It’s never too late or too early to define your business and professional goals, which will help inform your business plan. Creating an action plan, both mentally and physically, to achieve your goals will help you move in a productive, profitable direction.
We asked our 2021 YPN Boot Camp presenters Ryan D’Aprile, founder and CEO of d’aprile properties, and Josh Weinberg, co-founder of Weinberg Choi Residential at Keller Williams ONEChicago, to share the tools and strategies you need to structure your days, weeks and months to win the year.
Your mindset is incredibly important to your success; your success depends on it.
Even though we continue to navigate uncertain circumstances in our industry, the number one thing that we can focus on and truly control is our mindset.
During the recession in 2008, I began to have very negative thoughts and concerns in both my personal and professional life as the real estate industry was hit hard by the economic downturn. I decided to turn off the news and focus on my family and business to get through the downturn.
During times of uncertainty, pinpoint the things that are bringing negativity into your mind. This could be the news, social media or a variety of other factors, and turn them off or remove them. This allows you to solely focus on the positive factors in your life.
I went deep into gratitude, I went deep into what I have and what’s good, and I’m telling you, it was the number one game changer for me. I can’t stress enough how important your mindset and your attitude is in your personal life and your business.
To achieve and work towards success, start at the foundation of everything you do: mindset.
How do you formulate your goals? Start with the end in mind. What we’re doing today impacts what we’re doing tomorrow, which impacts what we’re doing next week, and next month, and so on. So that’s why we start with the end in mind.
Here’s the way I plan out my goals:
- Goal for Someday
This is your endpoint, the ultimate goal you want to achieve. - Five Year Goal
Five years from now, what do you want to achieve? - One Year Goal
Where do you want to be in a year’s time? - Monthly Goal
What do you need to achieve monthly to reach your long-term goals? - Weekly Goal
What can you do weekly to meet your monthly goals? - Daily Goal
What can you do each day to make your life and goals easier to reach?
Break down the big picture into bite-sized chunks, turning them into smaller and smaller actions. Suddenly, your goals will feel a lot less intimidating.
Practically Plan Your Goals
Goal setting can be intimidating if you don’t have a format or plan to follow. My team and I use these three plans to formulate goals. They can be used on their own or in combination with one another.
1-3-5 Plan
In the 1-3-5 Plan, the one stands for the one big goal you want to achieve. Typically, this is a big goal you want to achieve in a year’s time. An example could be that your one big goal is to become a top producer in Chicago.
Then, you break that down into three measurable priorities that will help you get to number one, the big goal. No matter what, priority number one should be the single-most important strategy that will help you reach your goal. If your one big goal is to become a top producer, one of your priorities to reach that goal might be supporting a specific number of clients from your sphere. This should be a measurable priority so you can track your progress.
From there, you break that priority down into five actionable strategies. Again, if your priority is to support a certain number of clients in your sphere, your strategies might be calling every client on their birthday, hosting one virtual event each quarter or sending a certain amount of mailers each month, to name a few.
It’s important to remember that these goals, priorities and strategies can always be changed. If you’re evaluating your progress and see that something isn’t working, it’s ok to change things around in an effort to reach your goals.
4-1-1 Action Goal
In the 4-1-1 action plan, create one weekly goal for each of the four weeks in the month, all of which directly link to your monthly goal. The monthly goal should then relate to your big annual goal.
This tool should be used in conjunction with the 1-3-5 plan, as each month has a strategy attached to it. The 4-1-1 plan simply gives you a way to break your bigger goals down to weekly and monthly themes.
Once again, it’s okay if you need to adjust as you go. For instance, if your goal is to have eight appointments in a month, you may aim for two appointments a week, but maybe one week you only have one appointment. Then, your goals for the following weeks need to be adjusted to make up for that shortfall.
Four Conversations
Four conversations are the four things that truly lead to results as a REALTOR®. This tool has you break down your monthly goals into the following categories:
- Listing/Buying Consultations
- Clients Taken (how many clients you’re working with)
- Closings
- Gross Commission Income (GCI)
Then, look at your actual month to date for each category, examine what percentage you are to your goal, and adjust to make your goals each month. For instance, if you’re halfway through the month, and you’re not halfway to your goal, you will need to make a change. I suggest either looking at this at the middle of each month or weekly.
Now that you’ve changed your mindset and formulated your goals, the next step is to create a routine. You can encourage a positive thought process by creating a routine incorporating your goals — that could mean starting your day off with gratitude or meditation. Approaching your goals and structuring your routine should start with a positive outlook.
In terms of your professional life, it’s important to create a routine around what I call “moving your needle,” or moving towards your goals. The activities that will get you to these goals should all find a place within your daily work.
But, how do you identify your goals? Find your why. Great businesses work towards their why — their purpose or what they want their company’s lasting impact to be.
This leads to your how, which is how you are going to achieve the why. Then, your routine falls into place:
- How are you going to reach your sales goals?
- What do you need to do to get there?
Break down the steps you need to take, when you need to reach them and how to reach them. You now have a goal-oriented routine!
With a combination of a positive mindset, a routine that works for you and an action plan to track your goals, you have set yourself up to win your year.