CHASING HAPPINESS

My name is Jas Takhar and I’m the leader of REC, a real estate company in Toronto, a motivational speaker, and an author.?I am happy to share my secrets to success and strive to encourage others to reach their potential. I have a unique story of someone who was close to not graduating high school but could still go on and become highly successful.

Starting Out?

As a young kid, I saw both my mother and father work very hard. They were immigrants from India and worked incredibly tirelessly to provide for our family. My father was a taxi driver who would sometimes work 24-hour shifts and my mother worked in a factory. We were pretty middle of the road financially, which taught me how to manage money and not spend frivolously. My parents used to discipline me when I got out of line and I am very thankful for that as well.

My first job was selling newspapers when I was 12 years old. I loved getting paid and giving some of the money to my parents. I was always the kid with a job and worked hard to earn my paycheck. Most East Indian families would normally push their kids to become doctors and lawyers. Fortunately for me, my family was the exception. As a kid, I was not always the best student and I discovered a love for sales right from the start.

As an adult, I got my first “real” job selling loans at a bank but was unhappy in his position. It felt like I was stuck and would never move up in the corporate world. Eventually, I got into the car sales business around the age of 20, thanks to one of my earliest mentors. I saw that there was uber potential to make a lot of money in that industry. Even though car salesmen have a reputation as being sleazy and dishonest, the dealership I worked for was always classy and trustworthy. I sold cars to many different people but began to notice a pattern. I sold four cars to four different real estate agents in a matter of weeks and realized they were getting paid really well and I wanted to do the same. This is how my jump into the real estate industry started.

No Such Thing As A Coincidence

I started out in the real estate industry working for an international brand name brokerage but quickly found it wasn't the right fit for me. I considered going back to my previous job in car sales, but on one of my rare visits to the real estate office, I happened to see a fax come through. This was in the early 2000s when people still sent them. The fax was for a free business development seminar on how to make more money. I decided I had nothing to lose, so I attended the seminar. There were about 150 people in attendance and the lead speaker kept picking on me, asking me questions and using me as an example.?

Instead of being embarrassed, I was fired up. The next day I called the speaker, Simon, who was selling more classes on how to make more money. The classes cost $2,500 dollars, but I was prepared to scrape that money together somehow. I begged Simon to let m shadow him. I wanted to see how he did everything. Simon didn't take my $2,500, instead, he asked me to join his team.

Simon and I formed an incredible business partnership. I learned everything I know from Simon and was his right-hand man. Eventually, I became a partner of the brokerage Simon was running. Our partnership lasted thirteen years until Simon, unfortunately, passed away.?

I have continued on REC; it now has 41 agents and 11 support staff. We have had massive success levels and I have inspired other real estate agents to become the best versions of themselves.?

The First Question is "Why"

Throughout my 25 years of sales experience, I have learned that the most important question to ask a client is "why?" Why are you investing? Why are you selling? Understanding why your client is doing something and their motivation behind it will help you, as a sales advisor, assist your client in reaching their goals. I also suggests doing the same for yourself when creating goals. Figuring out the "why" is the challenge; the how is actually not up to you. That's the universe's job.

To be successful in real estate or any other aspect of life, you need to immerse yourself.?

For example, if you want to learn a language, don't just take an online class, go to that country and immerse yourself in the language. In real estate, you need to be surrounded by successful people and do exactly what they are doing. Become a mini version of the top producer you want to be. Immerse yourself in what they do. We should surround ourselves with people who support, encourage, and hold us accountable. That is what I did with Simon, and that is what you should do if you want to reach the next level of success.??

Chasing Happiness

Another secret I live by is that happiness is more important than money. One way to attain happiness is to surround yourself with positive, uplifting, motivated, and inspiring people. If your closest friends or the people you surround yourself with are negative, chances are you will be too. Don't surround yourself or consume negative stuff. People. News. Negativity will get in the way of your goals and bring down your mood.?Cut it off entirely if you can.?If not, reduce it by just 5 minutes a day and use that extra five minutes to do something positive for yourself.

Being around positive people and having a positive mindset will help in all areas of your life. Try and find the positive in even the most frustrating of situations. We should acknowledge that we are living in a world where there's negativity or that you're not going to have negative emotions or you're not going to get angry or have any of those negative feelings, it's a matter of how long are you going to stay in there. So, even when things are tough, let the negative emotions go through you and switch your mindset back to something more positive.

My ambition and positive mindset set me apart from other industry leaders. I am very proud to be passing his knowledge on to my own young kids, who are starting to learn to negotiate. I may not have taken the traditional route to success, but he nonetheless I got there and you can too.