We’ve covered the first four characteristics of an Elite Level Producer in our previous four #MMPTs. Clarity, Awareness, Commitment and Consistency were outlined in detail as characteristics that ELPs have in common. To review, an ELP is the Top 3% of any market segment. Studies have shown that ELPs create significant market share and earn a staggering percentage of the gross commission income (GCI) in any market. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are working harder, they just run better businesses. The 3% realize that to stay at the top, they need to continue to grow and to learn, so they put a focus on improving their skills through self-development. They are voracious learners.
So today, we cover SKILL as ELP Characteristic #5.
Jim Rohn said it best - “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job. Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
To truly understand what Jim Rohn is saying here, we must review The Law of Compensation. It simply states that your income comes down to a simple calculation. You take the value you create (SKILL) x the number of people of for whom you add value. The better you are (x), the more people you help = the higher your income. It’s that simple. My coaching literally revolves around and focuses on that simple equation.
The Navy Seals train the way they do to prepare for the harshest and most dangerous of situations. Their motto is “Under pressure, we don’t rise to the occasion, we sink to the level of our training.” They are the most skilled military operators in the world.
As brokers, we too need to improve our SKILLS to #levelup our quality of life.
There are 5 major areas where I would encourage you to focus your energy:
- Mindset/Clarity
- Time Management/Management of Finances
- Lead Generation/"3 Rocks of Marketing"
- Systems and Processes/Client Execution/ “Deliver and Leverage"
- Database and Relationship Management
Sound familiar? It should for those who have taken my TAKE FLIGHT course recently. These are the areas that I cover during my 6-week training course focused on improving your skills as a real estate broker at Jameson Sotheby’s. In future MMPTs, I will dive further into these areas as well.
…but first, I want to teach you my process to improving your SKILLS through a 90-day self-development program I have been using for the last decade:
Step 1: Identify the area that can have the biggest impact on your life and/or business. It’s that area where your intuition is telling you that you need further improvement.
Step 2: "Commit to Mastery" over the next 90 days. I do it on the quarterly system so you might want to start thinking about your Q3 area of focus for July, August, and September of 2020.
Step 3: Identify 3 books on the topic. Buy the audio books and the hard cover. Commit to reading one book per month on the topic. My reading lists are on my website (askjimmiller.com) if you’d like to access them.
Step 4: Find the preeminent thought leaders (no more than 3) on the topic and listen to their podcasts and read their blogs daily for 30 minutes a day.
Step 5: (Optional) Purchase an online course that is focused on your topic. You can switch this with Step 4 if you find a course that is better suited for your topic.
The power of this process is not what you do over the course of the quarter but the cumulative effect it has over years and decades. In just one year, you will develop expertise in 4 areas.
Warren Buffet said to a group of MBA students at Columbia Business School: “I read 500 pages a day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest…” He reads so he knows what to say “NO” to as he evaluates his investments.
So, I am going to ask you two simple questions that I’d like you to answer privately:
- What is the downside to committing to the 90-day self-development plan I laid out?
- If you committed to this process and executed on it for one full year, would you be a better broker? Would you create more income and/or live a happier life?
I think you know the answer.
For those of you that currently identify as an ELP, are you still adding to your SKILLS, daily? How many books have you read in the last year? Do you feel stagnant? Is your production where you want it to be?
The hardest part of living a successful life is not the “creation process,” it’s the “maintenance process.” You have to commit fully to self-improvement over the course of your life. Team, one of my favorite parts of being in my position is that I get to see under the hood of what the ELPs are doing to build and maintain their businesses. Self-development and creating new skills as a way to stay ahead of the curve are part of each of their days. To be elite and stay there, developing new skills is not an option. Our next MMPT is about Innovation and how constant change is needed to stay an ELP.
I just started reading the book “The Buddha and the Badass” written by Vishen Lakhiani. He’s become one of my favorite authors and thought leaders. He tells the story of how in 2008, his company was on life support. It was losing money and they didn’t have a lot of time to turn it around. He goes on to say that Mindvalley started to grow when he committed to one simple strategy:
Grow Myself
Grow My Business
Repeat
Team, it is that simple. If you want to grow your business, you have to be a better version of yourself. You can only earn at the level of your SKILL.
I remind myself daily that SUCCESS LEAVES CLUES. There is always a better way. I’ve also learned through the years that there really are no secrets. I just haven’t read them yet.
