handy.

Your #1 Fan…

SHAUN

Shaun Rawls, Keller Williams Realty
www.RawlsGroup.org

They really don’t call it Family Reunion for just any reason. I love how these days together allow us to see partners from all over the country, learn from the best and spend quality time with our own as well.

The conference opened with a bang with Gary Keller as always giving us his real life view of our current situation and where our mind needs to be to succeed. He spent the first half hour sharing some of the best quotes of all time on adversity. For example:

“In truth, great lives are defined by the challenges that are overcome. Without Goliath there would be no David.” “History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to be discouraged by their defeats.” “Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with enthusiasm.” “Nothing is easier than saying words. Nothing is harder than living them day after day.” And, “Most people give up when they are about to achieve success.”

Gary went on to challenge us to know at all times in our market: 1. Homes Sales 2. Home Prices 3. Inventory 4. Mortgage Rates 5. Affordability. Thank goodness for Chuck Carr! Gary also suggested that we don’t know our scripts like we should and that we MUST master them.

One of my favorite aspects of these events is being able to attend the top agent classes. I love learning new scripts and tips for you and one theme that came up over and over was how we spend our time. When asked what the key to success was, Chris Heller said, “It all revolves around your time. Are you following a schedule? Are you lead generating.” Another top agent noted the three keys to success are “Have a unique sell proposition that you master, USE a database and do all communication through it and know the DISC and use it with your clients.”

As for the social media world, I had the opportunity to speak one on one with cyber guru and top agent Brad Korn. “Use Facebook like a 33 touch. Don’t be passive about it and just post new listings. Strategically, contact five people a day and go to their facebook page and comment about something relevant in their life.”

Finally, it was announced that by late 2011, Keller Williams will go International! We were also the ONLY franchise to grow last year and received top awards and recognition for our innovation and leadership in the real estate industry.

If you budget $200.00 a month from now until next January, you can have your trip and spending money paid for! Please consider it.

 We WILL win in 2010!

I recently came across the book, “Once Upon a Cow” and it has really struck a nerve in me that compels me to pass along some of my “aha’s” to you. You see, “cows” are nothing more than excuses that we use…or “reasons” that we have…for not accomplishing certain things in our life. Excuses are born out of our successful attempts to place the blame for our lack of accomplishments onto other people and/or other things. I say “successful attempts” because we only perpetuate an excuse once someone say’s “Amen!” or “I understand” or “That’s okay, some things are just out of your control.” It may even be that an excuse just works, even in the absence of knowing someone. Either way, when an excuse works and makes us feel better about an outcome, or when others buy into our excuses, we use them again. And we use them again. And we continue to use them until they become “legitimate reasons” in our own minds. The problem is that some of the most seemingly harmless excuses may, in fact, be keeping us anchored to a life of mediocrity.

Allow me to rattle off some excuses that I’ve said…and certainly heard…as a challenge to all of us to recognize any of these as “cows” in our lives that must be killed. Perhaps you’ve said one or two of these things yourself?

“I don’t have enough time; that’s too much money; I’m not good at that; I don’t like that so I wouldn’t be any good at it; it takes money to make money; better safe than sorry; my people don’t like that; I don’t want to be a pest; I don’t want to sound like a robot; that’s not ME; I’m not a morning person; that’s too technical for me; my clients won’t work with anyone but me; I can never be on time; that’ll never work; if I want something done right, I have to do it myself; no one cares; etc.”

Do any of those sound familiar? Have you ever said one of them? Some of them? All of them? Once? Or often? Or ALWAYS? They’re nothing more than excuses…or cows. And the minute we stop letting these little things cause big problems, the sooner we will start achieving more and living a life that’s unencumbered with the power that we give to other people and/or things in our lives.

When we use excuses that work for us, inherently we are admitting that other people and things have more control over our results than we do. And what’s really sick and twisted is that when we want to use an excuse, we will continue to use it until we find enough people who accept it and can make us feel better about our lack of responsibility. After all, misery loves company. That’s why personal and professional coaches are so expensive…because it’s REALLY hard to find people who will push you to be the best you can be as opposed to pushing you to be the best they can be. Finding people who will accept your excuses is easy; finding people who will call you out on your excuses is hard. Lots of people will tell you what you want to hear. Very few people will tell you what you need to hear. To be honest, this is one of the things that I love most about Keller Williams Realty. This company has a tremendous culture of honest, productivity focused and achievement oriented communication. I’ve never been a part of such a large group of people who can both dish it out and take it themselves. We have mentors everywhere and we have some of the best coaches in any industry who constantly call an excuse a cow and push us to take more ownership of our results.

 In the new, limited edition version of “SHIFT,” Gary Keller wrote a new foreward. In it he introduces a concept called “to the right of the middle.” When I read this, I loved it. He describes drawing a vertical line on the left side of a piece of paper and labeling that line as “everything I like to do.” Then, he describes drawing a vertical line on the right side of the paper and labeling it as “everything I don’t like to do.” Since virtually no one gets to do EVERYTHING that they like to do, and by the same token, virtually no one does EVERYTHING they don’t like to do, most people end up in the middle of these two lines…or mediocre. Gary’s point is that our success will be directly proportional to how far to the right of the middle we perform every day. The more we do the things we don’t like or want to do, the more success we will have. Hence, we need to make sure that we are living more to the right of the middle.

One of the things I love to do is read the signs that are often posted in front of churches. Some are wise; some are inspirational; some are funny. But all of them are usually TRUE. Recently, one of those signs read, “In trying times, don’t stop trying.” I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I read “Once Upon a Cow,” Gary’s new version of “SHIFT” and that church sign in the past 30 days.

If we’ve ever had a good reason to give into excuses, to stop doing the things we don’t want to do anymore, to stop trying…now would be a perfectly understandable time. However, there’s never been a better time to take full responsibility for our successes and our failures and to make the decisions that will carry us through the remainder of this market shift. And as we learned in “SHIFT,” it’s not the shift in the market that matters; it’s the shift in you.

 Thanks for letting me share these scattered thoughts with you. I hope they find their way into the core of your being and take root. All of us have to deal with our own limiting beliefs, and together I believe we can conquer them. It’s my sincere pleasure to be in business with you.

Your #1 Fan…

SHAUN