5 Tips To Make Ninja, Or Any Plan Easier To Implement

Last week, or actually 2 weeks ago (I skipped last week because of the snow) we talked about having a plan going into the New Year.

Getting a plan is the first step, implementing it is another thing all together. Here are 5 tips to help you get the most out of your plan:

1. Go out of town to take the class
2. Take it more than once
3. Give yourself at least a month to implement it
4. Stop trying to make it your own
5. Tweak, don’t overhaul

Going out of town is key to getting the most out of something like Ninja. Yes, it can be inconvenient, and there is the added expense, but you will likely get exponentially more out of it. If I take a class at home, especially a multi day class, my main thought for the majority of it is: “I hope they let us out early so I can run errands on the way home” and “when is the next break, I have work calls to make.” I’m trying to squeeze the class into an already full schedule. If I go out of town, I have someone else covering my business, there aren’t any errands to run, and I can be fully present. I also have more fun connecting with the other agents there and learning from them.

Commit to going more than once. Wouldn’t it be nice if we only had to hear things once, and then we were good to go? With any training, there are usually many layers to it. There is only so much you can take in at and implement at one time. Each time you go through something new pops up as the next thing to focus on, or maybe it’s the nudge you needed to get back on track.

Don’t take a class if you don’t have time to implement it. For me, summers are play time. I do whatever work is necessary, but it isn’t a time to start anything new. So taking a class in July would be a waste of time, because I wouldn’t be in the right space to do anything with the information. Late September through early November is my favorite time of year for classes. Things are calmer than they are in Spring, I’m in a mindset of upgrading my business, and there is enough time to implement new things and gain traction on them before the holidays get too crazy.

Work the system the way it was set up. We all do this – we attend a class and it sounds so good, but there is some element that we just aren’t a fan of – FORD calls and real estate reviews come to mind. So we start thinking that we can tweak the system to get around these things, and then still expect the same results. One of the main benefits of following someone else’s system is it gets you out of over thinking things and into action. Some of the most successful things I’ve done in my career were things that I didn’t want to do (FORD calls). Commit to working the system fully for 6 months without trying to change it and then evaluate it.

Tweak don’t overhaul. This is a big one! It’s easy to come out of a class and feel like you need to scrap everything and start fresh. Don’t do that! It happened to me after taking Ninja again last Fall. I had a listing appointment and felt like I needed to redo my entire presentation. Admittedly I could stand to up my presentation game, but what I have been doing has been working for several years. Staying up all night redoing a presentation that I didn’t feel comfortable with was not going to work. The most important thing is that I show up feeling comfortable and confident in my abilities. So I picked one thing to tweak for that presentation, and it went great. Now I can spend the time to dive deeper, but remember – it’s all about meeting with clients and listening to their needs. Hiding in your office for 6 months revamping things isn’t what your business needs.

Change takes time, and often it’s uncomfortable in the beginning – especially if we don’t see immediate results. Stick with it. The seeds you sow now, will turn into great things sooner than you think.

To your success!
Nicole