The difference between those who have a great property management business and those who have a mediocre property management business lies in planning, systems, and implementation. At the heart of these issues is focus. When you can stay focused and be consistent in the daily accomplishment of your goals, you’ll accomplish more and be happier with the result.
Weldon Long wrote in a book entitled The Power of Consistency a statement that I’ve thought a lot about. He said: “We tend to take actions that are consistent with the things we repeatedly say to ourselves. Our sales and business activities are a reflection of our thoughts and expectations. In essence, it states, ‘Private affirmations dictate future actions…and your future results.”
‘Using this powerful yet invisible force will allow you to overcome whatever challenges threaten your sales and business success and instead prosper in the face of any adversity. This approach is guaranteed to lead to prosperity, because you simply cannot do the right things in your life and business on a consistent basis and accidentally create the wrong results. Of course, this doesn’t mean you won’t face occasional short-term challenges and setbacks. What it does mean is that you will ultimately create the sales and financial results you desire.”
He continues:
“Although it’s a somewhat depressing fact, most people have failed to do the things they know they should be doing to get their lives on the right track. The people who are taking consistent actions are the exceptions—exceptional professionals who enjoy exceptional sales and business results. But we see them all the time, living life on their own terms as we complain about the forces acting against us. We see them shining in their companies and careers as we struggle to get by. We watch as they earn incomes that provide a life of financial security, while we fight to make ends meet. We watch the years roll by—always longing for a better life, yet feeling a better life is just beyond our reach. We know what we need to do. We just aren’t doing it with any reliability.” –pp. 9-10.
Finally, he asks:
“If you and I were sitting together right now and I asked you to describe your professional and financial goals, you could probably identify them pretty quickly. If I asked you to list two or three things you needed to do to make each dream a reality, you could quickly figure that out too. But what if I asked you, ‘Why aren’t you doing them?’ You’d probably respond with ‘I don’t know.’ Again, the conundrum of human nature: knowing exactly what you need to do to increase your sales and grow your income but not doing it on a consistent basis. But exceptional sales and business performance is well within your reach. You just need to follow a simple process to create your prosperity mindset—and let that mindset drive you to do the things that lead to wealth and prosperity. As a result, you can become exceptional.”—p. 11.
An enlightening story shared by Weldon Long in his book The Power of Consistency illustrates this principle. He says:
“Imagine you have a box sitting in front of you holding everything you need to build a beautiful motorcycle. There are no missing or extra parts in the box. There are only the parts you need, nothing else. Now imagine that you also have the tools and mechanical skills necessary to assemble this beautiful creation. You begin the process of removing the parts from the box one by one.
“As you do so, you put them together according to the mental image you have of how this machine is supposed to look once it’s finished. Part by part, piece by piece, you assemble your masterpiece. You aren’t putting the pieces together randomly; you are doing so systematically according to the picture of a motorcycle you have in your mind. In other words, you don’t bolt the wheels on the handlebars. You put the wheels—and everything else—where they are supposed to go.
“Now imagine that you stay focused on completing the assembly. Nothing distracts you from your mission. You maintain laser focus on assembling everything according to your master plan. Each piece that you empty from the box serves as the foundation for the next. You bolt the engine to the frame and the carburetor and gearshift to the engine. You attach the throttle, brake, and clutch cables to the engine components they control. And eventually, all your hard work comes to fruition. You step back and admire your creation as it glistens in the sun. You’ve used every part; the box is now empty of its contents. The final product stands assembled before you. Now ask yourself a simple question: Once you have emptied the box’s contents and assembled them in perfect accordance with your thoughts about what a motorcycle should look like, what are the chances that you would look up to see that you have accidentally baked a cake?
“‘That’s impossible!’ you might say. ‘There is no way I could accidentally bake a cake when I had only motorcycle parts in the box. I pulled out only what was in the box, and I put the parts together piece by piece according to my vision of a motorcycle!’ Your common sense tells you that it’s impossible to create anything except what was in the box. And your common sense would be absolutely correct—because you cannot focus on creating what’s in the box and accidentally create something else. If you have only motorcycle parts in the box and assemble them according to your mental picture of a motorcycle, you can create only a motorcycle. You cannot accidentally bake a cake.” –pp. 25.
What is in your box that makes up your property management business? Are you putting other things into your box that don’t belong there?
Are you picturing something different than your business? Are you distracted from focusing on what you want by replacing the picture of a profitable portfolio of properties with a different picture?
When this happens, you will end up misplacing parts from your box thinking that something else is needed before you can be successful. I like what Long says: “The results you experience—in sales, business, and life—are not accidents. They are reflections of whatever is in your box. And whatever is in your box is an accumulation of a lifetime of thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, choices, decisions, and expectations—is all you can create. You can’t visualize and create one set of results in your mind and accidentally create a different set of results in your physical reality.”
Who are you allowing to put things into your property management business box? Are you allowing negative thoughts or something a competitor put in your box prevent you from focusing on what you must do in order to get what you want?
The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people are willing to do things that unsuccessful people won’t do.
I like how Weldon Long puts this. He says:
“It wasn’t about something I didn’t know; it was about something I wouldn’t do. I knew what I needed to do to create a better life. I just wasn’t doing it regularly. I realized that the only way to change my destiny was to change what was in my box….A thought goes into your box, which generates a chemical that triggers an emotion. The emotion results in a particular action, which creates a result in your life. Therefore, the result you experience is ultimately a reflection of the initial thought—due to the physiological process you underwent. And that process—repeated a gazillion times over your lifetime—creates a certain quality of life. The quality of your thoughts determines the quality of your life. That’s why Emerson said, ‘We become what we think about all day long.’ That’s also why the fearful thoughts that inhabited my box eventually manifested themselves in my life. The invisible eventually becomes visible, and my fearful thoughts triggered fearful emotions. Those in turn led me to take unhealthy actions, which created results that mirrored the fearful actions. It’s simply a reflection of how our neurological and physiological systems work together to create whatever is in our box.” –pp. 29-31.
This means that you must empty your box of destructive and limiting beliefs and replace them with thoughts and beliefs that will create an exceptional life. Then, you’ve got to commit emotionally to taking consistent action on the items you know will help you achieve the result you want. When you allow yourself to get distracted from your goals, you really create self-defeating behaviors that won’t help you get what you want.
What are you allowing to distract you from what you know you need to do?
Do you have your own personal planning worksheet (with daily actions that you will do) figured out so you aren’t distracted from what won’t help you reach your goals? One entrepreneur I know told me that she wrote down her priorities and framed them. When someone comes into her office, she points to the list and her staff knows not to interrupt her. She knows what is important and stays on task. When you tackle your daily tasks with enthusiasm and stay focused on them, there is no limit to what you can do. Consistent focus on the right actions will yield results. It is just a matter of time.
As Henry Ford once observed: “Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress. With it there is accomplishment. Without it there are only alibis.”
The key to any progress is to recognize where you are at and implement great ideas with enthusiasm to help you get to a clearly defined goal.
Weldon Long says it best: “Our thoughts become our lives because: “Your thoughts drive your emotions. Your emotions drive your actions. Your actions drive your results.” –p. 32.
If you aren’t taking the right actions every day, it is because your thoughts are negative which produces negative emotions. You will rarely, if ever, take action when you don’t feel like doing what needs to be done. As a result, the important tasks of the day remain undone until tomorrow and this cycle continues. The difference between those who accomplish more, sell more, and add more properties to their portfolio now is that they beat the resistance that comes from a negative thought with a positive thought and a positive emotion which propels them through the resistance until they consistently achieve the daily tasks they have set for themselves.
Long says: “Your business results are a reflection of your actions, which come as a result of your emotions. Your emotions are a result of what you think is true.”
“So if you think the economy sucks, that thought will incite emotions and eventually actions that will drive results consistent with a bad economy, even if your initial thought about the economy is wrong or inaccurate. Imagine a sales professional who has surrendered to the mistaken belief that he cannot succeed in a sluggish economy and that clients care only about price, without regard for quality or service. Once the sales professional has that thought, a signal is sent to his hypothalamus, which triggers an emotion consistent with the thought. What do you suppose that emotion will be? Enthusiasm? Optimism? Excitement? Not very likely, is it?
“In fact, the motions likely experienced will be hopelessness, anxiety, and an expectation of failure. In that emotional state, how is the sales professional likely to act? More than likely, the emotion will foster a lackluster and half-hearted sales presentation. The result, of course, is predictable. The prospect [or property owner] is unimpressed with the product or service as a result of the sales presentation and makes a decision solely based on price. Ironically, as the sales professional mopes back into the office, he proclaims, ‘I knew it! I knew these lousy customers didn’t care about our quality and service. They care only about a cheap price!’” –p. 34-35.
He continues: “Regardless of the veracity of our thoughts, they will eventually dictate our emotions, actions, and results. In much the same way, your business will become a reflection of what you believe to be true. Remember: You can pull out of the box only whatever is in the box. As long as you believe it, it is in the box. And anything you put in, you will eventually pull out. The bottom line is this: When you have a thought that you believe to be true, your brain will send a signal to your hypothalamus, which will emit an emotion, which begets an action, which will create a result, which will define the quality and circumstances of your life and your business.
“Everyone has a metaphorical box that follows him or her around in life. Thoughts, ideas, beliefs, dreams, and expectations go into the box, where they mature. We eventually retrieve these as we develop and grow professionally and make decisions about our careers and businesses. It is crucial to remember that the relationship between thoughts, emotions, actions, and results is a linear process, one that always occurs in the same order. Thoughts come first based on our life experiences, perceptions, and expectations. Emotions come second, and actions, third. Finally, a result is created.
Thoughts -> Emotions -> Actions -> Results
“It’s also important to remember that the first two steps are invisible, whereas the second two are quite visible. This is important, because we tend to put a lot more emphasis on the part we cannot see: a particular action and the result….But until [you] change [your thoughts], [you] will not change [your] emotions. And until [you] change [your] emotions, [you] won’t change [your] actions. And until [you] change [your] actions, [you] won’t create better results.” –pp. 36-37.
What are you focusing on in your property management business? Remember, negative or positive thoughts lead to negative or positive emotions. If you are thinking negatively about your business, you will subconsciously put things you don’t want into your box and the emotions you carry will frustrate you and prevent you from doing what you want to do. If you would like help with a box filled with proven business building systems to grow your property management business, schedule a time to visit with one of our franchise developers about how we can help you make more out of the business you have to become what you want.
