Ellen Smith Eaton : How to Work for you to Experience Life

You want to experience life. Traveling, reading and doing outdoor activities, including hiking, rock climbing, fly fishing, back country skiing and backpacking are probably some of the things that you would want to experience first-hand. However, you and everyone else probably know that you wouldn’t be able to experience these things if you’re busy playing the “Rookie” card in the world of real estate. These and spending time with family, are what motivated Ellen Smith Eaton to stop being a rookie and work on being a rockstar. She wanted to experience life just like you do and she was able to find a way.

In her desire to become a Real Estate Rockstar, Ellen founded Smith Eaton Real Estate & Property Management, Inc. in 1997. It initially focused on short and long term rentals as well as absentee ownership management. “Sleep in a tent before you pay rent” she used to say emphasizing the need for responsibility and accountability before renting out a property. Today, Smith Eaton Real Estate & Property Management, Inc. offers a broad spectrum of real estate services. How did she do it? Well, first of all, I liked what was implied in our interview. “Goals without action plans are just wishes.” Ellen believed that mindset is what makes or breaks people in this world. When you set your mind on something, you have both a goal and a plan. If you just want to indulge on wishful thinking, then go right ahead, but don't expect to go anywhere. Ellen’s mindset was to be able to do more productive things in a given time. It is never enough to give yourself a deadline. Always have a roadmap on how to get to your goal.

Ellen also shared something valuable that I would like to impart. Some real estate agents focusing on property rental for vacations might be making some money, however, if you think about it, vacation rentals are seasonal at most. If you can sell properties to those people on vacation, that would get the ball rolling for you. Remember, people go on vacation to that particular place because there is something there that they love. Connect with your customers and find out why they chose to go there. When you connect with your customers, establish rapport and gain their trust. Every bit of information you’re going to need for you to sell them a property will be at your fingertips. Highlight on what they love about staying there, accentuate the positive and redirect the negative. Then BOOM! Make that sale happen. The next thing you know, you’re doing vacation renting, selling and hey, even subletting, who knows? There are countless possibilities; you just need to think outside the box.

Third thing that caught my attention that I want to share with you folks is that if you’re on your way to building a Property Management Business or if you’re thinking about getting into one, always keep in mind that word of mouth is extremely important. People who travel will recommend you and your services if they were able to enjoy and maximize their stay with the properties that you rented out. Yes, facebook and other social media will always be there to help, but nothing works wonders like referrals and recommendations. Ask questions, probe, establish your credibility and make sure you take care of your customers. The next thing you know, you will be too busy with making adjustments to your calendar due to people coming in.

If you’re serious about your career and want to be able to add traveling, reading and doing outdoor activities, including hiking, rock climbing, fly fishing, back country skiing, backpacking and most importantly spending time with your family to your list for the weekend or for the month, keep an open mind. If you think your opportunities are limited, that’s because you’ve probably boxed yourself in. Think out of the box and explore new ideas. In fact, if you need to spend money on experience, then go ahead. Invest in webinars and training. If you’re starting up, you probably need to invest more on experience rather than material. Materials will always be available, experience on the other hand needs time. You may not notice changes right away because you will be living a simple but abundant life, but if you do a life audit and look back. You will see how far you’ve come and you won't mind how much farther you have to go because your goal, by that time, will already be in sight.

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