If you are reading this and you are breathing, you’ve probably had a case of FOMO at some point in your life.
“FOMO? you ask… What the heck is that?”
For many agents, they are terrified of missing out. I get it, it’s basic human nature and can be hard to overcome. This underlying human condition is sometimes known as FOMO – A.K.A. Fear Of Missing Out.
The problem is so many agents don’t realize it, but they let themselves miss out on a lot more business because of this FOMO than they think they are going to actually lose out on.
So where does FOMO come from?
Well, to start, you need to look at human psychology. If you’ve ever researched the way humans behave and I strongly suggest you do, (especially if you want to master marketing) then you’ll have learned that humans spend more time and energy trying NOT to lose something they already have than they do getting something new.
To better explain that, most people would work harder or spend more energy to NOT lost 10 bucks then they would to gain 10 bucks. People don’t like losing something they already have and fight harder to protect what they have than they would to go get the same thing over again.
So what does this have to do with FOMO and real estate? Everything!
Agents have an innate fear of losing out. They feel shafted if they do and that is a crappy feeling! They don’t want to look bad if they miss out on something they think they already have. In their minds, they already have the business they think they are going to miss out on. But how can you lose something you don’t already have? Why would they care about missing out on something they don’t have (the deals they THINK they are going to get)?
The reality is many agents think they are going to get more business than they actually end up getting. This is business they think is already theirs before they actually achieve it. So if they shift what they are doing (or think they are going to do) and it creates a shift in what they perceive is going to happen, they feel like they actually lost out. You may want to re-read that again as it can be confusing at first.
It’s like a game show where the contestant has the “opportunity” to win $1,000,000 but they walk away with $25,000. Rather than focus on the $25,000 they walked away with that they didn’t have before, they focus on the $975,000 that they “missed out” on. The reality is they never had the million bucks, so they didn’t miss out on it because it wasn’t theirs in the first place. They are up $25k but they focus on what they lost. (that they didn’t actually lose, because it was never theirs in the first place)
Now what does this have to do with farming you may ask? A lot of agents think that if they focus their time, money, and resources into a smaller area that they are going to miss out. FOMO kicks in and they look at all the business they COULD get outside of their farm and internalize it like its already theirs. So, agents avoid farming because they feel that it will pigeon-hole them and they are leaving a ton of business on the table. They have FOMO about business that they never had in the first place!
The reality is they are missing out because they AREN’T focused.
They are losing a ton of business, easy business, in their farm because they are trying to be all things to all people. If anything, by not farming they are actually missing out more than if they did farm. At least in my humble opinion.
Let’s look at sports as an example.
How do you become the best and highest paid athlete? Certainly not by trying to be the best in every sport, or quite frankly, trying to just compete in every sport. The athletes that dominate are the ones that put their heart and soul into their sport. They aren’t worried that they aren’t the best golfer, they are focused on getting their super bowl ring! If they want to try a sport later on in life, like the great Michael Jordan, they can do that AFTER they made their millions.
So, if you learn to build a farm and become great at it, you can always scale up and build an even bigger business from the momentum in your farm. The agents who I have interviewed on the Launch Your Farm Show who dominate their business have learned its better to start small and scale up.
You need to learn the in’s and outs on your small farm and when you figure out the secret sauce THEN you can scale up. This way you truly won’t miss out. You can put your FOMO on the back burner knowing that you are working on something amazing and are becoming the best in your field (pun intended). You are really learning to master marketing and building a small business that has the potential to become something massive.
But if you try to spread yourself too thin and become the jack of all trades, your FOMO will cost you. Not just money, but time, energy and possibly your reputation. But the biggest and most overlooked is the opportunity costs of being spread out. You don’t realize the business you aren’t getting when you are focused on casting a wide net and not a deep one. As I always say: I’d rather have 5 signs in one neighbourhood than 1 sign in five neighbourhoods.
Don’t let it stop you!
If FOMO is stopping you from succeeding, you are going to have to work against your primal urges to not “lose” but trust that you are actually missing out on more when you aren’t focused. It’s not an easy thing to overcome, but I promise you it’s worth the work to overcome your mental blocks when it comes to farming.
If you want help with breaking through some of those barriers, then check out some of the training we have available, these courses and programs may be just what you need to help you realize you have a lot more to gain with a geographic farm than you have to lose. Click here to check out what we have going on right now.
So go earn that $100 in your farm and stop worrying about losing $10.
Happy Farming!
Ryan Smith – Founder/Creator
Launch Your Farm
Be sure to check back on our blog and show to get awesome information about geographic farming!
Blog – http://www.LaunchYourFarm.com/Blog
Show – http://launchyourfarm.com/category/interviews
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