Nathan Vecchio explains why it's important to take a step back and look at the big picture side of your business.
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Director of Hunter Galloway, Nathan Vecchio, started broking in 2015 and using the techniques from Joshua's Top Broker Handbook, is writing big numbers, leading to Vow Financial naming him Broker Partner of the Year Rising Star in 2016.
Feel like you’re in a bit of a broker rut?
If you’re like most people, you might be sitting there, looking at your calendar and wondering where the first quarter of the year has gone.
For me personally, I find it is around this time of the year that I start to feel a little fatigued.
More importantly, how are you feeling mentally and is it time to take a step back, put down the hundred or so deals you are working on to take time out to think about your personal, and business goals?
As you guys know, in the day to day grind of being a broker it’s easy to get absorbed in the awesomeness that is our job. Between helping people set up their financial futures, buying homes and generally being pushed to accommodate other people’s deadlines, things can get pretty crazy.
But with all of these public holidays, it’s the perfect time to take a step back, get out of the daily rut of doing deals and look at your business, and the habits you will need to smash out the rest of this year!
So here are my top tips on getting out of the daily broker rut – even for just half a day and into business building mode to set up your business up for success for the rest of the year.
What are you telling yourself and who are you talking to?
One of my favourite authors, Robert Kiyosaki, says it is important to take stock of your closest friends, and those who you spend the most time with. He believes your income and lifestyle will be proportional to those you hang out with – and many wealthy people will tell you the same.
Jim Rohn puts it simply as, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” – including yourself.
So, who are you spending time with, are they helping you achieve everything you want to or are they bringing you down?
Right now, you are living the life that is a result of how you’ve been conditioned to act and think. If you don’t like where you are at with your life personally, and professionally, you need to CHANGE the way you think and act. You have to control the internal and external programming factors.
If you don’t believe you can write $60M per year, then you never will, it’s that simple – equally, wishing you could write $60M per year isn’t any good if you don’t take control and change your internal story by:
1. Starting to use, and repeat positive affirmations:
Yeap, sounds a bit airy-fairy, and like something Oprah would recommend, but it’s something I do and personally found it works.
2. Focus on what you want your ideal life to be, and where you why you want to achieve that.
You need to have a clear vision and focus on where you want to get to if you want to become the best. Don’t let fear stop you, remember fate favours the bold.
This element is almost an article in itself, but just remember that everything starts with your mindset – which determines as to whether or not it can be done.
It isn’t necessarily what you do that determines your success, but how you do it.
Control your internal and external planning, think big and build daily habits to make sure you are constantly working towards your goals.
New habits require planning
I went through a stage where at the end of each week I looked at my schedule and realised how many missed opportunities because I spent most of my time running around, without a plan and being controlled by every phone call or email that hit my inbox. To combat this, I decided to rigidly structure my day so I was in control – and not my inbox.
I always try to get all of the bigger, more difficult and least comfortable tasks completed in the morning while my mind is the clearest but I couldn’t do this without a plan, and a focus on changing what I was doing and moving towards where I want to be.
You need to push beyond the easy habits, the comfortable ones you are used to and moving to somewhere slightly uncomfortable that pushes you closer towards becoming a Top Broker. If you want to dedicate your mornings to new business, allocate half an hour each day and every day to this – and don’t check your email, or answer the phone until you do this.
Be clear with what you want to achieve, whether it is a personal or a business goal and set yourself a 90-day plan and organise your exercise and habits through a weekly planner. It will be hard for the first month, but once you get through you will notice the return.
For me, the best way I’ve found to change a habit is by doing it in four steps:
1. Look at what are you’re stuck in
Take a look at your working week and see which areas you’re being held back. Are you setting yourself barriers, doing small repetitive tasks, or wasting too much time in one area?
Use the weekly planner to control which important tasks you are spending your time on, and delegate the lower value tasks or try to batch process them in a shorter time, to focus where the value is.
2. Set goals
Once you’ve figured out how you need to change your habits, set some goals around them and write them down. A habit is formed after 28 days of repetition, so use this as your first goal and extend it from there!
3. Pay attention to your words
As we covered in the first point, the power of words should not go underestimated and ultimately what you are telling yourself can make or break these habits. You are in control, so if you want to be a Top Broker, you need to tell yourself you are one – sometimes you might need to fake it before you make it.
4. Just do it – make changes and stick with them
This part requires patience and drive. You won’t just wake up one morning and suddenly become a Top Broker, it takes time – as the saying goes, it takes 10 years to create an overnight success.
Start with small changes, and stick to them. If your goal is to grow your settlement volumes, start by making five calls to potential referrers each day. Or if you are scared of making the calls, send an email and follow up with a call.
And remember, this just takes time, you need to shift your mindset and be patient to form these new habits. While it can take 28 days to form a habit, it takes more than two months before it becomes automatic – so make sure you give yourself some time and be patient with yourself.
Eat, Sleep, Schedule, Repeat.
Once you’ve taken a step back from your business, give yourself time to review what you’re doing – soon your year will be back on track to smash it out!
These tips will help you personally, and professionally to be 100% in control of what you do each and every day.
PS: I’m going to be taking over here at Top Broker for a little bit while Joshua focuses on a few big and exciting projects we are looking forward to bring you in the next few weeks. A quick background, I started broking in 2015 and using the techniques Joshua has given in the Top Broker Handbook I have grown my business in a very short time to writing some big numbers, and was fortunate enough to be awarded Broker Partner of the Year Rising Star in 2016.
Feel like you’re in a bit of a broker rut?
If you’re like most people, you might be sitting there, looking at your calendar and wondering where the first quarter of the year has gone.
For me personally, I find it is around this time of the year that I start to feel a little fatigued.
More importantly, how are you feeling mentally and is it time to take a step back, put down the hundred or so deals you are working on to take time out to think about your personal, and business goals?
As you guys know, in the day to day grind of being a broker it’s easy to get absorbed in the awesomeness that is our job. Between helping people set up their financial futures, buying homes and generally being pushed to accommodate other people’s deadlines, things can get pretty crazy.
But with all of these public holidays, it’s the perfect time to take a step back, get out of the daily rut of doing deals and look at your business, and the habits you will need to smash out the rest of this year!
So here are my top tips on getting out of the daily broker rut – even for just half a day and into business building mode to set up your business up for success for the rest of the year.
What are you telling yourself and who are you talking to?
One of my favourite authors, Robert Kiyosaki, says it is important to take stock of your closest friends, and those who you spend the most time with. He believes your income and lifestyle will be proportional to those you hang out with – and many wealthy people will tell you the same.
Jim Rohn puts it simply as, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” – including yourself.
So, who are you spending time with, are they helping you achieve everything you want to or are they bringing you down?
Right now, you are living the life that is a result of how you’ve been conditioned to act and think. If you don’t like where you are at with your life personally, and professionally, you need to CHANGE the way you think and act. You have to control the internal and external programming factors.
If you don’t believe you can write $60M per year, then you never will, it’s that simple – equally, wishing you could write $60M per year isn’t any good if you don’t take control and change your internal story by:
1. Starting to use, and repeat positive affirmations:
Yeap, sounds a bit airy-fairy, and like something Oprah would recommend, but it’s something I do and personally found it works.
2. Focus on what you want your ideal life to be, and where you why you want to achieve that.
You need to have a clear vision and focus on where you want to get to if you want to become the best. Don’t let fear stop you, remember fate favours the bold.
This element is almost an article in itself, but just remember that everything starts with your mindset – which determines as to whether or not it can be done.
It isn’t necessarily what you do that determines your success, but how you do it.
Control your internal and external planning, think big and build daily habits to make sure you are constantly working towards your goals.
New habits require planning
I went through a stage where at the end of each week I looked at my schedule and realised how many missed opportunities because I spent most of my time running around, without a plan and being controlled by every phone call or email that hit my inbox. To combat this, I decided to rigidly structure my day so I was in control – and not my inbox.
I always try to get all of the bigger, more difficult and least comfortable tasks completed in the morning while my mind is the clearest but I couldn’t do this without a plan, and a focus on changing what I was doing and moving towards where I want to be.
You need to push beyond the easy habits, the comfortable ones you are used to and moving to somewhere slightly uncomfortable that pushes you closer towards becoming a Top Broker. If you want to dedicate your mornings to new business, allocate half an hour each day and every day to this – and don’t check your email, or answer the phone until you do this.
Be clear with what you want to achieve, whether it is a personal or a business goal and set yourself a 90-day plan and organise your exercise and habits through a weekly planner. It will be hard for the first month, but once you get through you will notice the return.
For me, the best way I’ve found to change a habit is by doing it in four steps:
1. Look at what are you’re stuck in
Take a look at your working week and see which areas you’re being held back. Are you setting yourself barriers, doing small repetitive tasks, or wasting too much time in one area?
Use the weekly planner to control which important tasks you are spending your time on, and delegate the lower value tasks or try to batch process them in a shorter time, to focus where the value is.
2. Set goals
Once you’ve figured out how you need to change your habits, set some goals around them and write them down. A habit is formed after 28 days of repetition, so use this as your first goal and extend it from there!
3. Pay attention to your words
As we covered in the first point, the power of words should not go underestimated and ultimately what you are telling yourself can make or break these habits. You are in control, so if you want to be a Top Broker, you need to tell yourself you are one – sometimes you might need to fake it before you make it.
4. Just do it – make changes and stick with them
This part requires patience and drive. You won’t just wake up one morning and suddenly become a Top Broker, it takes time – as the saying goes, it takes 10 years to create an overnight success.
Start with small changes, and stick to them. If your goal is to grow your settlement volumes, start by making five calls to potential referrers each day. Or if you are scared of making the calls, send an email and follow up with a call.
And remember, this just takes time, you need to shift your mindset and be patient to form these new habits. While it can take 28 days to form a habit, it takes more than two months before it becomes automatic – so make sure you give yourself some time and be patient with yourself.
Eat, Sleep, Schedule, Repeat.
Once you’ve taken a step back from your business, give yourself time to review what you’re doing – soon your year will be back on track to smash it out!
These tips will help you personally, and professionally to be 100% in control of what you do each and every day.
PS: I’m going to be taking over here at Top Broker for a little bit while Joshua focuses on a few big and exciting projects we are looking forward to bring you in the next few weeks. A quick background, I started broking in 2015 and using the techniques Joshua has given in the Top Broker Handbook I have grown my business in a very short time to writing some big numbers, and was fortunate enough to be awarded Broker Partner of the Year Rising Star in 2016.
