How to Outsmart a Spirit-Crusher

A few months ago I took two real
estate courses in order to educate myself before I did
battle with a real estate firm in Canada. On Friday I
saw an ad on my local CraigsList from a leading real
estate broker looking for new agents. I decided to see
how good my chances were of associating myself with the
agency as a home stager or licensed agent. We met and I
shared with her some of my property selling
experience that I could bring to her agency: hosting
a real estate radio show, writing a
book on selling
homes,
working with an author on a book about buying
condos, owning a real estate advertising
service (which I later sold), selling 3
homes, raw land of my own and a timeshare of my
Dad's, studying housing construction, and being a
home stager. I hoped this would demonstrate what a
go-getter I am and how much I could bring to her
agency and her bank account.
She went on and on about the benefits of
home staging - Great, I thought! She'll ask me
to stage her listed homes for bigger profits - and I
asked if she would refer me so I could help her
agents sell their listed homes faster so I could
increase her revenues and at the same time earn
enough to cover my licensing exam fees and
professional real estate fees. She said
NO.
Huh?
Did you get that? She wasn't willing
to let me bring her income faster that would also allow
me to cover the expenses required to earn her even more
income.
Instead she told me I should stop writing, consulting,
speaking, selling books, and home staging, and go get a
$7 an hour retail job working full-time as a
shop
girl for a florist
or department store. "What?," I thought to myself, "Is
she insane?" I was speechless. I simply looked at her
and smiled, a frozen smile, but a smile nevertheless.
In a store I would earn in one day ($45 after
deductions) less than I can earn in one-half hour ($75)
as a consultant or a day as a home stager
($280). (My home staging fee is 1/2
what others charge.) I was insulted.
I understood her intention was to crush my spirit. For
what purpose I could only guess. I haven't worked for
that low a wage since I worked to put myself through
university earning 2 degrees, one in
business/marketing. That was 4 decades ago. I do far
better as an entrepreneur and consultant than as an
employee.
Why anyone would want to demean or demoralize a person
willing to give her half her (my) earnings - agents
split their commissions with their broker - is
incomprehensible to me. I can't work for anyone who
enjoys crushing the spirit of any human, and certainly
not for someone who is blind to the prospect of
additional income I could bring her agency.
I didn't tell her - and she obviously didn't take a few
minutes to check this web site as I had suggested -
that my PR firm has created high profiles for realtors,
among other professionals and specialists, so listings
and home buyers would come in faster and in larger
quantities. So, I decided to re-open the
Personal
Public Relations firm I closed a few years ago, and see if
one of her competitors
would like me to bring
them tons of business. I will still crowd-fund my
book, The Generosity Experiment
as I do.
PS. On a warm, sunny Saturday the agency's phones
should have been ringing off the hook, but they were
silent; there was no staff working at 11 AM, the lights
were off, and the large parking lot was empty. What
does that tell you? And what does it tell you that the
firm is advertising on Craigslist.org for new sales
people? Could it be that the broker of record is
killing business for the agency? I can only guess.
Andrea Reynolds
www.AndreaReynolds.com
(work-in-progress)