They say real estate is a “people business.” So … what’s an introvert to do?
I’m just going to jump right in: I consider myself to be a socially-awkward individual. I’m not saying this as a slight towards myself, but more of a recognition of this feature of my personality. I’ve been this way for a long time — and I guarantee it was well before I recognized this quality in myself. Which, I guess it makes sense. How do you know if YOU are the weird one in the group, right?
But, at age 43, I would say that I have embraced it. Is “embracing” the right word? Maybe “managing” is more accurate. Looking back, I don’t think my introvert tendencies and social awkwardness have impacted my life negatively in any major way. Other than the occasional blunder, there haven’t been any particularly long-lasting negative effects that come to mind. Saying the wrong thing or not feeling accepted by people doesn’t keep me up at night. Although, it definitely did when I was younger. Again, I think this is something that comes with age. But, man, I would have been unstoppable if I had adopted this attitude as a teenager! And speaking of, teenagers can be a tough, if not THE TOUGHEST, crowd. And I taught over 100 of them a day — and not always about the most engaging topics. This is a skill that has impacted my life in a major way: I am able to talk to others about (sometimes complex) topics that they may not be entirely interested in … like, real estate.
I mean, you are reading this blog right now. Right? You … are still reading … aren’t you? We are only about halfway through this post. I hope I haven’t lost you already …
Let’s get back on track.
I do have a point with this line of drivel. Communication skills are easily transferable between careers. I am thankful for the years that I have had working with students to develop these skills, which are very important when talking to homeowners that reach out to us: listening, understanding another’s point-of-view, explaining complex topics simply, and assessing that I am being understood and we are on the same page. And remember, these homeowners usually have a problem — often times, a very emotionally-charged and stressful problem — that they need help with. It is not in a normal everyday setting that you would meet a perfect stranger and immediately start discussing the financial difficulties and stresses they are having.
I have been struggling a lot with getting out of my comfort zone since starting this business in June 2020. I honestly am the type of person that can go days without engaging in an actual conversation with, well, basically anyone other than Mike (and my birds, which do talk back). I am not the type that enjoys the spotlight. I prefer to carry on in the background and do my thing. When it comes to the more social aspects of this work, there has been a lot of “I don’t wanna, I don’t feel like it” that I still struggle with.
These are not qualities that lend well to being successful in business.
I learned very early on that I would need to get out of my comfort zone. Everyday. The fact that I am even writing this blog post talking about the VERY THING that often induces anxiety in me is a testament for how far I have come. It’s been slow going, but it’s happening. It HAS to happen — this is now my full-time career. Over the past couple of months, I have been working on our web presence, which includes being active on all social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We are even working on making content for our (as of now, empty and sad) YouTube channel.
Today, an exciting thing happened!
I was featured in an article by Authority Magazine and it was … all about ME! Yes, me. The private person that doesn’t share much about themselves and never in a million YEARS would have thought that I would do something like this. But, one of the ways to build business credibility and trust in the community is to be transparent. And by putting ourselves out there, that’s what we are trying to do.
Writing this blog has also been a challenge. But, another cool thing has happened: we made Feedspot’s list of Top 100 Real Estate Investing Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2020! Now, THAT is pretty cool, especially since we are just getting started.
A huge THANK YOU to our readers for your support. We appreciate you!
So, today was great. It was great to see some really tangible results from choosing to leave my comfort zone. And you know what? It really hasn’t been so bad. It rarely ever is, right? Our brains can really work against us, but only if we let them. I think for me, it has come to the realization that NOT growing and taking risks is more scary than stagnating. So, get out there and do the thing that is holding you back. You might be pleasantly surprised!