I’ve repeated that line, the subject of this post, no fewer than a dozen times over the last 30 days. So much so, in fact, that it made sense to write a quick post about it. I think it’s important because of two things: a pervasive “luck” mentality that is really a bullshit justification for doing nothing, and the difficulty of figuring out where to start.
Let’s start, though, with the idea of being in the right place at the right time. Inherently, by saying that, we think of happenstance. We think of luck. We think of good fortune or karma or blessings or whatever. However, as silly as this sounds, to be in the right place at the right time you have to be in the right place at the right time. It means that you actually went somewhere and did something. That’s the crux of this post.
The person that won the lotto bought a ticket. The people that good fortune visits had to get to the place she was visiting. This isn’t just luck. It is action that begets more action. If you just sit around waiting for luck, it will never find you. You have to get off your ass and go find it.
One of my agents was doing a real estate review with a client recently. During that meeting, she got a referral that resulted in her first million-dollar listing. Another one was at a poker game and picked up a listing. Another was at a party for a past client and ended up with three appointments. Now, other than the agent who went for a real estate review, none of these agents went in expecting business. In all cases, however, the business happened because they showed up, on purpose.
Many agents look at things like that and rack it up to “luck”. Those agents were just in the right place at the right time and got lucky. To me, that is a garbage justification for them not showing up. They just want to chalk up their lack of business to something other than their lack of effort. Listen, luck isn’t a thing. Those people got business because they were in the right place at the right time, on purpose.
As my daughter gets older, I try to impress upon her that the world is often run by those that show up. The result of that can be good or bad, depending on who shows up. If you want more business, show the f up. If you want to run the world, show the f up. If you don’t, as I said to my daughter when she was much younger, you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.
Another excuse I hear is some variation of not knowing where to start. I’ll extend a little grace here because Realtors are the very best at overthinking shit. Nobody takes something very simple and makes it unnecessarily complex better than a real estate expert. Look, it doesn’t have to be complex. Go do a real estate review. Invite 5 people to breakfast on Saturday. Go to a neighborhood event. Talk to a stranger. Just do something. In the words of Verl Workman, “Everything works and nothing doesn’t.”
Luck doesn’t happen. On purpose happens. You too can be in the right place at the right time. You just have to do it. Have a plan, carry it out, and watch the “luck” happen in your business.
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