I've always done things a little differently in my life. To be sure, I'm a very curious and skeptical person by nature. I question things.
Do I do this for the pure joy of it or to rock the proverbial boat? Am I another Realtor without a Cause?
Absolutely not. I just believe in continuous improvement and self-realization and challenging others to do the same. My approach to the Real Estate agency industry is no different. By most generally accepted standards of the industry, I would surely make the Blacklist of Non-Conformists.
Allow me to showcase some of my bio:
- Fact: I am still relatively new to the industry (I'm approaching 2 years)
- Fact: At this stage, real estate agency is not my primary means of income
- Fact: I am not associated with a larger national brokerage (I'm one of only 3 Realtors in our office)
- Fact: I don't own a pager or have access to dedicated real estate office administrators
- Fact: My photo is not on my business card, I don't subscribe to any regular mail outs or other similar traditional advertising campaigns
Pretty pathetic huh? Are you "Boo'ing" or "Hiss'ing"? Have I lost your respect as a fellow Realtor? I hope not because I seem to note that kind of reaction on occassion.
Certainly, much of the self-promoting marketing material I read in my neighbourhood speaks to many of the above issues.
- "I've been practising real estate for xx years"
- "I'm a full-time Realtor"
- "I'm part of xyz real estate inc., the largest real estate organization in the world, indeed the universe"
- "I'm part of team, which includes buyer agents, listing and marketing personnel etc."
- "I will market your property on national newspapers and directmail campaigns etc."
It's interesting how some Realtors are very quick to inherently dismiss someone like myself by focussing their self-promotion on everything they are, or are not.
The fact of the matter is that there is a lot more to me and my professional background than meets the Realtor eye and I harness this background to my clients' advantage each and every opportunity I get.
I'm not sure where this ideology eminates from but it's probably not too distant from all the other rhethoric and myths that some Realtors maintain or feel compelled to follow from the get-go.
Isn't it ironic that on the one hand, there are so many people so willing, ready and anxious to follow along the same textbook path of Realtor righteousness. Yet, on the other hand, many of these very same Realtors are then desperately fledgling along in a desperate attempt to distinguish themselves from their own colleagues.
They want to be different, but not set the trend. They want to explore, but not leave the Mothership. They want to belt out a tune like Elvis, but not outside the confines of their showers.
The professional associations and career choices they make is their business and their business only. The environment you select, the goals you choose and how you set out to achieve them is entirely up to you. What may work for someone, may not work for someone else.
Only, the Realtor can and should decide.