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Who else uses Express Commission?

In September 2010 Express Commission provides commission advance s to leading residential, commercial, and industrial real estate agencies and business brokers across Australia.

Our clients are based in every state of Australia and include both independent agencies and members of Australia’s most successful real estate groups including:

• Barry Plant
• Biggin & Scott
• Brock Harcourts
• Century 21 
• Coldwell Banker
• First National
• Harcourts
• Elders    
• Hocking Stuart
• irean independent agency network
• LJ Hooker
• Laing & Simmons
• Professionals
• Pro-Active Real Estate
• PRD Nationwide
• Raine & Horne
• Ray White
• Realway
• Re/ MAX
• Richardson & Wrench
• Stockdale & Leggo

Selected article shown below. See all articles for this issue.

Own Goals.

Goals are a destination for your efforts. Brian Buffini shows how to achieve powerful rewards from effective goal setting.

Growing up in Ireland, goals were what you got when you hit the back of the football net! While we received a great education, goal setting was not something that was explored in great detail. I was lucky enough, however, to learn the great power of goals when I came to this country.

If you’ve ever felt that you are wasting your time, it may be because you lack goals for a particular area of your life. The mechanisms by which we move forward, goals are essential to success.

Goals are proactive in that they keep you motivated, on track and committed to continual improvement. They also create a drive to stretch beyond the everyday tasks that fill a workday. To be successful, we must challenge ourselves to reach our full potential, something that may not yet be realized. Setting a goal, outlining the specific actions necessary to achieve it and finally rewarding ourselves for the accomplishment of that goal can lead to business success that before may have seemed impossible. Remember, if you don’t set goals, you won’t ever achieve them.

When I met Neil Armstrong in 2003 I asked him what drove the mission. With thousands of people involved, including private companies, government agencies and several branches of the military, it was an incredible undertaking. His answer was simple: “The goal was so clear and concise that everyone knew what to do; put a man on the moon, and bring him back safely to earth before the end of the decade.” They did it in 1969, eight years after President Kennedy’s speech!

In every area, goals create drive and a destination point for your efforts. A technique I use to achieve goals is to make them vibrant. 

There are four steps to making your goals vibrant:

1. Visualization: Imagine a future date when your goals will be achieved. Visualize and write down how your life looks at that time.
2. The Positive Power of Why: Write down the motivation behind your goals.
3. The Price of Completion: What steps are needed to accomplish your goals?
4. The Cost of Non-Completion: What price will you pay if you don’t achieve your goals?

Here’s an example of a goal I set and achieved after the birth of my first child, Anthony:

1. Visualization of the Goal

I imagine that it’s September 24 and I’m sitting in my parents’ home in Dublin. They have had two weeks with their first grandchild. The family has just spent a week in a cottage by the ocean. We had the time of our lives, and I am very happy that I was able to pay for everyone’s vacation. What a moving experience it has been to return to my homeland after all these years with my new wife!

2. The Positive Power of Why

- Mom and Dad can build a relationship with their first grandchild.

- I’ll get to spend time with my childhood friends.

-Since we first met, Beverly has wanted to visit Ireland.

- The entire Buffini clan will be able to vacation together.
- What a great feeling to be able to pay for everyone’s vacation.

3. The Price of Completion

- Read through my goals every week.

- Arrange travel details.

- Sell one home a week; list one home a week.

- Take three clients to lunch each week.

4. The Price of Non-Completion

- What if my parents died and never got to see my son, Anthony?

- I haven’t been home in years.

- I feel like a failure because I keep putting off the trip.

- Beverly can’t fully understand who I am until she knows where I’m from.

- I miss my friends and homeland.

The real power lies in the price of non-completion. We tend to be more motivated by avoiding the negative consequence than by the promise of a positive one. I thought about what would happen if I didn’t achieve my goals. What if my parents didn’t get to see my kids? That month I sold 13 homes! If you write your goals as vibrant ones, you’ll retain focus on what you’re trying to achieve as well as what it will take to get you there.
Achieving goals often leads to a significant increase in self-esteem—hitting targets encourages us, and it sets us up for the next challenge.

Write your goals down.

Track progress on a weekly basis.

Make sure there’s a tangible benefit, celebration or positive association when something is accomplished—this is the fuel that moves you
forward.

Get results in all areas of your lives—not just your favourite.

Be content when your goals are achieved; don’t compare!

 I believe that effective goal setting is an essential element on the path to real estate success. If you want high performance, ask yourself how clear your goals are. If it is just ‘to pay off debt,’ then that’s what you’ll do! But remember, you came into the world debt free…so why do you want to return to that? Make the goal to be debt-free, and then beyond. The sky’s the limit with what you can do once you put systems and support structures in place.

Setting goals sets a pattern for the future, and helps you overcome challenges from your past. It means your best days are yet to come. Don’t compare yourself with others because there’s always someone with more. Don’t want their life, just want all of yours.

Goal-Writing Tips

1. Write it down. Goals need to be written down to create an awareness of what needs to be accomplished. What gets written down gets done!
2. Be specific. Have a game plan for accomplishing your goals. Be specific with the actions you will take. If your goal is to “Pop-By” 15 clients every month, write a schedule.
3. Challenge yourself. Write goals that stretch you out of your comfort zone. If your goal seems too easy, it probably is!
4. Schedule time commitments. Some goals take a little longer, so break them down into three time ranges: short-term (within 90 days), mid-range (90 days to 18 months) and long-range (18 months +).
5. Celebrate. When you hit a goal, you must celebrate. Decide on a reward ahead of time, and carry it out when accomplished.

Author Brian Buffini is the founder and chairman of Buffini & Company.

Do you have any feedback on this article or ideas for a topic that you would like us to cover in future editions?

Email us at admin@expresscommission.com.au