Conferences are great. They offer new and innovative ideas for your business and energize you to stay focused and become the best at what you do. You learn from industry leaders and network with your colleagues.
But they can also be insanely overwhelming. With tons of ideas and new techniques being fed to you at 100 words a minute. You can start to feel like you need to make drastic changes to stay current and compete in the market.
If you’ve attended OREA’s Emerge, any of the latest REBar Camps or you are just returning from NAR Annual I am here to tell you to BREATHE! And offer some advice for how best digest the awesome information you have just been dealt.
- Research
The speakers you have just heard are leaders in our industry for focusing in on what best reflects their personality for their business. They are speaking about these topics because they have taken the time to learn about it and focus on how it has helped grow their business. They like to do what they’re talking about. I’m sure there are 4 or 5 apps, ideas or techniques that caught your attention, go home and google them. Look at what they have to offer and see which ones might be something you would like to start offering to your clients or your day to day business.
- Prioritize
From this research I’m sure you’ll find 1 or 2 things that you feel excited about. Put these new fun concepts in a priority sequence that you feel can be easily started in the next few weeks down to the ones you think you need to buy equipment for, need to understand further or find an expert to hire.
- Implement
Take a few minutes every day to focus on your new business adventure. If it’s taking more videos, practice. If you’re blogging, start writing. A new CRM? Purchase it and start organizing your database. The more you practice the better you’ll become. Not one of the speakers you heard from became experts over night!
- Patience
After researching, I found that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to make a new habit (or 66 days for other websites… or the old myth of 21 days). No matter how you look at it change doesn’t happen overnight. BE PATIENT! If you’re going paperless (minus the A P & S!!), you’re not going to figure it all out with your first set of documents… it’s going to take a bunch of times to really get the hang of it and not immediately look for the print button.
We are constantly learning and listening. Pat yourself on the back for taking the time (and money) to invest in your business and become the best that you can be. And if you see me on the conference circuit make sure you say hello!
Jennifer Aunger, OREA YPN 2014 Chair & Guest Blogger
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