Thank you for signing up for Be The Better Broker posts.
This (first) post covers a few topics:
- The Book.
- Coaching, Masterminds, and Experthelp.
- The old Broker to Broker site ourexpert.ca
- The DLC National Sales conference – The Mastermind Meetings
- What about that Slide-deck?
1. The Book
Thank you to those of you who have already picked up a copy of Be The Better Broker, and another huge thank you to those that have taken the time to write a review on Amazon. As I learn a few things about the publishing world, I learn that these reviews are important.
Another was with regard to Kindle pricing. To any of you who bought via Kindle in the first week at $19.99 – I am sorry and I owe you ten bucks. Hit me up when you see me next! As an author’s maximum profit (as per Amazon policy) is $7.00, and Amazon’s minimum is $3.00, every penny a Kindle version is priced over $10.00 is simply flowing to Amazon. Why do that?
If it makes you feel better, I paid $19.99 to have a copy on my own Kindle. Whoops. Why did I do that? Because it makes it so simple to highlight passages and tweet them or post them to Facebook…which is something I am being told to do too.
I am already working hard on Volume 2, and hope to have it out by March 1st. It picks up on day one of being a licensed Broker.
Stay tuned, and keep the feedback on Volume 1 coming.
2. Coaching, masterminds, and Experthelp.
I have been asked If I:
Will be offering coaching? Nope.
Will be setting up local mastermind sessions? Nope.
Will keep cranking out answers on DLC’s ExpertHelp? Yep.
Will remain 99.9% focused on my clients Monday to Friday? Yep!
My primary focus is on writing mortgages, not books, not training programs. The books are a labour of love. Writing is my hobby, and so far has cost me thousands of dollars (about 15K per book actually). Writing mortgages is what pays the bills.
When you are a nobody you pay to publish a book, nobody pays you. And at $7.00 profit per copy I am years away from breaking even.
3. The old Broker to Broker site, www.ourexpert.ca
The content on that site, for those who were signed up, will remain for a while, and then be pulled down, updated, and re-purposed for this site. The mailing list for that site will be collapsed as well. As for the Twitter handle @ourexpert, it remains alive, for now. But let’s face it, I don’t know how to use Twitter properly anyways.
4. The DLC National Sales conference – The Mastermind Meetings
Leading up to our recent DLC National Sales Conference I wrote a post urging Brokers to attend.
The core message was this:
Maybe it seems conferences are just an excuse to escape the office, travel, and socialize. Although this is perhaps a small part of it there is much more to these events. It is you who control how your time is spent. The value derived from an event this like, in a business where each file holds the earning potential that it does, can be transformative. One little tip, one comment taken note of, can pay a 10X return on the trip.
You have to make it happen!
Suit up and show up!
Carpe Momentum!
Attending conferences like this one have helped my business evolve into what it is today. I look forward to this event helping shape my business into something better still.
After writing that post I got to thinking. What I could do to take this conference to the next level for myself and other Brokers. How could I derive and deliver maximum benefit…
I called the Hotel and booked a small conference room, it was not inexpensive to do this, but I knew what could flow from it.
Reviewing a recent DLC Top 50 list I emailed nearly everyone on it a summary of my proposal. It was based on the following.
Knowing a quality mastermind session should not exceed 8 people, I aimed for one fellow CME Broker in each event, along with one Broker from my regular mastermind group.
That left 5 seats, times 4 days. Room to meet with 20 of the Top 50.
The entire point of a national conference is to learn, and that is best done by conversing with new people. Here was a chance to spend two solid hours listening to 20 Brokers share. Brokers that I would not otherwise have a chance to meet with.
Did this plan leave me exposed to rubbing other (uninvited) Brokers the wrong way? Yes, but I still had to move forward with it. The premise felt awesome, I loved the concept. As did 20 other Brokers who responded within 24 hrs to commit to being at a meeting at 6am. I am sorry to any who felt slighted; this was thrown together very quickly and I focused on Brokers who had taken time to introduce themselves during the DLC University sessions, and who continued to stay in touch since. In particular Brokers traveling from afar.
Imagine ten other Brokers organizing this same sort of thing. Every Broker in attendance could have had two dedicated hours of sharing best practices with 7 other Brokers. Logistically this would not be so simple to set up, but perhaps by 2017 it will happen. Masterminding for all!
I went there to share, to learn, to create additional opportunities – as many of us did. And the sessions were stellar. Lots of gems around policy and process.
5. What about that slide-deck?
I know I told you I would email that deck out, and I will. But I want to polish it into a nice clean post, or two, and put it out that way. Cleaner content, no pictures lacking narrative. It needs to be useful and actionable.
It will be done soon. Since returning from the conference the focus has been on clients and on writing mortgages. Not on writing more content. The content will come soon, and I hope that you will enjoy it and most of all that you will share it. And share any and all feedback with me.
Sharing is learning, and learning is earning.
Thank you