Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Real Estate Marketing Strategies - Are You Sabotaging Your Own Success?

Have you ever felt like you had reached a plateau and could go no higher? If so, you're not alone, many people sabotage their own success. This article teaches you how to reverse self sabotage. In my work as a real estate business coach for the past 12 years, I have had many people present a similar question, "Why can't I be more successful? Why do I stop myself? I feel like I am my own worst enemy."

If you've ever felt this way, you're probably suffering from a pattern of self sabotage in which you get in your own way. While on the one hand, your conscious mind is saying," I want to be more successful," your subconscious mind is caught in a "Fear of Success syndrome".

There are several things that cause people to be afraid of success:

1. They associate success with Stress:

It's a prevailing idea in our society that if you want to be successful, you have to work hard, struggle and strive. Many of my clients have done that and reached a place of "burnout". Then they are faced with the dilemma of wanting to move forward, but having a very unpleasant memory of what it was like before.

They need to work hard at reprogramming the self limiting belief, "To be successful you have to work very very hard," and replace it with an Empowered Belief, such as "I am committed to working smarter not harder."

2. The next self limiting belief that stops people from success is "I'm not worthy or I do not deserve."

Usually we are not scripted to be successful when we were growing up. Rather we were scripted to fit in and not bring too much attention to ourselves.

We often incurred criticism when we felt too good about ourselves and heard things like, "Who do you think you are?" Being boastful was considered conceited and a definite "no no". Many of us over generalized and made the mistake of thinking that we shouldn't think too highly of ourselves, and if we did someone would shoot us down.

The truth is that a healthy level of self-confidence is necessary to be successful. In addition, happiness is feeling good about you. If you've been carrying any of the old beliefs that make you feel unworthy, I urge you to replace them with empowered beliefs, such as:

  • I am more than worthy of prosperity
  • I am highly deserving of an abundance of all good
  • It is now okay for me to feel good about myself
  • I give myself permission to feel pride in the work that I do
  • As I share my expertise I am worthy of being amply rewarded

Practice these Empowered Beliefs frequently to raise your level of deservingness.

3. The "gung ho" vs. " comfort zone" conflict

Let's face it; in order to be successful you do have to leave your comfort zone. Moving forward always involves some risk.

However what many people fail to realize is that staying stuck in your comfort zone also involves risk. What risk? It's the risk of not fulfilling your potential, the risk of staying at a low financial level, the risk of never reaching your dreams.

It all of us there is an inner struggle between the part of us that wants us to dream big, and the part of us that wants us to settle for what we have. Usually some inner "conflict resolution" will help you to realize that you can have a win-win between both parts of you.

The "gung ho" part needs to realize that you need a balanced life with plenty of time for self-care and self maintenance. The "comfort zone" part needs to realize that the comfort zone is not safe, and that sensations that are labeled fear can just as easily be labeled excitement as you find the growing edge of your comfort zone and move beyond it.

To reinforce the balance of these two parts of us, I recommend these empowered beliefs:

  • It is now safe for me to grow and expand
  • I'm committed to creating success in a balanced way

Here's one of my favorites, "In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, I create total financial success, for the highest good of all".

Let this be your mantra and allow yourself to grow into your full potential with ease and grace.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Real Estate Marketing Strategies - 7 Mistakes Real Estate Agents Make With The Law Of Attraction

The Law of Attraction is potentially one of the most powerful tools you'll ever have as a Real Estate Agent. Why? Because it helps you to train your mind into a successful and prosperous mindset. In other words, if you practice the Law of Attraction you're always looking at the opportunities for growing your business rather than the obstacles.

If you're not getting the results you want with the Law of Attraction, it's possible that you might be making these common mistakes:

1. Failure to switch focus

It may be that when you start looking at what you don't like about your business, i.e. the difficult clients, the “fallen transactions”, and the continual need to prospect, you may be focusing on what you “don't want”, instead of what you do want. The Law of Attraction states that you get what you focus on. Focus on the difficult clients long enough, and that's what you will bring more of.

2. Failure to identify what you “do want”

You may be spending so much time and energy trying to eliminate what you don't want, like unqualified clients; you may not be getting clear on what you do want. If you don't want unqualified clients, then what are the characteristics that you really want in prospective clients?

If you're like most people, you want prospective clients to be qualified, committed, and motivated. Then focus on that. Whenever your mind wanders, keep coming back to what you want to create.

3. Focusing on current circumstances

According to the Law of Attraction, current circumstances do not have to define you. They are based on your old decisions and your old beliefs. Now that you are learning the Law of Attraction, you have a chance to start fresh.

Never mind your current conditions, instead ask yourself, “What do I want to create?” Set your intention and don't waver.

4. You get worried about the “how to”

According to the Law of Attraction, “how to” is the domain of the universe. You don't have to know the details. You just have to know what you want, and why you want it. Let the Universe figure out the “how”.

5. You take “frantic action”, rather than “inspired action”

Frantic action is fear-based. You are being reactive rather than proactive. ‘Inspired action” means that you're listening to your intuition, rather than on your linear mind. Intuition will come to you in the form of “Ah Ha” and gut instincts. Inspired action will feel good and it will feel right.

6. You may be forgetting to “visualize”

In the Law of Attraction, there is the saying, “whatever you visualize, you will materialize.” It may be that in your business, you haven't taken some quiet time to visualize your desired outcome, for example, earning $500,000 a year on a steady basis (or whatever your ideal income is).

When you take time to visualize yourself having the prosperity you desire, then you can create the feelings of having it now. Since like energies attract like energies, whatever you radiate comes back to you multiplied. It pays to visualize.

7. The biggest mistake people make

The biggest mistake that people make with the Law of Attraction is that they fail to do it consistently and effectively.

For example, after watching “The Secret”, you may be inspired for a while to wake up focusing on gratitude. Then when the inspiration of the movie wears off, you may get busy and forget to be grateful for what you have. This is an example of an inconsistent use of the Law of Attraction.

Another and more serious mistake people make in implementing the Law of Attraction is that they “wing it”. They have no systematic, step-by-step procedure to follow.

To effectively and successfully use the Law of Attraction, use a solid 5 step process;

• Identify what you don't want,

• Identify what you do want,

• Find a feeling place of having what you want,

• Clear your opposing beliefs,

• Take inspired action.

If you follow these 5 steps, perhaps with the help of a mentor or a coach, you will maximize the effectiveness of the Law of Attraction. No longer will the Law of attraction seem like a mystery to you!

Practice these 5 steps consistently, and you will be building a solid foundation for the Law of Attraction to work for you.