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It was a great plan, it really was. All three of us would meet at a vacant house, tour it, and then canvas the neighborhood, knocking on doors asking the homeowners if they knew of anyone wanting to sell their house or if they were thinking about selling their home. It was going to be great. I was going to learn from Rod and Mark by watching and then practicing and getting feedback from other realtors who have done this before. But the best laid plans…or something like that.

When we were finished touring the vacant house, Mark decided we would split up and he would take one part of the neighborhood. Wait a minute! That wasn’t the plan! I’m supposed to learn from you. Rod won’t walk alone with me because of his religious convictions, so if you go out on your own Mark, I’ll be all alone. That wasn’t the purpose of this meeting. But Mark set out on his own, Rod went the other way and there I was standing there, alone and completely defeated.

I should preface this by saying I have a paralyzing fear of making the first move with people. I was a manager at Starbucks for 5 years and made amazing connections with my customers. On my last weekend working there, 30 people came to say good bye to me and I’m still friends with a lot of those people. But making connections there was easy. Those people came into my store, wanting what I was selling. I worked at a furniture store and in my first year sold over a million dollars of furniture, but again those people came into the store looking for my product. Real Estate is a completely different ball game. Why did I think I could do this?

So there I stood, dumbfounded, what the hell just happened? So, I pick a direction and just walked. I tried, I REALLY tried to get the guts to go up to the door but nothing I said to myself is convincing me to do this. I think to myself, what can I do to turn this around and then I remember something I did one year at Christmas. I used to drive my kids around our neighborhood at night looking at the decorated houses and then we would send a card to our favorite decorated house. Why don’t I take note of the houses I like and then send them a card letting them know how beautiful and well maintained I thought their house was? I took pics of about 5 houses that I thought were pretty, snapped a pic, and went on my way.

I know it doesn’t help to wallow in self pity so I got in my car, drove to a coffee shop, and started writing cards. I kept thinking of ways I could turn this around. I know that often times the hardest part is sometimes going from 0 to 1 and the biggest battle we often times face is in our head.

My friend met me for coffee and I was telling her my struggles. She so wonderfully volunteered to go walking with me in a neighborhood. So we made plans to do that the following week. I want some time to practice what I’m going to say and rehearse my dialogue. I also texted my son and asked him if he would walk with me one hour a week. He agreed to that. So, although I didn’t accomplish exactly what I wanted to yesterday, I made a plan to help me get it done next week. I guess it’s all about baby steps.