As real estate professionals, probably one of the biggest leaps that we took was going from a paycheck to the life of the person on commission.  I remember taking months to decide if leaving my really good paying job as a consultant was a smart thing to do to go pursue a career in real estate.  Some of the fears that caused me to lose sleep where:

• How am I going to pay my mortgage without this steady paycheck?
• What am I going to do without a 401k?
• Will I even be able to sell a home?

When I finally made that leap of faith and went full time into real estate sales I was amazed as I made more in 4 months than I used to make in an entire year!  So although the world of being on commission was very different than getting that steady paycheck, I was able to overcome those fears that kept me up at night to achieve some success.

As we have taught all over the country to different agents I have found that FEAR is the Number 1 reason preventing agents from succeeding online.  Some of the fears I have heard include:

• You have to be technical to succeed
• It takes too much time
• It costs too much
• I just don’t know where to start (so why bother…)

It’s unfortunate but these fears are so pervasive that many agents never give real estate marketing online an opportunity and then quickly go back to what is familiar (like cold calling, door knocking etc.).  Just as when you start anything new for the first time, rarely do you experience instant success, it often takes a bit of patience and a bit of practice.  Doing real estate marketing online is no different, it takes a little bit of time and just a little practice, but soon you realize that your fears are unfounded and you are generating leads (and business), in fact usually much more than you ever anticipated.

Ok, it sounds nice, but how does one overcome some of these fears?

1. You have to be technical to succeed - Not any more!  Reading blogs like this can show you it is simpler than ever to succeed.  In fact if you can use a word processor you can succeed with online marketing.
2. It takes too much time - This one kills me.  I see agents spend 3-4 hours at an open house (not to mention 2+ hours setting signs up and picking them up) but yet online marketing takes too much time?  Honestly with just 1-2 hours a week of writing blog posts or a page for your website you will be light years ahead of competition and generating business.  It just takes a small time investment and a willingness to stick with it!
3. It costs too much - Ok, so cold calling and open houses are free right?  Well except for the HUGE investment of time or in case of open houses all those signs!  You can succeed online for very little money.  Many agents we coach have budgets under $120 a month for hosting fees and advertising and they are generating business.  Investing some money can help you jump start to quick success.  You can try the free route, just be prepared to wait a bit longer.
4. I just don’t know where to start - This obstacle might be number 1 as it stops you from ever trying anything.  If you don’t know where to start, try our FREE Website Tune up.  We will give you 20 minutes of our time so you can get some action items on what to do for your website or blog.  No sales call here, just time so you can see where you need to start to start succeeding.

Don’t let your fears control you.  Controlling your fear allows you to experience tremendous success in new arenas that you never anticipated.  Best of all, once you control your fear, you get to start controlling how you succeed.

To your success online.