Being distracted has a cost and sometimes the cost is bigger than you can ever imagine.

I've been a realtor for 10 years. For story purposes I will leave out the first 5 years because this post will already be long. Instead I'll focus on the last 5 years and explain why distraction is my biggest enemy.

2019 was my first big year in real estate. I made 100k total revenue. I felt like I made it, I was big time.

Money goes to your head sometimes and you start to think you are smarter than you really are. I started to think "I'm really good at business" "I'm a phenomenal business owner." This is especially cute because realtors are not business owners. At most, we are glorified freelancers where 80% of our job is already pre-defined by law and contracts. The other 20% is pure marketing and sales. Thats it!

Anyways, with my new found confidence I was presented a opportunity to mentor agents. It was pitched to me as "passive income" you know, the holy grail of fiat lore. I figured I was a newly minted business genius so why not?

So I did it. Within 6 months I had 23 brand new agents mentoring underneath me. I made a logo, website, training materials, the whole nine yards. It was horrible. Most of the agents were beyond stupid and could not follow basic instructions, they had no tact for sales. I made almost no money and my REAL job and income suffered immensely. I shut it down. This was my entire 2020. Total realtor income from 2020: $50k

2021 I refocused and had another banger year. This time I made $200k in revenue. You know exactly what happened.

Wanna be a baller, shot caller Twenty inch blades on the Impala A caller gettin' laid tonight

Right back to the ego. I'm flying high and still thinking "I'm a fucking business genius mastermind." Right at the start of 2022 a colleague and good friend was getting very tired of being a realtor. I was to at the time, it's a job where you have to be on 24/7. There are no days off. And if you don't have emotional fortitude it will make you demented. You also have to be very very good at saving money.

So he pitched me that we should buy this business. It was a franchise that allowed you to put big screen tv's inside of businesses. The idea was that you installed the tv for free so the business could advertise to people who were already in the store. They could do up-sells, events, future sales. The benefit to us, we got to sell advertisement on the screen as well. Its actually a pretty cool concept and the franchise is nationwide and very successful. Anyways, it would cost us $20k a piece to buy the rights. I said hell yeah.

Too long to tell the whole story but it was a complete disaster. Luckily, we installed around 25 Tv's and had 30 advertising contracts. So we were able to sell it for a little bit of profit at the end of 2022. Total income from being a realtor in 2022. $38k

Bless my wife. She told me the entire time that these endeavors would fail but she supported me no matter what. She always told me my biggest enemy was distraction. "You're a people person honey. I know you don't wanna be a salesman your entire life but its who you are at your core. You'll always be selling something" She was right

So, literally January 1st, 2023 I said I'm not gonna get distracted. I'm gonna put my head down and do my duties as a father, husband and provider. 2023 was my best year ever. I was able to make $250k+ and my January 2024 is already set for $50k

I don't share numbers to boast. I share because distraction has been my enemy my entire life. Its caused me relationships, opportunities, lost time and a metric shit ton of income. Its most likely a battle I will fight my entire life.

Are you prone to being distracted? Has it caused turmoil or damage in your life? Are you working to overcome distraction?