Gabrielle Jeans’s Weblog

I really can’t imagine what life must be like for people who are no longer interested in learning or trying new things.  I like what Will Durant says: “education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” In other words, when we become educated, we get a perspective on knowledge that the uneducated will never have.  That perspective is this: there is no limit to how much knowledge we can gain in life.  Those who think they know it all or act like it are simply vain, deluded fools.  They don’t even know that they don’t know!

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite” – William Blake

Another tell-tale sign of someone with the veteran syndrome is they aren’t really using the internet for their real estate business.  If a sales rep doesn’t have their own website (and I’m not talking about their brokerage’s website), their business is dying a slow death.  The signs might not be readily apparent, but I assure you this is happening.  These people may suspect this based on their declining sales volume over the years, but they usually figure it’s inevitable.  They rationalize their declining sales by thinking, “the business is so much more competitive these days” or “the market is slow these days; after all, we’re in a recession” or “there are far more part-timers these days scooping up all the listings”.  In reality, the only thing causing their declining results is their ignorance and unwillingness to understand themselves and take responsibility for their actions.

In Ancient Greece, there was an inscription in gold letters over the portico of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.  The inscription said: “Know thyself – and thou shall know all the mysteries of the gods and of the universe.”

“The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows” – Aristotle

I’ve often said that when you are in the top 10-20% of real estate professionals, it’s really not all that competitive.  The reason is simple.  These people know things about real estate that few or no other real estate professionals know.  I’m going to let you in on one of the things the top 20% know that the other 80% don’t.  It’s simply this: “Specialization brings success”.