How I Struggled During My Career Transition To Real Estate

I got to admit, change in itself can be terrifying and tough. While change opens up a lot of windows of opportunities, the word per se can be really daunting, let alone for newbies in the industry. When I was a newbie in the business, my transition was not exactly fine and dandy. I have my share of personal struggles when I was transitioning from Corporate America to being a Real Estate Agent. The struggle is real. If you are one of those who are going through the same thing, I feel you. I have been there. It's hard to switch careers, especially if you are not quite familiar with the whole journey you are about to venture. 

 

With that in mind, allow me to share my personal insights and experience during my career transition. I hope this article is helpful in giving you some fresh insight so you can have a better career transition. 

 

Backstory 

Before anything else, let me share a little bit of my back story before I became a Real Estate Agent for the sake of those who didn't know. I used to work as a Hospital  Administrator and was on my way to promotion. I have my Bachelor's Degree in Biology, Pre-med. I have one master's in Hospital Service Administration. I have a Second Masters Degree in Opera Master of Science and Operations Management. I was a Project Manager, playing Six Sigma. I  was also a VP of Operations. If there was an employee in a Health Care or Department, they would probably report to me. In the past, I have run Cancer Centers, Operating Rooms, Housekeeping, Dietary, you name it. As someone who has switched from one industry to an entirely new industry, I'm sure you'll resonate with my feelings. Like you, I experienced the inevitable culture shock after moving from one industry to something totally different.

 1. Know myself a little bit more.

The first thing I did was to know myself a little bit more. I had a hard time with this one. As someone who worked previously as a Hospital Administrator, I have always been giving feedback from my DISC Assessment, my Myers Briggs to Performance Reviews, and stuff like that. So what did I mean when I say, get to know myself a little bit more? This only means that you need to have a solid grasp and understanding of who you are and what your skillset is. You need to play by your strengths and learn how to leverage your weakness to gain new skills. 

 

This one was rough. And I know a lot of you may be struggling with your schedule. (Sidebar: some of you might ask, hey, isn't this the reason why we switched over to the Real Estate industry? To have an insane amount of freedom?) This is the reason why I struggled. Let me tell you why. I struggled with my schedule because I wasn't used to the freedom. That's right. I wasn't used to the freedom of not having to be somewhere. I actually have no knowledge of what I had to do. I had no accountability, no checks, and no balances in my schedule. Because of this, I started squirreling all day every day. I ended up doing all kinds of stuff that didn't make any sense because I didn't have anything to keep me on track unlike when I was in the Healthcare Industry. In order to counter this, I need to develop a tracker to keep myself from getting all over the place.  Aside from that, I need to develop this strong sense of discipline and accountability because no one will sit down and tell me what to do. This is tough, so always so check yourself on things like this to keep your head in the game. 

 

Speaking of accountability, let me reiterate the fact that no one is there to hold your hand and hold you accountable in this industry. if you don't have that, it will definitely be tough for you. So you need to learn how to manage your schedule and come up with a good strategy to maintain your drive and motivation. You may be wondering, what is it keeps me driven and always on the go? For me, it was the expectations, metrics, plans, and goals that I need to achieve. And I was able to achieve this sense of accountability through budgeting and planning. This drove my daily actions a step closer towards my monthly goals. When you say the word accountability, it also refers to how you are responsible and accountable with your finances and resources. You need to hold yourself liable for your spending. so you won't go everywhere spending money like crazy.

 

I got to admit sometimes, I miss having someone to report to like a supervisor who will tell you that these are your expectations and that you got to do these things right here. Sometimes, the values and experience that you gain from a structured job that has a structured environment, is useful when transitioning to a career that has complete freedom and no accountability. It can be straight-up jarring if you don't check yourself. You will ultimately wreck yourself if you don't have accountability in check.

 

This is also an important thing when switching to different career paths. I need to have a solid understanding of what my skill set is and how I work versus the demanded skill set of the Real Estate Industry. How do I get a benchmark of the skillset of a good real estate agent? First, I need to observe some people, my realtor colleagues' (those who are successfully established in the industry) skill set in particular, and compare it with my skillset. This made me realize how different my skill set was. That's not a bad thing. However, I felt like the skill set that I possess, being a Lane Six Sigma guy, being a Project Engineer, and being that guy who's really big on metrics and strategic planning was going to give me a considerable edge over other real estate agents. My main point is, you need to understand the gap between the skills that you do not have and what you have. So you need to figure out what makes a good real estate agent

versus where I was.

 

5. Have an ego check. 

Back when I first started in the business, I didn't have my ego in check because of who I was. I had this belief and strong confidence in myself that I got from a healthcare perspective. I tried to bring that ego over into real estate. I am so glad that I have crushed and step that ego aside because, in order to thrive in this business, you need to be, and be able to listen to those who've done it before, and take their advice. 

  

I had a hard time admitting to this truth before because I was not coachable. I always believed in myself being a smart guy who has this incredible skill set. It wasn't long before I realized that I still can't set sail. So I checked my ego, set it aside, and allowed myself to learn and absorb new knowledge like a sponge. That's the only time my business really started taking off.

 

I hope my blog is helpful to some people who are on the same boat as me back when I was a newbie. I wish you all the success and growth in your business.