Sept 10, 2022 – ‘This business just isn’t fun anymore’ – Anonymous Broker

I get it.

We used to help anyone with decent credit, a solid income picture, and 5% down acquire a home. We helped set countless Canadians onto the path of building equity, building wealth, building families, maintaining stability in their lives.

Increasingly we say no.

We say no to well qualified people with zero debt, excellent credit, very stable government jobs… we say no.

And saying no sucks.

As for the rise in Prime, some of us have stayed ahead of the curve with our clients and been very proactive, and it’s paid off with (mostly) ‘thank-you’s’.

Others of us… not so much a great run these past 6 months.

The role we play is getting tougher, and many of you are asking yourselves ‘why am I doing this?’ or ‘how much longer do I have to do this’

I get it, and so I am editing and updating the excerpt below.

From Volume 1 of Be The Better Broker.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a top-performing athlete in any sport who decided as a kid they wanted specifically a $6-million-a-year contract, and then went about mastering baseball, hockey or basketball. The reality is that few top performers are driven to excel by the money, they let their agents worry about that. They just love their game so much that they’ll work harder than anybody else around them. The money is a by-product of that hard work. The love of hard work is key.

Will Smith’s game is acting, and sometimes acting out, but that’s another story.

What about running on a treadmill?

What’s that got to do with acting?

Nothing.

Everything.

Will’s comment about treadmills;

The audio clip HERE

The comment; “The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period.

You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die.

It’s really that simple, right?

You’re not going to out-work me. It’s such a simple, basic concept.

The guy who is willing to hustle the most is going to be the guy that just gets that loose ball. The majority of people who aren’t getting the places they want or aren’t achieving the things that they want in this business is strictly based on hustle. It’s strictly based on being out-worked; it’s strictly based on missing crucial opportunities. I say all the time if you stay ready, you ain’t gotta get ready.”

To some extent that’s the position some of us are now in.

We are on a treadmill, and next to us on the other machine is The Bank Of Canada, Inflation, Trigger Rates, Trigger Points, Payment Resets, Angry Clients, Sad Clients, Friends, Family, Pets, Broken Down Cars, Flat Tires, The Gym, The Diet, Oh Ya… COVID and all the crazy that brings… it’s all there trying to take you down.

And so…

You don’t have to look far to see this playing out all around us.

The people chasing dollar signs just don’t make it as far as those chasing excellence.

Currently we should all be chasing excellence in a few key things;

Communication Skills

Understanding The Economy

Doing Basic Math

Being In Better Shape (the mind follows the body)

There needs to be that internal drive for improving our skills. Ultimately a love of learning and the pursuit of mastery is how winners win.

NBA star Steve Nash holds the record for the highest foul shot percentage, just above 90 percent. It is said he wouldn’t leave practice until he had made 100 free throws in a row. If he made the first 99 and missed the last one, he’d start over. He didn’t shoot those additional 100 free throws for the money; he did it to become the best. He was dedicated to excellence.

I’ve observed individuals enter the mortgage business — and shortly thereafter exit — whose sole motivation was dollars. It is understandable to make an assumption that successful Brokers are motivated by money. Yet in my experience this is a false assumption. Those who choose the pursuit of money in Brokering rarely endure and less frequently excel, while those who pursue excellence at their craft do endure and excel.

Ask yourself: what motivates you?

Then ask yourself what motivates you on an intrinsic level.

Aside from accolades, awards, financial success (extrinsic factors), what motivates you internally to do the things that perhaps nobody will even know you’ve done, thanks that do not lead to no specific tangible or immediate (extrinsic) reward.

My personal motivation is to become a better me, (I wrote these words in 2013 – and they hold true today. Yes I am a vastly better human than I was 9 years ago – but I can be better, and I will be!)

My aim then was to share something useful with the people around me, to help them find levels of improvement in their own lives. It’s what drove me to write Volume 1. And it’s what drives me to write this blog every week. It’s why I read voraciously, listen to a variety of podcasts, attend conferences (virtually these days) all related to both my field of work, and working on myself, on some level.

Why do I go to these lengths?

Not for financial gain, simply because I know that all of these pursuits will help clarify and improve my own thinking, and thus my actions and habits, all in an effort to become a better me. And sure, a byproduct of that may well me a comfortable financial situation. That is a common outcome. But it’s not my primary driver.

So, take some time and focus in on what drives you at your deepest levels.

Are you recognizing, defining, and communicating your own personal brand of excellence to the world.

What are you about?

Thank you

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Dustan Woodhouse