The Blog

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour” —James Clear 

Building your real estate career can be a challenging task. You have to be proactive and diligent wherever you go and with whomever you meet. But sometimes you can feel as if you are no longer moving forward and not feeling successful in your career can affect other aspects of your life. Don’t let this be the case. Learn about some things that can hinder your career growth so you can address them before it’s too late. 

8 Things That Hinder Your Career Growth

1. Not learning. Everytime you stop learning, you stop growing. You may think learning stopped after you stopped going to school, not true. Many adults adopt the “You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks” mentality. But you are capable of learning far more than you ever thought you could. People stop being doctors, pursue a real estate career and become a successful agent in their 50s. It’s believing you are capable of learning new things and applying that knowledge. 
2. Worrying about the money. Money is important but it is not the main reason for your actions. You can feel like you’ve lost your way if you can’t keep up with your monthly bills. Don’t let it hinder you. Use it as fuel to push you into doing more to get yourself on the right path. 
3. Not knowing what you want. You could be promoted in your career and be successful but still not feel like you are growing. Make sure that the career you decide on is one that gives your life purpose. You are excited to get up every morning and face the day because this is the career you wanted, not just the one you settled for. 
4. Not having a clear vision. This is different than not knowing what you want because you could know what you want but not know how to get there. Say, for example, you want to be a better listing agent. But, you keep working with buyers rather than looking for people who may want to sell their home. Connect with your brokerage and ask them how you can make yourself a better listing agent. They can provide insight and help you create a game plan to achieve your vision. 
5. Overthinking. Overthinking is worrying about things that are not there. Many individuals stop themselves from ever moving forward by thinking about all of the things that could go wrong. But what if they go right? Positive thinking should take place over overthinking because at the end of the day it is better to have given it your best shot than to never have tried at all. 
6. Not taking action. You have a clear plan but you keep making excuses or getting distracted before you start. You have a new listing but you have to enter it into the MLS, get flyers out, plan an open house, etc…It may seem like a daunting task but start with one thing rather than getting overwhelmed by all you have to do and not doing anything at all. Start with planning the open house, what is a good day? Once you have the day set, now you know you want to have flyers ready and MLS has to be up so everything starts to fall into place. 
7. Not taking ownership. You may be part of a brokerage but this is your business. Your brokerage will still profit if you are not bringing in deals because other agents are out there putting in the work. Owning your own business means you are in charge of your hours, your profit and the overall success of your business. Taking control of your actions to build your business further is your responsibility. This means you have to accept responsibility for the good and the bad. 
8. Not working with others. Asking for help is not easy. But you cannot grow if you do not know what you need to do to continue growing your career. Seek perspective from others who have experienced what you are going through in order to gain a different outlook on how to keep moving forward. Having a teammate can help too so you have someone to bounce ideas off of.  

Knowing when to address these things that could hinder your career growth and how to combat them will not only help you in your career but in your everyday life. Change may be scary but it’s scarier to be stuck and no longer growing because you did not want to get out of your comfort zone. Step up and challenge yourself to do more. Rome may not have been built in a day but give yourself a chance to work on the building blocks of your life everyday in order to have a truly solid foundation.