Rick Dhillon went from property accounting to the lucrative world of real estate in 2005. Now, he’s a successful real estate coach, helping other realtors achieve financial freedom with his online masterclasses and courses. He shared his unique advice from personal experiences selling properties and training entrepreneurs.
Is there a roadmap that you endorse for other realtors to follow, to achieve financial freedom?
The first thing that I would advise is actually learn real estate. I’ve been selling real estate for 17 years. I’ve been coaching real estate agents [and what I’ve seen is] too many real estate agents don’t actually learn real estate. If you ask them what the interest rate today is, they wouldn’t know. You’re an entrepreneur, more than a professional. An entrepreneur’s job, when they open up a business, is to learn the business. These are things that we have to learn on our own, so the real estate agents themselves have to take it upon themselves to really get training and coaching.
The other part of that roadmap is really to give a predictable and repeatable business. Too many agents are fluking their business. Maybe they just went to their aunt’s birthday party, and the aunt wants to sell her house. Or they’re having wine or coffee with the best friend and the spouse, and all of a sudden, they say, “Hey, we want to sell this house and buy a bigger house.” And that happens a couple of times, [but] they don’t have a system to make that repeatable the following year. It’s a fluke.
The difference between successful agents and agents that are struggling are systems and habits. They have the daily habits and discipline to work those systems. Their business becomes repeatable and predictable. This is why really good agents can have the same success year after year. .
What does your idea of success look like?
My personal idea of success is a balanced approach. I really think that the biggest commodity we have is time. I thought I wanted financial freedom, but I really wanted time freedom. I would say my idea of success is a little bit of wealth, a lot of health, and loving relationships in your life. One without the other is not good enough. And when you reach those three pinnacles, I would say, you add a fourth, which is giving back. That would be a successful individual to me.
What is one thing you wish you had done differently when starting out?
I think I should have gotten coaching and mentoring earlier in my career. I think surrounding yourself with the right people is key. I have a phrase that I have in my brain constantly, and that phrase is just “get into the right room.” Because when you’re in the right room, around the right people, you are already going to be elevated.
What other advice do you have for new realtors?
My advice to younger realtors would be, right from the bat, have a referral marketing program because it’s your book of business that will give you the highest ROI. What I mean by that is if you get business from a referral base, like your past client or somebody in your sphere of influence, that ROI is huge compared to advertising. So, let’s say I make a $20,000 commission and you referred that to me. Besides buying you a really nice gift or taking you out to dinner, my return on that investment is pretty good. Whereas if I get somebody from a billboard — I have to pay $10,000 a month or whatever it is for that billboard — so even though I made that $20,000 commission check, I’m really keeping half. So, take care of the people that have already done business with you.
Aun Abbott | Contributing Writer
