Finding Usable Networking Opportunities

Want to grow your business? Look for networking opportunities at professional development programs?

By: Jodi Gilmour

As a young realtor, I am a bit of a hybrid between an entrepreneur and a contract salesperson. I choose how I run my business within the structure offered by my brokerage and the regulating bodies for Real Estate in Ontario.

Aside from the regular licensing courses required of all realtors, I am in control of my own professional development. If I want to work on a particular aspect of my business, it is up to me to figure it out.

Thankfully, there are thousands of options out there! Our RE/MAX Regional Directors do an excellent job of sorting out the fluff and bringing the best new concepts to town. Still, navigating the vast array of courses, coaches and conventions offered up can leave a gal confused!

A decade ago, as a chubbycheeked 21-year-old realtor, I feasted at the educational buffet like a hungry hippo. Often, I found myself immersed in a flurry of note-taking. But sometimes what was being taught didn’t resonate with me.

Between you and me, when I find myself disappointed with a course, or topic, I generally excuse myself and see if I can do some networking with like-minded colleagues. If I can find myself a “Big Wig” to learn from, I win! (Most “Big Wigs” love giving out advice to smiling, doe-eyed newbie’s. And occasionally, one of these successful people will take a liking to you and end up being the person who changes your professional life forever.)

I will tell you; it is in the hallways at professional development programs (good and bad) that I have found the best opportunities for my business. Sometimes, it’s gushing with other people about the new earth-shattering concept we have just encountered. More often than not, the best advice comes from colleagues who will become great referral resources, friends and mentors.

You don’t always find your mentors at professional events. One mentor I didn’t know I had was my friend’s father. He was a highly successful “Big Wig,” and I admit I was a little scared of him, though I never let him see it.

Hanging out at his cottage or by his pool in the city, he would ask my opinion on the real estate market. What it taught me was to always have an opinion on the market, a 45 second elevator speech that I could give at the drop of a hat. It was one of the best gifts I’ve been given professionally, and if he were around today I’d thank him for it, but since he’s not I’ll pay it forward.

Now, as a leader in my family-run brokerage I share responsibility for choosing the development programs we make available to our salespeople. It’s a responsibility I take very seriously, even though our salespeople can simply choose not to bother.Turns out, I lead one of our most popular programs.The content and delivery truly resonates with who I aspire to be as a professional. I have run the three-month-long program 15 times in three years to over 100 salespeople in our company and I learn something new every time. Because of that, I let our realtors retake the course whenever they want. I believe you only retain the information that is pertinent to you at the time.Your understanding grows with experience, and so your capacity for developing new skills is endless. Therefore, taking the same course twice is far from redundant.

If you’re working in a field that plays to your strengths and makes you feel great about yourself, you’ll have a much easier go. If you can create opportunities to rub shoulders with people who are more successful than you are, go for it! (Just remember to give back someday when you’re on top).You never know where the opportunity of a lifetime will present itself. Lord knows I never imagined that joining the family business would inadvertently land me a show on HGTV. But you won’t find your next big thing doing what everybody else does.

In the professional and personal aspects of my life, I try to surround myself with people I like who are successful by my definition. Define success for yourself and identify people who are successful in your eyes.

If that means they work a 25-hour week and spend the rest of their time on the ski slopes, fine. If it means they pull in seven figures and own a chateau in Burgundy, great! Make them your mentor, your boss and friend. That way, your self-directed professional development program will come naturally, and be a whole lot of fun.

In the program I teach, they say, “Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are.”

Beyond managing one of Canada’s largest and most successful RE/MAX franchises, Jodi Gilmour is the host of HGTV’s new hit property series For Rent, now in its second season, and is a featured contributor on the reality series Marriage Under Construction (also on HGTV).