Failure, struggle, simply sucking at something new…
It happens to all of us. Tiger Woods was not a golf pro the first time he held a golf club.
Michael Jordan was not the best basketball player of all time when he was 18.
Generally speaking you will suck before you succeed and that is ok!
When I started in the mortgage industry I had just left a sale job and was stepping into the world of administration (mountains of paperwork, emails and mundane tasks).
In the first twelve months I screwed up so often that my boss at the time made me bring twenty $5 bills and everytime I made a mistake I had to give one to the person training me. (he wasnt being an A hole, he was genuinly trying to help).
The problem wasnt my motivation or enthusiam, it was that I was in the wrong role. (I have been diagnosed with ADD at 5, 19 and 28 but that is another story for another day).
The challenge was the administrative skills and industry knowledge I was working on were essential to building a foundation in the mortgage industry.
Over the following 12 months there were three times where I went to my boss (who was a great boss) and said “hey I really suck at this and I get if you need to let me go. If you need to please find someone else and just give me a few weeks heads up before you let me go”.
Each time he laughed and said “no dont be silly you are doing great, you are a sales guy and that is why I hired you”… yet he left me to struggle in an administrative role.
Over time I improved, I learned routines and habits to improve. I learned more about the industry and understood the “why” behind many mundane steps.
Eventually I stepped into a sales role, traveled across Canada to attend real estate investing grous and finally started speaking on stage at these same groups.
Looking back it has been nine years. I have my own mortgage company now (with a great business partner Scott Brennan).
We have helped many people solve problems, buy homes and create a better future for their family.
We won rookie of the across Canada for Dominion Lending Centres and hit the top 5% of all brokers our second year.
None of that would have happened if I gave up that first year.
None of that would have happened if my boss gave up on me that first year.
Don’t give up on yourself or those around you.
When you start something new it’s going to suck at times.
You will fail often.
But if you keep going you will achieve far more than you ever thought possible!
