A Different Perspective on Business Planning for 2025
There's more to business and life than planning for growth. Take a step to get closer to your core this year!
It is the beginning of 2025! Hopefully, you have done some business planning and have some things you want to achieve by the end of the year. Most real estate agents focus their business plans on some sort of growth - growth in transactions, growth in commission dollars, and growth in the amount of free time they have due to more-efficient processes.
However, when was the last time you focused on quality and your "why"? It is natural to want more, but sometimes having more in one area means having less in another. This is especially true when we are just focused on growth without taking care to think about what type of growth we want.
Tick Tick...
Each one of us has a ticking clock that represents the amount of time we have left in the business. If we are in our 20s and have a full career ahead of us, that might be 30-40 years and it is time to get our processes in line from the start. However, if you are in your 50s, the time left on your career might be measured in weeks. Planning on retiring in 5 years? You have 260 weeks left. 10 years? Just over 500 weeks.
January 1st was just a little over a week ago. Can you believe how fast that week went? What if you only have 260 of those left? 5 years sounds like a long time, but it really isn't. Think about a year ago. How long ago does that seem?
I use this little shock exercise to get the point across that you have a finite amount of time to get your business right. It is so easy to get distracted from the big picture. Our transactions, continuing education, new laws and regulations, doing our laundry, following social media, and more all suck our energy away from where we really should be spending our time.
Your True Core
Each one of us has a true core of our business, the point at which our passion intersects with our talents and knowledge.
For some agents, their core may be past clients and developing a really strong raving fanbase. For others, it may be specializing in seniors, helping investors build wealth, identifying properties with redevelopment potential through research, or even building a brokerage by using their talents to help other agents. How about first-time homebuyers? Farm and ranch properties? Log cabins? Historic homes? Waterfront properties? There are so many different types of properties or clients to focus on in real estate - there is a right fit for every agent.
You Don't Have to Do It Alone
Get closer to your core faster and have a professional run your campaigns for you! Don't have the time to manage a marketing campaign on your own? Need it to work right from the start? We can help! Let's Talk
Think about your business right now. How close are you to your core? If your core is over there, but your business is over here, then your focus on 2025 shouldn't be to just grow haphazardly - it should be to help you grow to get closer to your core.
What will it take for you to grow closer to your core this year? Additional education? Better connections with people in that vertical? A solid lead generation method to connect with potential clients? An additional layer to your lead generation plan that targets your market? A connection strategy?
I'm giving you a wake-up call: Unless you take action to get closer to your core, you could very well get to the end of your career unhappy and unsatisfied because you missed your calling.
The clock is ticking. Don't let 2025 turn into 2026 without taking steps to get closer to your core.
By Denise Lones CSP, CMP, M.I.R.M.
The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones has over three decades of experience in the real estate industry. With agent/broker coaching, expertise in branding, lead generation, strategic marketing, business analysis, new home project planning, product development and more, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things real estate. With a passion for improvement, Denise has helped thousands of real estate agents, brokers, and managers build their business to unprecedented levels of success, while helping them maintain balance and quality of life.