“I was 'young kid' who had signed on to take 9 month Management Training course for a department store chain. Sales people were generally assigned specific areas to cover within store but being a 'management trainee' I had to learn all departments.”

One day, a rough looking middle aged fellow entered store. He was dressed in well-worn workpants, work boots, and a soiled red and black plaid shirt just like you'd expect a lumberjack to wear. No one approached him (I guess he didn't look like a good sales prospect) and he didn't move from front entrance; he just stood there surveying store from left to right. I walked up to him and asked if I could help. He said, “I need a pair of wool socks. No nylon, no cotton, just wool socks.” We went to Menswear Department and both watched as sales person assigned to that department walked away from us so he wouldn't have to waste his time going through full selection of hosiery just to find a single pair of wool socks.”

I then started asking questions about style, colour, size, price range, etc., to help narrow down exactly what customer needed. “It don't matter.” he replied, “Just wool socks. I work back in bush and we only come to town every three weeks. Nylon makes my feet sweat. Cotton's okay but it don't last long. I need socks I can wear at work everyday and that's wool.”

So, I checked content label of every style and colour of sock that we had in stock and eventually found a pair of 100% wool socks. “Good”, he said, and we walked up checkout counter to ring in $3.95 pair of wool socks. The man left and I got a bit of ribbing from sales person in Menswear Department about my 'big sale of day' and how ‘not to spend my commission all in one place!’”

How many times have we gone to show a property, list a home, go to work, spend time with our family, and we weren’t really there? “Where ever you go…there you are.” But are we really there? We are certainly there in physical body, but are we mentally there?

Let me share with you four rules of real estate.

1. Be there. This rule means to show up on time. Being on time to a listing appointment can often mean difference between getting listing and not getting listing. It means preparing before you go on an appointment so you are ready. Being there also means treating your real estate career like a real job. Show up at work everyday at same time. My day started at 7 a.m. during my sales career. It was very rare for me not to be in office at that time.

2. Focus mentally. Focus mentally means to be in moment with intense concentration. The better you focus mentally more results you will get for your time invested. If you need to listen to client…focus on what client is saying. If you are formulating your answer or response, you are not listening to client. Learning to focus is one of most valuable skills you can acquire. Focus always comes before success. Focus means to pay attention to what is happening around you, to pay attention to details of success. It is usually a small thing that separates success from failure. Just ask United States women’s soccer team or better yet, ask China. One penalty kick made difference between first and second place. The difference between number one PGA tour player, Tiger Woods, and number 150 is about one stroke per 18 holes and over four million dollars in earnings. Focus mentally in moment you are in.