The 4 People You Need in Your Life for a Successful Career

A Coach, a Mentor, an Accountability Partner, and an Advocate

The path to a successful career doesn’t just include you, while it does depend on you and your actions, having these four-essential people in your life will ultimately increase your odds of greater success: a Coach, a Mentor, an Accountability Partner, and an Advocate. All of these people play an important and vital role in your success, not just in real estate and not just in your first year, but in your entire career! I mentioned finding three of these people in a past post titled Now What?

Let’s take a closer look at the roles these individuals play in achieving a successful real estate career.

A Coach is a confidant, a guide, and a teacher. This person shares their experience as a successful real estate agent with you. Real estate coaches continually upgrade their education, techniques, and strategies so they gain maximum versatility. They aren’t limited to a certain ideology, instead, they pull from several techniques to create a plan that’s right for you as their client. A coach will offer valuable insight that will help you develop strategies and goals, both long-term and short-term, as well as improve your business in areas that you might be lacking in or have overlooked. They provide you with objective business consulting and can require a significant time commitment. Unlike the other important people mentioned below, a real estate coach or coaching program can cost a couple hundred dollars per month.

According to an Inman News study of agents using coaches, 9 out of 10 respondents said their business climbed by 10% or more during their first year with a coach, and more than half said the increase was 25%+. While costly, the benefits of being in a coaching program can quickly outweigh the expense by your increase in success. There are numerous real estate coaching programs offered around the country, some of the most popular include:

• Tom Ferry
• Mike Ferry
• Buffini & Company
• Kevin Ward – Yesmasters
• Tim & Julie Harris Coaching

A quick Google search will provide you with more details on these programs and many more offered online and in-person!

A Mentor is someone who offers you advice when needed and who will guide you along as you learn the ropes of becoming a real estate agent. Your mentor will walk you through the transaction process step-by-step offering assistance with all aspects of the deal, so you are never alone. A mentor can help to shorten your learning curve, open your mind to new ideas and possibilities, and identify unthought-of opportunities for you. This is someone you will seek advice from and establish a lifelong relationship with.

Numerous real estate brokerage firms offer a mentor for little or no expense to you. An ideal firm would cover the cost of the mentor for you, as being a properly educated agent is beneficial to the firm as a whole.  As a newly licensed agent, when you are searching for a brokerage firm to join, make sure you ask about their mentor program. If they don’t have one, you might want to consider another firm.

An Accountability Partner is a person who will help you identify exactly what goals you would like to accomplish in precise detail. This is the person you will share your goals with (both professional and personal) and check-in with/meet with on a regular basis. They will help verify the steps you need to take in order to achieve your goals and make sure you stay on track – basically, they hold you accountable for achieving these goals! You are making a commitment to another person to do the tasks you know need to get done and you don’t want to let your accountability partner down. Most people find it harder to disappoint another person than to disappoint themselves.

In a study about goal achievement conducted by Psychology professor Dr. Gail Matthews from Dominican University in California, results showed that people who wrote down their goals, shared them with a friend, and sent them weekly updates on their progress were on average 33% more successful in accomplishing their stated goals than those who merely formulated them and kept it to themselves. An accountability partner should come of no cost to you, except for maybe offering to pay for coffee or lunch when you meet.

An Advocate is someone who will be your support and your friend. This person will cheer you on and sing the praises of your successes. Unlike an accountability partner, this person offers more of an emotional support role with sympathetic understanding when goals are not accomplished as planned. But they will also continue to encourage you to be your best, focus on your progress and the end goal. Like an accountability partner, having an advocate should cost you nothing, except for the cost of coffee or lunch every now and then (that’s what friend’s do, right?).

So, do you have these four people in your life?

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the importance of and the roles these people play in the path to your success. If you do not currently have these four people in your life, make it your goal this week to identify them and ask for their help!  Now, can you still be successful if you only have three of the four roles filled? Yes, you can!  Take their roles in your life and your part in these relationships very seriously, as your success is up to you!

*Side Note* Huge shout out to my boss, Scott MacDonald, who has been the Mentor role in my life for the past few years. With over 30-years of experience in real estate, entrepreneurship and mentoring, he has not only made a huge impact on my life but the lives of hundreds of other people. This blog, my love for real estate and my reignited desire to always be a better person would not be possible without his encouragement and amazing leadership. Kudos Bossman! Thank you for all you do!