Hello there! Today is Friday, and I’m certainly looking forward to the weekend. It’s not the weekend just yet though. I have a lot of work that needs to get done, and I’m reviewing my goals for the day before I dive in.
Today is the 1 and only March 7, 2008 I will ever have. I have 1 opportunity to make it a great day. If I squander the day while mentally rationalizing that “I will make it up on Monday” then I’ve already set myself up to fail, as Monday would then be more about playing catch-up then making great things happen.
I’ve seen a lot of lenders fail for no other reason than they simply did not take the initiative to make great things happen. Each day, there should be at least 1 activity on your schedule that makes you a bit uncomfortable. What does this mean?
You’ve likely heard me speak about “stepping outside your comfort zone” before. Most sales courses and trainers speak about this. But how about we stop listening to this advice and do something about it? When training on a regular basis it has become easy for me to fall into a rut, and focus on other individuals difficulties while ignoring my own.
When I founded the Loan Officer Marketing Lab, this is exactly what happened in the beginning. Things started off with a huge boom, but the day to day activities began to dominate my daily schedule. While I was preaching to others to “go make things happen” and then showing them how to do it, I was spending 90% of my days on low payoff activities.
After things slowed down a bit, I had to take a step back, and view my business with a critical eye. See it’s easy to give excuses. Mine were: “But if I don’t get this done, then no one else will” or “I don’t have time for sales calls…” These excuses made sense to me as I looked at my business from my own personal perspective.
But when I stepped outside my business, and shut out the knee-jerk excuses and explanations, my task was crystal clear. I had to stop with the excuses, and take action. As we know, any new action takes a while to internalize. It’s not a habit yet, so it needs to be done a consistent basis until it is.
This meant that once each day, I had to do something that was great for my business. Make phone calls, speak to prospects, and contact my database… All that “boring” and unpleasant “stuff” that no one gets excited about. Sure, it may seem boring and unpleasant, but the payoff was golden.
Business flourished and grew to the point that we had to expand the site. The same applies to any business. Any time you make a concerted effort to contact potential customers on a day to day basis, you will grow. The odds are in your favor, even if things seem slow and methodical at first. Success is built 1 day at a time, we already know this.
But it’s time to take action, to do something, and to do something every single day that makes you feel proud that you’re not just an ordinary loan officer. You’re better because of your resolve to grow your career.
This is your 1 and only Friday March 7, 2008… What will you do with it?
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