Growing up, I used to be one of the BIGGEST bookworms and took a book with me everywhere. I took them to pageants, recitals and even out hunting with my Dad. Over the years, through college and working (#adulting), I’ve faded away from my joy of reading and haven’t put time aside to just sit there and read. I kept saying, “There’s just not enough time” or “I could be doing something else…” But I knew that by reading I was gaining knowledge and HELLO… knowledge is POWER!
As a New Year’s Resolution for 2018, one of my goals was to read 12 books for the year reading one book per month. Easy right? Not quite. While I thought this goal would push me to sit down and take the time to read… it didn’t, so I decided to modify my goals. Since sitting down and reading wasn’t quite working for me, I decided to get a monthly membership with Audible that gave me one credit per month to purchase a book title and listen in. I’m a huge lover of podcasts and love listening along as I travel, drive to showings or am sitting by the computer working. Since I knew I could take the time for podcasts, I knew that audiobooks may be the winner! The Audible monthly membership helped me keep all my books on my phone and listen with ease while I could be doing “something else.”
I’m proud to say that I very surprisingly listened along to 12 books, yes 12, that were useful in life, real estate and my consulting career and I’m sharing some of my insights from each book. Some were fun, but some of these books were full of great tips for my career. I hope you use this as a great guide of books to love and learn from! Below I’m sharing my thoughts on my top six books.
The Honest Real Estate Agent by Mario Jannatpour
New in the real estate industry? The Honest Real Agent is a look at the simple fundamentals of being a real estate agent. Simple as that! It dives into how to treat your clients, how to present yourself and even marketing your listings. This is a great first book for agents to get them comfortable with the new commission-based world that they’re jumping into. Mario Jannatpour also has a podcast, The Honest Real Estate Agent, which is similar to the book sharing marketing tips, lead generation ideas and strategies for new real estate agents.
The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary Chapman
Odd choice, right? While this is a book about LOVE, I also found The Five Love Languages to be a useful tool to help better understand my clients and the people around me. The five love languages include word of affirmation, receiving gifts, acts of service, quality time and physical touch. There’s a simplicity in this message but it really opened my eyes to seeing how people interact with you differently once you speak their language. For example, I’ve learned that some of my client’s love languages are quality time because of the way they want to really get to know me as a real estate agent before helping them through one of the biggest purchases of their life.
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
Want to learn the art of negotiating with high stakes… this is the book to read! The author of this book is former international hostage negotiator for the FBI and shares insights on high-stakes negotiations that can help you in a work environment or at home. The insight that stood out to me most is that negotiation is not an act of battle, you don’t have to be mean or heartless, it’s more of a process of discovery to gain as much information as possible. The author does a great job sharing how to show empathy but how to also be firm and know that NO isn’t always the end of the conversation. This read has helped my approach to negotiation in real estate with other listing agents by listening and gaining more information before jumping in.
The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins
Simple, right? Mel Robbins shares her tactics on how to completely destroy any doubt and possibly change your life in just FIVE SECONDS. Complete honesty, when I first started this book I was like okay five seconds are not going the change my life, but if you use it in the way the author describes it can make a difference. Don’t want to go work out? Thinking about hitting that snooze button? Countdown backward 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and you’re mind can transform. Sounds whack, I know. But just try it! Now will my life change FOREVER, no. Is it a good tool, though, to help me push forward with small tasks, yes! I will admit this book is terribly long with quite a bit of fluff, but give it a listen or read.
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Dave Jenks, Jay Papasan, Gary Keller
This really is the book that all Real Estate Agents should read. It pulls on experience from top producers all over the country that have had a high volume in sales. What really stuck out to me was that not one successful agent/broker’s journey was the same as the next. This really hit me that you have to do what works best for YOU and what works for you may not work as well for the next person. It’s a long listen, don’t get me wrong… but the author did a great job breaking it down for a beginner agent and how goal-setting needs to be a priority. Great insight from people in the real estate industry. Definitely plan on re-reading this book!
The other books I read in 2018 include:
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey
- Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
- Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life by Jenna Bush Hager, Barbara Pierce Bush
- Sell It Like Serhant by Ryan Serhant
I’ve decided that I’ll be keeping the same goals for 2019 and will aim to read one book per month. My goal is to exceed that goal, but I’m keeping it attainable. I would love to hear all of your favorite books and recommendations in the comments! Happy reading!
Bethany Nolan 