Real Estate Lessons from Musicians

This week I attended a presentation by Gary Keller, co-founder of Keller Williams Realty International. I was quite underwhelmed by his presentation- maybe he was having a bad day or I've just seen the same material presented many times already. However, I was impressed by a musician he presented named Billy McLaughlin. Billy plays a style of guitar where much of the sound is created by plucking the strings on the fretboard rather than the more common strumming style. Billy's successful career was curtailed when he was diagnosed with an incurable neuromuscular disease affecting his right hand. He he could not play anymore. After some trying times, he made a comeback after teaching himself how to play all his songs left-handed. I am not a musician but it seems to have been quite a feat.

A film about Billy, called Changing Keys, is being presented at the ReelheArt Film Festival in Toronto on Thursday June 25, raising funds for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation. He will also be performing after the film. For more infomation see www.reelheart.com or www.billymacmusic.com. For a video clip see http://depthqmedia.com/ChangingKeys.

How does all this relate to real estate? Most musicians have such a passion for music that when a they are playing, they really are "playing", not working. The work is the hours of practice that go into being able to perform, an exceptional amount of work in the case of Billy McLaughlin. It is the same for realtors. When we are doing listing presentations, presenting offers, and so one, we are like a musician on stage- we are playing. We are working when we are spending hours training in how to do these things effectively, when we are doing the research, when we are developing our leads, etc. We can't expect to be able "to play" unless we are also willing to do the work. When things look a little grim, through perseverence and creativity, such as exhibited by Billy Mclaughlin, was can succeed.

The movie August Rush came to mind as I watched Billy play- the young musician in it plays a similar style, using the frets. Another musican who plays a somewhat similar style is Kevin Ramessar. I was fortuate last year to attend a house concert where I saw this very talented Canadian musician play. (www.kevinramessar.com).