The smallest things can make the biggest difference

Imagine this scenario.

If I told you that if you sat down and linked one hundred small paper clips together, every day, for 90 days straight I would give you 1 million dollars.

Would you do it?

For many people, it’s a no-brainer. With a big fat check waiting at the end of the road, it’s not hard to get motivated and push through the tedious, mundane work every day.

But why don’t we do the same in our business and personal lives?

You may be surprised, but the small things in life and business add up in the same way. The sum of your small actions in your business, the habits, can form together over time to make a big difference.

Why we fail at the small things

Unlike the paperclip example, it’s easy to skip the small things that feel inconsequential. We often don’t recognize that it is these small changes that add up to the goals that we are so hungry to pursue.

Many of us want results now. With modern society the way it is now, it’s not uncommon to want results instantaneously and often for free. Think about how many applications you might have that offer themselves up for free, or promise instant reports and other results in short timeframes.

If the results are not immediately obvious, standing there and slapping us across the face every day then skipping the small stuff is the natural course of work.

The small things in work and life

When it comes to the sum of small actions, business is an area in which this is particularly true. In fact, when it comes to your finances, you can easily see the effect of small habits good and bad.

Consider your daily coffee habit. If you go out and buy a coffee at Starbucks every day for $5, that daily habit costs you $35 a week.

Nothing to fret about yet. However, that habit will cost you $1,820 a year. Considering you may have more 5-10 of these habits, you’re potentially removing yourself from tens of thousands of dollars a year. 

The same applies to your business. 10 extra prospecting contacts made a day might not seem like much, but if you’re doing it consistently, that’s 50 extra contacts a week or 200 a month.

All it takes is 1 of these contacts to be a high net worth client, referral source or long-term business partner for it to make the all the difference to your real estate business's bottom line. 

How to make the small things count

Take control of your small habits and actions and routines. 

Consider, what are the small actions that you should be taking but are not? What are your big goals? Ask yourself, are you sure you are going in the direction you want to be? Be positive and intentional about making positive habits, not negative ones.

Make the goal more real and obvious to yourself to help keep your motivation going. Track, track, track.

Tracking your numbers is the most powerful way to keep yourself on track for achieving your goals, and improving your performance in any area, not just your business. Tracking helps you understand where every dollar is going, where every minute is getting the best ROI and what strategies are actually working for you in each of your goal areas.

Jesse Garcia is a real estate agent and CEO of Zipi, a real estate back-office management and accounting platform. Prior to founding Zipi, Jesse ran two multi-million dollar real estate offices that housed over 200+ agents.