PRIMING THE PUMP
An important tip that I would recommend is to have a little bit of patience. Sometimes it takes time to get your business moving. I’ll give you a little parable about how this works. Have you ever seen an old well pump? I’m talking about an old-fashioned hand pump where you walk up to it and you pump water from a well that’s deep in the ground. Most people pump the handle a few times but don’t get any water. They don’t realize this, but they have to prime the pump. The pump must have water slowly come up the pipe until it reaches the top. You may have to pump that thing multiple times before you get any water. It’s the same thing in real estate. You may have to talk to many different leads. People may say, “You know what? I’m thinking about buying a house in a month or two months or three months.” If you give up too fast, you may say, “You know what? I’m not working with buyers anymore!” You might give up and get discouraged, even drop out of the real estate business. But if you give up, three months later, that person you talked to finally might be ready to buy a house, and they’ll call you up. Do you really want to tell them, “You know what? I already dropped out of real estate.” Take the time to prime your pump. Pump as much as you can — get as much business as you possibly can — but remember that it takes time to get things going in real estate. Sometimes it can take two, three, four months. People often act emotionally, rather than rationally. Maybe they’ve been scared by rumors or predictions about the economy or where the housing market is headed. Maybe they’re
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